Mountain Dew leads the way in innovative branding.
No longer is Mountain Dew just a drink, it's
an entire way of being. With that in mind,
here are 10 Mountain Dew Facts That Will Energize
You.
Willy the Hillbilly
Yahoo Mountain Dew! “It will tickle your
innards, with a bang in every bottle.” That
was Mountain Dew's first slogan and the first
commercial that had the character named 'Willy
the Hillbilly' singing the praises of the
soft drink. Mountain Dew’s original formula
was invented in 1940 as a mixer for whisky
by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and
Ally Hartman. As a tongue in cheek joke, they
named it Mountain Dew which was slang for
Moonshine in the south. So, they found it
fitting that their logo and main character
should be a Hillbilly. Early bottles, labels
and signage for advertising and commercials
had the cartoon-stylized hillbilly as its
mascot. In the 70’s, once purchased by PepsiCo,
they dropped Willy the Hillbilly and they
switched their marketing campaign to "Get
That Barefoot Feeling" this new campaign was
geared more towards urban teenagers. Over
the decades, Mountain Dew's product packaging
has changed multiple times, so has the logo,
but we'll never forget Willy; the original
mascot.
Mountain Dew AMP-ed
If Mountain Dew AMP Energy drinks won’t
keep you energized then nothing will. Amp
Energy started out in 2001 as an offshoot
and variant to Mountain Dew products. It was
distributed under the Mountain Dew brand until
2008 as "Mountain Dew AMP”. AMP is manufactured
by Rockstar, which is also owned by PepsiCo,
Mountain Dew's parent company. However, the
label was eventually changed with the Mountain
Dew logo moving to the bottom of the can.
By 2011, the logo was completely removed from
the can, to obliterate its existence. However
this has since come round full circle as they've
added the Mountain Dew logo back unto the
cans. The original Amp Energy drinks contained
taurine, B-Vitamins, guarana, ginseng, maltodextrin
and 74 milligrams of caffeine, that's enough
to energize us all day. It just goes to show
how innovative Mountain Dew are, as some of
their offshoots get to shine on their own
like rockstars.
Branding Genius
In order for the customers to feel more involved
with their beloved Mountain Dew, PepsiCo came
up with two big marketing campaigns; Dewmocracy
1 and Dewmocracy 2. These two campaigns ran
from 2007-2009 where Mountain Dew fans were
given the chance to have quite a big input
on the company's choices on product flavors
and even advertising.  The first Dewmorcracy
kick-started with a website that had a short
promotional film explaining the campaign as
well as a role-playing game. Each game had
the chance for people to choose flavors, logos,
and designs for the new drink.  In the end,
the public chose cool names like; Revolution,
Voltage and Supernova. Dewmocracy 2 amped
up the stakes as it started with a US tour.
17 cities were given the chance to taste the
potential new flavors then Mountain Dew encouraged
us to join a community to vote for the next
flavor The public chose cool names like; White
Out, Distortion, and Typhoon.
Use Of Tartrazine
One of the ingredients in Mountain Dew is
a dye called Yellow #5, better known as tartrazine.
Tartrazine is an organic sodium salt which
derives from tartrazine acid. It’s a synthetic
lemon-yellow dye used as a food coloring and
what gives Mountain Dew its fluorescent color.
It is also found in almost all processed foods.
This dye is everywhere, like Doritos, cereals,
shampoos, cosmetics and even popcorn. They
say that Tartrazine lowers sperm count. However,
before we all start getting too upset and
vow never to drink Mountain Dew again, this
is just an urban legend as Tartrazine has
never actually been scientifically linked
or proven to reduce sperm count. Although,
some studies suggest that it can possibly
be carcinogenic, like many things, and some
studies suggest that among children with ADHD,
Tartrazine can increase symptoms.
Game Fuel For Gamers
In 2007, Mountain Dew started using the term
"Game Fuel" to market their sodas to the video-gaming
subculture. Shortly afterwards, it became
the drink of choice for gamers, skaters and
just about any kids who wanted to get that
extra energy kick. The drinks soon became
the 'go to' drink and an extension of that
culture. Mountain Dew Game Fuel had cool labels
that sported images and promotional artwork
for the games they were promoting at the time.
Every two to three years Mountain Dew hooks
up with the next new game release, to create
another new flavored drink and promotional
material. It starts a frenzy and a run to
the stores so fans can sample their new wild
flavors. At the end of 2018, Mountain Dew
unveiled a new Game Fuel drink that is more
of an energy drink specifically formulated
for video gamers. It is different than the
original Game Fuel, which was simply soda
and caffeine. Everyone knows that Mountain
Dew AMP GAME FUEL is specially designed to
give gamers that special high, endurance and
boost they need during game playing. The combination
of ingredients has shown to increase accuracy
and alertness.
Loaded With Ginseng
Ginseng is in many Mountain Dew drinks, especially
the energy ones like AMP and Voltage. So if
you are feeling a little under the weather
and need that extra zing of energy, Mountain
Dew is for you. These days most energy drinks
contain small trace amounts of ginseng that
are not really harmful, except in extremely
large doses. For those who do not know, ginseng
is a root that has been used in traditional
Chinese medicine for centuries. Research shows
that ginseng really does not have any magical
healing properties when it comes to illness
but it does seem to have an effect on memory,
fatigue, and insulin response. As long as
it isn't overused ginseng is a welcome bit
of pep and zing to add to our Mountain Dew.
The Inevitable Caffeine
We know, this one is obvious. But given all
of our obsessions with caffeine, we thought
we should give it a mention. In a recent report
it is estimated that 450 billion cups of coffee
or tea are consumed yearly worldwide. That's
an incredible amount of caffeine, and that
doesn't even account for carbonated caffeine
beverages or food either. In the US alone,
450 million cups of coffee are consumed daily,
which could make for a lot of hyper people
or walking zombies. Caffeine is a stimulant
that affects the central nervous system and
it is by far the world’s largest legal psychoactive
drug. A can of Green Mountain Dew elixir contains
55 milligrams of caffeine in a 12 fl. oz drink,
which is not too bad, especially compared
to other drinks of a similar nature; such
as Red Bull at 80 mg per drink. The caffeine
and sugar content will have you energized
for an hour or so, till you can get your next
fix.
The Green Label Equals Art
Fans of the art world can regale in this as
it is right up their alley in terms of creativity
and coolness. Mountain Dew's Green Label promotions,
was a project that put artwork featured by
different local tattoo artists on a series
of limited edition aluminum bottles. The initial
bottles were the first to coin the phrase”Green
Label Art” to describe the use of artistic
works on Mountain Dew packaging. In true Mountain
Dew fashion back in 2010, a contest began
by the same title in conjunction with 35 independent
skateboard store owners who partnered with
local artists to design and submit future
artwork designs. The following year they also
sponsored a music label, under Green Label
sound, promoting the music industry with new
hip hop artists. Action Sports has also always
been a part of Mountain Dew marketing since
the 90’s. It has also sponsored its own
festivals like the Dew Tour, which was made
up of five US city tours over the course of
a year; highlighting sports such as skateboarding,
BMX, snowboarding and skiing. In coordination
with its Dew Tour sponsorship, a television
show under the banner of the Mountain Dew's
Green Label Experience premiered on Fuel TV
just for broadcasting interviews with action
sports athletes from each of the stops on
the Dew Tour. Can’t get any cooler than
this.
The Quest Will Get You Going
Over the years Mountain Dew has been in a
constant state of transformation, innovation
and change. They have partnered with other
brands looking for the next best thing to
increase sales. Sports remain one of their
biggest strengths, catering to that specific
market with ads like the Puppy Monkey Baby
at Superbowl 50. Some other exciting and mysterious
campaigns were when they teamed up with Doritos
and created the “The Doritos Quest, a mystery
flavor known as "Quest", which turned out
to be Mountain Dew. In 2012 they teamed up
with Warner Bros. for the release of The Dark
Night Rises, where fans were able to access
content and details of the film on a website
before its release date. They also featured
packaging to promote the movie and a new Dark
Berry Flavor. Mountain Dew even did a special
for season 8 of Game of Thrones, in which
they created a new can that is completely
blank dubbed “The can with no Name” but
when chilled the names on Arya Stark’s hit
list appear. Another prime example of how
their marketing department works to reinforce
its brand.
Mountain Dew  - Sweet Lighting
Never ending and determined, Mountain Dew
are relentless with their thirst for flavor
combinations and their need to bring us the
perfect drink. Earlier this year it was leaked
that Mountain Dew had partnered with KFC
for a brand new flavor. As of July 1, their
new flavored soda called "Sweet Lightning,"
was available exclusively at KFC restaurants
nationwide. The drink flavoring contains a
punch of peach and a touch of honey flavors.
It will no doubt brighten up each and every
one of its customers taste buds and have them
coming back. A new pitchman will be introduced
by the name of Sweet; a Southern and yellow-suit
wearing gentleman who is "smooth and lightning-fast”
Let’s hope it becomes a mainstay.
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