Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Popular soft drink brand Mountain Dew and video game title PUBG have teamed up to relaunch the ‘Dew Challenge’ in Malaysia, which pushes boundaries once again by bridging virtual and reality bringing an immersive and unique experience to the youth, at the same time promoting vibrant, active lifestyles.

Aimed at catching the hearts of sporty, adventurous youths and aspiring PUBG players, everyone can expect an immersive gaming experience packed with new and fresh ideas through this collaboration.

Starting 1 October, interested participants can purchase a 400ml bottle of Mountain Dew, head to the Dew Challenge website at dewchallenge.com and key in the unique code located under the bottle cap to complete their registration and redeem prizes.

The launch will be accompanied by a treasure hunt, drawing inspiration from in-game mechanics. Just like how players parachute onto their desired drop zones on a map, the treasure hunt will begin with participants choosing the region where their journey begins. Likewise, just as players scavenge for weapons, armour and supplies from a loot box at the beginning of a game, participants will scavenge for loot boxes that lead to extra leader board points and more before the tournament.

Meanwhile, customers in Klang Valley will witness a special Dew Challenge roving truck will be bringing excitement to you at various locations including universities, partner outlets, night markets, commercial shopping spots and more. To redeem exclusive merchandise and sampling products, visitors can take part in a number of PUBG inspired activities including, a special Mountain Dew x PUBG vending machine, an immersive shooting gallery and a gaming jam session, where further prizes are up for grabs.

Amy Gan, vice president of marketing at Etika, said, “We are especially excited for this instalment of the Dew Challenge. It truly is representative of Mountain Dew’s commitment to our consumers who seek to live life authentically. With the pandemic chapter closed, we can now bring the virtual to reality in a one-of-a-kind experience for Malaysians who are ready to break out of the norm and try something new. We want people to push their boundaries and live their best, most vibrant lives.”

She added, “It’s the first time a brand has done something of this scale and it is only possible because we have such an amazing team and partners, especially PUBG, who share our vision and believe in this idea as much as we do. We would like to encourage everyone to join, gamer or not, and be a part of this historic journey with us.”

Australia – Popular soft drink brand Mountain Dew has launched a game show activation called ‘Major Melon’s Mayhem Mountain’, which is inspired by the hyper-stimulatory sensation that is a taste of its new Watermelon-flavoured drink. 

Conceptualised alongside VaynerMedia, the game takes cues from the likes of ‘Wipeout’ and ‘Takeshi’s Castle’, the brand game show showcases challenges such as the ‘Watermelon Ski’, where contestants, including ‘Dom Littrich’ of ‘Inspired Unemployed’ fame, attempt to slide as far as they can down the very slippery, watermelon-scattered, pink-tarped runway. 

Another inspired game is ‘Hill Dash’, where they race across a steep slippery hill while being pelted by inflatable watermelons. Narrated by the eponymous host, each content piece features challenges broadcast as takes from the show, featuring influencers taking on various extreme challenges.

Built on the insight that Mountain Dew’s Gen Z audience is continuously searching for newer, faster, hyper-stimulatory highs and challenges both in-feed and IRL, VaynerMedia eschewed the traditional product launch campaign to develop Mayhem Mountain as a content-first play created with social audiences in mind. 

Vandita Pandey, chief marketing officer for ANZ at PepsiCo, said, “We know Dew fans have been waiting a long time for a new flavour, so we wanted to make a real splash in letting them know Major Melon is finally here. ‘Mayhem Mountain’ is just such a fun and relevant way to bring the new flavour to life, I am confident the legions of Aussie Dew fans out there will love it as much as we do.” 

Meanwhile, Yash Murthy, head of creative and consulting at VaynerMedia Australia, commented, “A drink and brand persona as out there as Major Melon warranted a campaign that ratcheted up the intensity. Mayhem Mountain was the perfect vehicle to showcase this, allowing us to build equity in the Major Melon character whilst tapping into the extreme stunts, challenges and fail comps we know our audience cohorts love. Plus it was just a lot of fun to make.” 

Philippines – Image filtering is the new stunt of Mountain Dew on its latest meme-fueled campaign. The release of the ‘meme-generating’ augmented reality filters on Instagram comes after Mountain Dew’s initial three launch films, which was created in collaboration with creative agency BBDO Guerrero.

The three prior films highlight a comic parody that claims—literally and figuratively—everything is “mas cool ‘pag my Ice,” which in English translates to “cooler with Ice”.

Meanwhile, the filters use face-swapping technology to let fans own that ‘cooler’ element in their own way by inserting their faces over choice characters in popular online films and literally turning themselves into a meme. These filters were inspired by two out of the three launch films for Mountain Dew Ice which puts some of the most famous local memes and viral content.

Mikey Rosales, the marketing director at PepsiCo, shared that there has been an outpouring of engagement and praise for the “mas Cool ‘Pag may ice” campaign presenting such a bold and unconventional take on modern Filipino meme-culture.

“From polarizing online debates to the full-on explosion of fandoms—the reception of all three videos has been absolutely thrilling, to say the least,” said Rosales.

David Guerrero, BBDO’s creative chairman, said that they wanted to create something that was not just funny and attention-grabbing but resonated very strongly with the market.

“Mountain Dew Philippines is very much tapped into youth culture. And with all of us consuming and generating more memes and viral content than ever, it felt fitting to capture this generation’s spirit through the lens of the Internet,” said Guerrero.

New Delhi, India – As summer is approaching, the Indian arm of food and beverage company PepsiCo has launched its first-ever local campaign for the beverage ‘Mountain Dew Ice’, starring Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan.

The ‘Made for India’ Mountain Dew Ice has been developed to suit the Indian palate and is a significant milestone in PepsiCo India’s journey of innovation in the beverage category. In line with this, the first-ever Mountain Dew Ice campaign is building a very aspiring extension to the Dew philosophy.

The campaign focuses on Roshan contemplating on performing a bike stunt across a fire obstacle, and with ‘Mountain Dew Ice’, he takes the challenge head-on successfully. By its message, the campaign embodies the ideology of ‘Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai’ or overcoming one’s fears to achieve great success. This is best seen by Roshi’s ending words “Har chunauti hogi paar, bas chahiye jeetne ki aag aur thanda dimaag”, or loving every challenge while maintaining a ‘cool’ mindset.

“This campaign for Mountain Dew Ice is as refreshing as its name suggests! In time for summer, the TVC introduces the consumers to a ‘chilling’ experience. What is interesting is that it adds to the brand tagline – ‘Darr ke aage jeet Hai’ with emphasis of being responsibly fearless. Mountain Dew Ice propositions ‘Jeetne Ki Aag aur Thanda Dimaag’, is a valuable slogan. It is a perfect mix of the product attributes along with a message in public interest,” Roshi said, regarding his experience as part of the campaign.

According to Vineet Sharma, category director for Mountain Dew & Sting at PepsiCo India, the campaign aims to inspire the youth that they can overcome any obstacles in their way if they just keep a cool mind along with the fire to win while facing their fears head-on.

“We are very excited to unveil the first-ever brand campaign for Mountain Dew Ice. The launch of Mountain Dew Ice has been a significant milestone for us in our beverage category innovation journey. With the new campaign, we are taking the Mountain Dew core brand’s philosophy of ‘Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai’ and giving it an ‘Ice’ twist,” Sharma said.

He added, “We are confident that consumers will relate to the new campaign strongly and shower Mountain Dew Ice with the same love that our other campaigns for Mountain Dew have received over the years.”

The campaign will be amplified across TV, digital, outdoor, and PepsiCo India’s social media channels.