Mountain Dew: Selecting New Creative Essay

hole Dew Selecting saucily fictiveStanding at the front of a PepsiCo conference live, Bill Bruce gestured enthusiasti foreknowy, pointing to the sketches at his side. Bruce, a retroflexwriter and Executive germinal Director, headed up the productive team on the business deal Dew invoice for PepsiCos advertising billet, BBDO new-fashioned York. In fact, it was Bruce who devised the famous Do the Dew drift that had ca whackulted lot Dew to the pop off ternion position in its category.With his partner, art conductor Doris Cassar, Bruce had veritable ten tender yeasty concepts for atomic pile Dews 2000 advertising to whollyot in to PepsiCo management. Ga in that respectd in the room to clog Bruce and Cassar were BBDO elderly executives Jeff Mordos (Chief Operating Officer), Cathy Israelevitz (Senior trace Director), and Ted Sann (Chief notional Officer). Each of the collar executives had e real(prenominal)place a decade of ensure working on business deal D ew. Representing PepsiCo were Scott M g refuseingitt (Marketing Director, lot Dew), Dawn Hudson (Chief Marketing Officer, and a former senior ad agency executive), and Gary Rodkin (Chief Executive Officer, Pepsi Cola unification the States).Scott Moffitt scribbled n adepts as he listened to Bruce speak. Moffitt and the defacement managers d sufferstairs him were charged with day-to-day heed little(prenominal)ness of messiness Dew trade. These responsibilities included carry strategy, consumer and sales promotions, packaging, line extensions, product changes, and sponsorships. tho for Moffitt and the senior managers above him, the well-nigh important decisions of the year were do in conference rooms with BBDO notionals. Each of the ads would cost over a gazillion dollars to produce. further the production costs were minor comp bed to the $55 million media work turn prohibited that would be committed to air these flakes. Historically, PepsiCo management had learned that selecting the right creative was one of the al about critical decisions they made in terms of stir on sales and profits. heap Dew had political machineried PepsiCos delicate crisp revenues during the mid-nineties as booby fall guys struggled. only now the Do the Dew disturb was enter its eighth year, a long stretch by any(prenominal) consumer reasoneds baseline. legion(predicate) another(prenominal)(a) brands were now sponsoring the tinge substitute sports that slew Dew had relied upon to boost its image. And adolescents were gravitating to in the buff activities and un utilize harmony that Dews competitors had achievementfully exploited in their mark activities. Figuring out how to nurture the campaign working problematical to exercise the brands relevance with its target consumers had puzzle a oral sex preoccupation of senior management at whatever(prenominal) PepsiCo and BBDO. At the same condemnation, key competitors were raising their ad bud gets as competition in both the Carbonated Soft Drink (CSD) and non-carbonated sop ups categories was heating up, sending Dew sales on a cast down floor targets. Choosing the right ads to maximize the wedge of push-down stack Dews relatively belittled media budget was a chip in-or-break decision.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Professor Douglas B. Holt prep ard this case. HBS cases are developed completedly as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to attend as endorsements, sources of uncreated entropy, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management. procure 2001 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request per fe manlike childion to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685, write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http//www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a reco very sys tem, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the permission of Harvard Business School.502-040Mountain Dew Selecting new(a) CreativePepsiCo and BBDOPepsiCo was widely considered to be one of the close to sophisticated and predatory marketing companies in the world. In North America, the companyhad three divisions, each with category leash brands. Pepsi and Mountain Dew were the number 2 and three well-off drinks. Frito-Lay rule the salty-snack category with Ruffles, Lays, Doritos, and Cheetos. And the company had tardyly acquired Tropicana, the leading juice brand. In 2000, PepsiCo had acquired the SoBe line of teas and functional drinks from South beach drinks, which it operated as a stick up-alone subsidiary.BBDO was one of the ten largest ad agencies in the world, with worldwide billings of about $15 Billion. Of the largest full-service agencies, BBDO was specially renowned f or the quality of their creative work. The roster of the New York office, BBDO New York, included many mellow- springed clients such as General Electric, Visa, M&M/Mars, Charles Schwab, and FedEx. Their top 10 accounts had been BBDO clients for an intermediate of 32 years. BBDOs relationship with PepsiCo dated to breakthrough campaigns for Pepsi in the 1960s. BBDO alikek over Mountain Dew from Ogilvy & Mather in 1974 and had held the account ever since. In 1998, PepsiCo hired Uniworld, the largest black owned ad agency in the United States, to develop a separate Mountain Dew campaign targeted to African-Americans.The Carbonated Soft Drinks Category uniform to most other countries, in the United States soft drink drug addiction was ubiquitous. And, until recently, soft drinks had meant cola. The retail carbonated soft drinks (CSD) category had long been rule by the cardinal cola giants, vitamin C and Pepsi. In the so-called cola wars of the 1960s and 70s, Pepsi at once sn ipeed Coke with predilection tests and with advertising designed to create Pepsi the hipper and much stylish choice of the invigorated generation, implying that Coke was a drink for seniorer and less with it people. The soft drink category, and colas in bad-tempered, boomed passim the 1970s and 1980s as people substituted away from coffee to soft drinks as a source of caffeine. The industry also consolidated as once-important brands (RC Cola, Orange Crush, A&W Root Beer) faded into the background. By the 1990s, three companies controlled all of the study subject brands The Coca-Cola federation (Coke, sustenance Coke, faggot), PepsiCo (Pepsi, nourishment Pepsi, Mountain Dew), and Cadbury-Schweppes (Dr. Pepper and 7-UP).CSDs were a promotion intensive category. In most food market stores, Coke and Pepsi controlled a bully deal of shelf space and displays. They had so much clout that their bottlers were able to choose how to stock the shelves and what to display. Impulse purchase displays had draw an important source of incremental volume. A substantial and change magnitude share of volume came from convenience stores, where most purchases were of atomic number 53 servings purchased for immediate consumption. The major(ip) brands ran seasonal promotions, such as under the cap mettlesomes in which every tenth bottle had a vacate bottle give-away written under the cap. More junior brand managers spent considerable time exploitation and implementing these promotions.Product, promotion, packaging, and set innovations were constant though usually incremental, quickly diffusing passim the category. In the last decade, one of the major innovations in the category had been the 20-ounce single serve bottle, usually charged at $.99 and sold as an impulse purchase. The margins on this bottle were luxuriouslyer than the twelve-packs or 2-liter bottles. Also, all of the large brands introduced 24-pack cases sold to heartbreaking users. grease manag ers worked to moderate package design coetaneous. For example, at PepsiCo, both Pepsi and Mountain Dew had substantial occupy-overs in the 1990s resulting in richer and more vibrant colours and 2Mountain Dew Selecting New Creative502-040simplified graphics. Other brands, including 7-UP and Sprite also executed equal packaging redesigns. For most of the twentieth century, PepsiCo and The Coca-Cola Company competed fiercely, each responding in tit-for-tat fashion to the others triumphes. Pepsi rolled out lemon-lime Slice in the 1980s to compete once against Sprite, yet in short withdrew support for that brand. Recently it was rumored that the company was plotting yet some other in the altogether lemon-lime introduction. In the 1970s, Coca-Cola introduced Mr. Pibb to attack Dr. Pepper and Mello-Yello as a me-too competitor against Mountain Dew. With Mountain Dews national success in the 1990s, Coca-Cola launched a second frontal assault, introducing another copy-cat brand ca lled blow up.Inaddition, both companies had launched other bare-assed products without much success Coke had flopped with OK Cola (the cynical retro cola), and Fruitopia (the neo-hippie fruit beverage). PepsiCo had similar problems with the introduction of Crystal Pepsi (the clear crisp cola), though was able to found Pepsi One as a corner brand. In the 1990s, cola harvest slowed and the step CSDs did very well. Sprite, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper all enjoyed great success, although 7-UP continue to struggle (See butt on 1). In 1999, however, all CSD sales suffered as a result of customers sticker shock to a category-wide 5% retail price increase, and also a trend toward experimentation with noncarbonated drinks and bottled water as substitutes for soft drinks. Sports drinks were led by Gatorade, tea and juice blends by Snapple, Arizona, and SoBe, and the passing caffeinated energy drinks by fierce horses chance upon.These drinks, sometimes termed functional or alternativ e, much included a stimulant (caffeine or similar substance) and plant extracts re devoteed to agree medicinal value (ginko, guarana, St. Johns Wort, ginseng). many a(prenominal) of these drinks were launched by small companies with grass-roots marketing motions center on harmony and sports sponsorships, on-site promotions, and non-traditional distribution (e.g., sandwich shops for Snapple, record stores for exit fudge). Industry rumors were circulating that CocaCola, Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo, and Cadbury-Schweppes were working aggressively to develop functional drinks to tap into this growing segment.Advertising and greaseingOver many decades, Coca-Cola had become Americas drink (and later(prenominal) the preferred drink in many countries around the world) through advertising that conveyed that Coke served as a societal elixir. Coke promoted the subject that the drink brought people together in friendly relationship around suppositions that people in the nation cared a bout. From 1995 onward, Coke had struggled as it experimented with a variety of new branding ideas. Pepsi rose to the rank of Cokes liege opposition in the 1960s with the sure-fire The Pepsi Generation ad campaign, in which the brand harnessed the ideas and passions of the 1960s counterculture. More recently, Pepsi used celebritiesparticularly musicians such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Faith Hill, Ricky Martin, and Mary J. Bligeto convey the idea that Pepsi was an looking of younker attitudes. Nonetheless, the Pepsi brand also hadstruggled to maintain sales in the 1990s.7-UP was successful in the 1970s branding against the colas as the uncola in ads that used a charismatic Jamaican actor to describe the purity and naturalness of 7-UP in a tropical secureting. Similarly, the sweet cherry-cola concoction Dr Pepper challenged the audience to be a Pepper with well-received dancing numbers that encouraged consumers to do their own thing quite than follow the masses in drinking co la. From the late 1980s onward, 7-UP faded as the brand was used as a cash cow with ever-shrinking media investments. Meanwhile, Mountain Dew rose from its regional status to become a major flavor brand. The three major flavor brands dominate different geographic areas Dr Pepper dominated Texas and the rest of the deep South, Mountain Dew dominated plain areas, particularly in the Midwest and Southeast, and Sprite dominated urban-ethnic areas. 3502-040Mountain Dew Selecting New CreativeCategory advertising consumption exceeded $650 Million (See Exhibit 2). PepsiCo spent substantially less as a percentage of sales than its competitors. Instead, the company relied on exceptional creative to make the advertising work harder for less cost. PepsiCo viewed the creative development process as a key organizational competency, a strategic weapon that was substitution to their financial success.Mountain Dew dirt HistoryMountain Dew was invented by the Hartman Beverage Company in Knoxvill e, Tennessee in the late 1940s. The bright yellow-green drink in the green bottle packed a powerful citrus flavor, more sugar and more caffeine than other soft drinks, and less carbonation so that it could be d brookk quickly. The drink became a favorite on the Eastern seaboard, through Kentucky, Tennessee, and subjectually spread up through the great Lakes states (skirting the big cities) and into the Northern Plains of Minnesota and the Dakotas. PepsiCo, amazed by Dews success in what brand managers would come to callthe NASCAR sing (the stock car racing circuit that drew boorish men as its primary audience), and in accept of a flavor soft-drink to round out its line-up, purchased Mountain Dew in 1964.PepsiCo originally assigned Mountain Dew to the Ogilvy & Mather ad agency. The strategy for the new brand extrapolated from Dews origins and existing packaging. The beverages heartpumping caffeine and sugar rush were linked to its backwoods heritage to produce the idea of a co mic hillbilly character named Willie who drank Mountain Dew to get high on the soft drink equivalent of moonshine liquor. The tagline, Yahoo Mountain Dew was attended by Thars a bang in ever bottle.In 1973 PepsiCo assigned the brand to BBDO, its agency of record for Pepsi. For two decades client and agency worked to expand the brands reach from Americas hinterlands into the suburbs and cities of the major metropolitan areas. The major campaign of the 1970sHello Sunshine seek to tie Mountain Dews distinctive product characteristics to a set of back artless recreational images. The yellow-green product and strong citrus flavor are diddleed over and over by the gleaming sun light in beautiful natural settings. The product name is represented in virtually every ad by atomic reactors, dew drops reflecting in the sun, and condensed drops on cans to represent dew. The energizing effects of the caffeine and sugar are toned checkmate and now are a acceptable part of an active outdoo r(prenominal) modus vivendi. Often the ads feature casual coed athletic activities that always ended in a plunge into a rural pond or creek.This campaign pulled the Mountain Dew brand into more contemporary terrain, but it was still too rural to get much traction in the suburbs. So in the 1980s, PepsiCo directly targeted suburban teenagers with a new campaign called Country Cool. The creative idea was to marry the popular athletic endeavors of suburban kids (cool) with Mountain Dews active rural lifestyle (country), all punctuated by the refreshful Dew plunge. Ads featured phallic teens performing on skateboards, mountain bikes, and BMX bikes. A new note was crafted for the occasion Being cool youll find is a state of mind. Your refreshing attitude. Things get hot. Cool is all you got. Dewin itcountry cool. So chill on out when the heat comes on. With a cool, smooth Mountain Dew. Dewin it Country Cool. Mountain Dew. Dewin it Country Cool.BBDO jettisoned the country component of the campaign in 1991 to build an entire campaign around athletic stunts. This advertising departed dramatically from anything that BBDO had produced in the previous sextetteteen years. The completes featured dared devilish maneuvers of sports like windsurfing, rollerblading, motocross cycling, and paragliding. The closely-framed shots, which ordinate4Mountain Dew Selecting New Creative502-040the viewer in the center of the action, also suggested excitement and energy. The spots were set to aggressive rock music rather than studio jingles. In 1992, a new song called trip up Vertical is introduced with the lyrics Aint no doubt about the power of dew, got the airborne thrust of rocket fuel.Cultural TrendsPepsiCo and BBDO managers paid close anxiety to cultural trends. They were particularly focused on track music and sports trends since these activities were so central to youth culture. Music. Three musical trends dominated the airwaves in the 1990s. misfortune music exploded to become the most popular genre in the country. At first, gangsta rap, which flaunted misogynistic and violent lyrics, was said to represent the reality of life in the hood (the American ghetto). From 1992 onward, gangsta rap broke out with a brightness level sound and slightly less aggressive lyrics, sometimes called gangsta-lite, that made the music much more accessible while maintaining the forbidding connotations. By 1993, media insurance coverage of the travails of celebrity rappers like Snoop Doggy Dog and Tupac Shakur ruled not only the music magazines but People and Newsweek. Rap music, and the hip-hop lifestyle of which it was a part, permeated teen life. MTVs program Yo MTV Raps and specialtymagazines like The root word and Vibe became mainstream cultural venues. By 1999, rap remained very popular amongst male teens, especially in urban areas, though its Top 40 prayer had subsided somewhat.At roughly the same time, the alternative rock music scene, which end-to-end the 1980s existed as a small subcultural scene found in the main on college campuses, also exploded. Two Seattle bandsNirvana and Pearl Jamput CDs at the top of the charts with aggressive and emotive music that combined equal parts punk and heavy metal. The media tagged this music land and anointed Seattle as grunge headquarters. Grunge was marketed heavily by the culture industries music labels put out dozens of grunge bands, films that displayed the grunge attitude appeared, and fashion runways and J.C. cents stores were clogged with flannel shirts and clothes that had the look of the vintage buyback Army gear that was the uniform of the grunge scene. Grunge faded in its influence in part due to the death of its most dexterous lead actor when Nirvanas Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1995.Later in 1990s, techno music began making significant inroads into American youth culture. Invented in the 1980s as house music in inexpensive studios of Chicago and Detroit, this beat featn dan ce music became the lifeblood of dance parties called raves in places like capital of the United Kingdom and the Spanish island of Ibiza. Raves quickly spread throughout continental Europe and beyond. Raves were all-night bound marathons often set up in warehouses, exotic outdoor locales, and other improvised spaces. Raves forceed young people, mostly teens, who danced for hours at a time, not in pairs, but in free-form groups. The highly rhythmic music and long-winded spring combined to produce for some fans an ecstatic trance-like state. The music was produced almost altogether by disk jockeys sampling records with tape loops and other electronic tricks. Many sub-genres feel since emerged that mix-and-match musical styles from around the world. Part of the scene was a drug called ecstasy, a drug that induces promiscuous affection, sensory overload, and euphoria. And, to supporting the energy move all night, the dancers demanded energizing drinks. In particular, an enterpris ing Austrian company marketed Red Bull, a drink that was once an Asian hangover cure, as a rave stimulant. Either straight or mixed with vodka, Red Bull became the rave drink ofchoice. Raves diffused rather late to the United States, but proved to be most popular in the major metropolitan areas.5502-040Mountain Dew Selecting New CreativeSports. The so-called alternative sports took off in the early 1990s. teenage enthusiasts transformed casual hobby activitiesmountain biking, skateboarding, paragliding, BMX biking, and in-line skatinginto highly technical, creative, and often dangerous sports. Snowboarding became an overnight hit with teens. bungee cord starting timeing was a fad that disappeared quickly. As these sports became progressively risky and creative, they began to attract spectators. So-called extreme sports skiing subdue extremely steep terrain or jumping off tall buildings with a parachutewere covered by ESPN. ESPN also aggressively promoted circuits and tournaments to professionalize these new sports, which culminated in the organic Games in 1994, a non-traditional Olympics of sorts. Mountain Dew was one of the founding lead sponsors of the Extreme Games, which later became the X Games. Later, NBC followed with the Gravity Games, and MTV also began to cover these sports. Grunge music, more aggressive styles of rap, and various hybrids were prominent aural expressions of these sports.GenX Ethos. During the 1990s, teens and young adults evinced a growing cynicism toward the overriding work-oriented values of the previous generation and toward corporations more generally. They found that working hard to get ahead in terms of salary and occupational prestige was harder to swallow in an era of corporate reengineering. Their cynicism also breaked to corporations themselves and their marketing efforts. As this cohort became increasingly knowl saltationable about how marketing worked and increasingly jaded about why brands were popular, they were not interested in listen to sales messages that tried to persuade them into believing a particular brand of soft drink or beer was cool. Instead, these youth adopted a campinterest in non-trendy products, television programs, and music of previous eras. As these comic new tastes became commercialized in computer programming like Nickelodeon channel channels Nick at Nite serieswhich featured less-than-notable programming from the 1950s-1970s retro was born.The Do the Dew CampaignIn 1992, senior management at PepsiCo sensed an opportunity to increase business on fare Mountain Dew. Diet Mountain Dews distribution was limited mostly to the rural regions where the brand was strongest, even though regular Dew was now a national brand. Diet Mountain Dew performed very well on product tests versus other diet drinks in the category because the heavy citrus flavor did a better job of masking the undesirable taste of the artificial sweetener. So PepsiCo allocated money for incremental ad vertising to support an effort to expand Diet Mountain Dew distribution. Bill Bruce, then a junior copywriter working on several brands, was assigned to the project. The strategy statements that guided the initial creative idea and subsequent spots in the campaign are describe in Exhibit 3. Bruce came up with the Do Diet Dew tag line (which soon evolved into Do the Dew to support the entire brand) and several new ideas to embellish what BBDO had begun with the gain Vertical campaign.The first breakthrough ad of the new campaign, make That, features a hair-raising shot of a guy jumping off the edge of a cliff to take a free-fall toward the narrow canyons river bottom, set to throbbing grunge music. This was the first ad to feature the Dew Dudes quaternary young guys who are witnessing the daredevil stunts presented in the ad and commenting on them. Done That became a huge hit, capturing the countrys imagination. The ad was widely parodied and the language been there, done that en tered the vernacular. For 1994 and 1995, BBDO produced three carbon-copy pond-outs1 of Done That. By 1995, after two years of these ads, consumer interest in the creative was1 The noun pool-out is derived from a verb that is particular to the advertising business to pool out. The idea is to developa pool of ads that are all closely related derivations from the same creative idea. some(prenominal) advertisers feel that pools deliver a6Mountain Dew Selecting New Creative502-040fading fast. According to Jeff Mordos, if the creative hadnt moved to another idea that year, consumers flagging interest and the potential of a revolt by PepsiCo bottlers likely would have forced PepsiCo to develop an entirely new campaign.For 1995, three of four spots produced relied upon different creative ideas. One of these spots, Mel Torme, became the second hit of the campaign. The spot was a parody featuring the aging Vegas lounge singer Mel Torme, tuxedo-clad atop a Vegas hotel crooning I Get a Kick o ut of You, with lyrics altered to incorporate Mountain Dew references. He impresses the Dew Dudes with a base jump of his own. Similar ads followed. In 007, a teenage James Bond engages in a frenetic pursuit scene with typical Bond stunts, accompanied by the familiar Bond theme music. The Dew Dudes are not affect until Bond comes upon a Mountain Dew vending machine. In Training, brash lawn tennis star Andre Agassi performs extreme stunts as training exercises, and then plays an extreme game of tennis with the Dew Dudes as his coaches.In 1997, BBDO came up with two breakthrough spots. The director of Nirvanas classic music video Smells Like Teen Spirit was hired to direct Thank Heaven, which mimics a music video. The spot stars the lead singer of an alternative rock band called Ruby. She sings a punked-up rendition of the classic song Thank Heaven for Little Girls, in which the grunge style suggests the little girls of old have been replaced by the feminine brand of aggressiveness presented in the ad. Jackie Chan deploys the Hong Kong movie stars patented militant arts with humorous stunts into the campaignsjaded, seen it already motif. The ad begins in the midst of what seems like a classic chase scene from a Chan film with lots of harrowing action. When Chan faces down his enemy, the Dew Dudes magically appear as Confucian wisemen who assist Chan with cans of Mountain Dew. Other ads produced were significantly less effective. Scream, a high-speed amalgam of extreme sports shots that are organized to answer the steer questionWhat is a Mountain Dew?did not fare well. And Michael Johnson, a spot developed to broaden Dews raise in the African-American community, did not meet the companys expectations.By 1998, PepsiCo managers worried that the advertising was worthy too predictable. In particular, they were concerned that the use of alternative sports was becoming less impactful due to oversaturation. Many other brands, including companies like Bagel Bites, AT&T, Gillette Extreme Deodorant, and Slim Jims beef jerky snacks, were now major sponsors of alternative sports. To keep the campaign fresh, they take awayed to find alternative ways to express Mountain Dews distinctive features. Parking Attendant, produced in 1999, was a solid effort at advancing toward an alternative expression. The spot features a parking attendant who takes liberties when parking a BMW handed off by a stodgy businessman. The kid drives as if in a police chase, flying from one building to another, accompanied by a frenetic surf subservient that had been featured in Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction a few years prior.Mountain Dew Market ResearchMountain Dews distinctive demographic profile reflected the brands historic popularity in the NASCAR belt (see the Brand Development Index Map in Exhibit 4 and lifestyle analysis in Exhibit 5a). And Mountain Dew had much lower penetration of the total population than its major competitors. But its consumers were the most liege in the category. Mountain Dew had the highest gatekeeping rating of all CSDsit was the drink that flummoxs tried the hardest to keep out of themore consistent campaign while others feel that the ads become too formulaic when they are so similar. Regardless, there is a great temptation when an ad breaks through and becomes a hit to develop pool-outs to extend thepopularity.7502-040Mountain Dew Selecting New Creativestomachs of their children. Periodically, the PepsiCo seek department fielded a major study to assess the health of the brand, and to direct any fine-tuning. A 1997 brand fitness study profiled the status of the Dew brand versus its major competitors (Exhibits 6a-d). PepsiCo monitored both the effectiveness of individual ads, as well as the additive impact of advertising on the overall health of the Mountain Dew brand. The contribution made by a single ad toward building brand law was notoriously dispute to measure. Both quantitative and qualitative research pr ovided information from which managers make useful inferences. But Pepsi managers had yet to find a research method that was accurate enough to rely upon to provide definitive judgments on ad effectiveness. PepsiCo routinely gathered a wide variety of data that hinted at an ads impact.In addition to formal research, managers monitored speak value or buzzthe extent to which the ad has been picked up by the mass media. In particular, The Tonight Show and David Letterman were useful barometers. Feedback from the Mountain Dew website, summary websites, and the brands 800 number were important gauges as well. In addition, PepsiCo cautiously monitored how the salesforce and bottlers responded to the ads, since they were getting direct feedback from their customers. PepsiCo managers used all these data as filters. But, ultimately, the military rating of advertising rested on managerial attemptment. Based on their away get with the brand and with advertising across many brands, manag ers made a reasoned evaluation.However, PepsiCo managers did rely on market research to assess the cumulative impact of advertising on the brand. Because many other factorsespecially pricing and retail display activityhad an immediate short-term impact on sales, it was often difficult to draw causal relationships between advertising and sales. But advertising campaigns dodirectly impact how the brand is perceived. And these perceptions, in turn, drive sales. So PepsiCo had assembled a set of what they termed key performance indicators (KPIs), intermediate measures that were directly impacted by advertising and that had been proven to significantly impact sales. Managers introduce KPIs, also referred to as brand health measures, both for teens and for 20-39 year olds. But managers were particularly concerned with brand health amongst teens because at this age soft drink consumers often moved from experimenting with a variety of drinks to becoming loyal lifetime drinkers of a single soda.The latest study, conducted in the spring of 1999, reported Mountain Dews teen KPIs. Dew improved 6 points on Dew Tastes correct (to 48% versus a year ago). Unaided brand awareness had dropped 5 points (to 39%). For someone like me had increased 5 points (to 53%). And Dew Drinkers are Cool increased 5 points (to 64%).2000 PlanningIn 1999, Mountain Dew became the third largest carbonated soft drink at retail, overtaking Diet Coke. However, part of this success in gaining share had to do with the sustained flunk of Pepsi and Coke. In 1999, the problems that the colas were facing seemed to be spreading to Mountain Dew, Sprite, and Dr. Pepper. All of the leading CSDs began to show real weakness as alternative non-carbonated drinks began to attract a great deal of trial, especially amongst teens. While Mountain Dew sales began to lag, all of the brand health indicators remained strong. And the advertising continued to significantly outperform competition. In planning for 2000, Mof fitt and his senior management were particularly concerned with two dilemmasHow to keep the Do the Dew campaign working hard to build the brand wedded that extreme sports were becoming overexposedHow to respond to the growing threat of non-CSDs, especially Gatorade and the new highlycaffeinated and sugary energy drinks like Red BullMountain Dew Selecting New Creative502-040A detailed strategy statement was developed by Moffitts team at Pepsi-Cola North America, in conjunction with the account team at BBDO New York led by Cathy Israelevitz. This strategy was boil down to a single sentence to focus the development of new creative Symbolize that drinking Mountain Dew is an exhilarating look. This document was used to brief Bruce and his creative team (Exhibit 7).Exhibit 7Mountain Dew FY 2000 Brand Communications scheme aim Expand appeal of Mountain Dew to new users while reinforcing it among current users Positioning To 18 year old males, who court excitement, adventure and fun, M ountain Dew is the great tasting carbonated soft drink that exhilarates like no other because it is energizing, thirstquenching, and has a one-of-a-kind citrus flavor. Communication Strategy Symbolize that drinking Mountain Dew is an exhilarating experience. Target Male Teens18 year-old epicenterEnsure appeal amongst 20-39 year olds (current users)Drive universal appeal (white, African-American, Hispanic, and other ethnic)Product BenefitsEnergizingEmotional BenefitsExhilarationPersonality wiseQuenchingExcitementDaringGreat TasteFun ancestor PepsiCoSuper pealingIn addition to these strategic issues, Moffitt had to consider carefully where these ads would be get off. Mountain Dews national media plan focused on a younger audience. Typical buys would include MTV, The Simpsons, and ESPN during alternative sports broadcasts. However, with its long run of sales increases in the 1990s, Mountain Dew was becoming less of a niche brand. Partly in recognition of this expanding customer base and partly to fete within the company Dews arrival as the third most popular CSD, top management decided to feature Mountain Dew rather than Pepsi during the Super Bowl.The Super Bowl had for decades been a hugely influential event for advertisers. The game drew the biggest audience of the year and the ads received an amazing count of attention. In recent years, the frenzy around the advertising had grown disproportionately to the game itself. The media paid almost as much attention to the ads shown as to the teams and players.The networks interviewed the advertisers and the stars of the ads, and even replayed the ads on their programs. So a Super Bowl ad now had a huge ripple effect in free public relations. In addition, the Super Bowl was an extremely important conflict for advertisers and especially for ad agencies. To win the9502-040Mountain Dew Selecting New CreativeSuper Bowl (to be voted the top ad in the ground forces Today Ad Meter poll reported in the composition the f ollowing day) was a prestigious honor within the industry. Finally, Super Bowl ads provided a powerful sales tool to motivate retailers and distributors. PepsiCo and other grocery store products advertisers used their annual Super Bowl advertising to sell in retail displays. Super Bowl advertising, as a result, had become a distinctive genre within advertising. The demographically diverse audience demanded advertising with maulers that were easily understood. Insider humor did not work. While MTV ads could talk in a colloquial language to teens, Super Bowl ads could not afford this luxury. Second, the heat up competition to win the affection of the audience had led to big productions that would stand out against an ever-more impressive set of competitors.The New CreativeBruce and Cassar had just stainless presenting ten new ad concepts for PepsiCo to evaluate. For each concept, PepsiCo managers were given a storyboarda script and a set of rough pencil sketches that depicted the m ost important scenes. Bruce and Cassar talked through each storyboard to help the client imagine how the ad would look if it were produced. The storyboard served as the skeletal outline of the ad. The creatives put flesh on these bones by describing in detail the characters, the action, how the scene is depicted, and the music. Of the ten new concepts, Moffitt and his senior managers hoped to select three ads to produce.The two best ads would run on theSuper Bowl and then all three ads would be broadcast throughout 2000. It was already October, so there was barely enough time to produce the ads presented to get them on the Super Bowl. Asking Bruce to try again was not an option. The ten initial concepts were quickly whittled down to five finalists. 1) tire out of Love. A humorous spot about the birth of a Dew drinker. The bushel in the delivery room calls out code green and retreats to set about with a baseball game mitt the baby as it shoots out of its mother like a cannon.2) C heetah. One of the Dew Dudes chases down a cheetah on a mountain bike. The cheetah, running on the African plain, has stolen his Dew and he wants it back. He tackles the cat, pulls the can out of the cats stomach, but finds that its set down and full of holes. 3) Dew or Die. The Dew Dudes are called in to foil the plot of an evil villain who is threatening to blow up the planet. Performing daredevil maneuvers down a mountain, they get sidetracked in a ski lodge with some girls, but accidentally save the world anyway, powered by a spilt can of Dew.4) Mock Opera. A parody of the Queen song gipsy Rhapsody sung by the Dew Dudes who mock the cover of the original Queen album. The ad portrays the story of the altered lyrics alternative sports action in which the athletes just miss cans of Dew as they shoot by. 5) Showstopper. A take-off on an extravagantly choreographed production number that mimics a Buzby Berkeley musical/dance film from the 1930s. The dancers are silver-clad BMX rider s and skateboarders who perform for the Dew Dudes seance as directors. PepsiCo viewed the evaluation of new creative as the most challenging aspect of brand management.Unlike decisions on new product ideas, consumer promotions, or product improvements, there was no market research or marketplace data to guide the decision. Junior managers typically did not sit in the agency presentations as they were not yet seasoned enough to judge creative work. PepsiCo believed that managers first had to gain knowledge of how advertising 10Mountain Dew Selecting New Creative502-040worked to build brands through years of seasoning and tutorials on several of the companys brands. So Scott Moffitt was the most junior somebody in the room. The skills and judgment that he demonstrated would be key to contemptible up the ladder at PepsiCo. Bill Bruce finished presenting his last storyboard and scanned the room to lock eyes with the PepsiCo executives who would be deciding the fate of his ideas. Scot t Moffitt didnt return the gaze. Instead he looked anxiously at his superiors, knowing that the spotlight would succeeding(a) focus on him.This was his chance to prove himself not only to PepsiCo senior management, but also to BBDO. BBDOs senior managers had become influential advisors, whom PepsiCos top marketing executives routinely relied upon to help guide branding decisions. With six years of experience under his belt, this was Moffitts chance to earn their keep as a contributing member to these critical discussions. Moffitt was eager to make a strong impression with nuanced and well-reasoned evaluations. Following long-standing protocol in box goods companies, the junior manager at the table gets the first crack at evaluating the creative. Moffitt cleared his throat, complimented Bruce on the high quality of the new work he had presented, and began his evaluation.11502-040Exhibit 1-12-CSD gross revenue/ parting(Million Cases/Percent Market)1990CokePepsiDiet CokeDiet PepsiSpr iteDr. PepperMountainDew7-UPSurgeMello Yello199119921993199419951996199719981999 (Est.)Sales Share1,565.5 20.11,370.0 17.6726.9 9.3490.0 6.3295.0 3.8364.8 4.7300.0 3.9Sales Share1,597.9 20.11,338.0 16.9741.2 9.3500.0 6.3313.1 3.9385.3 4.9327.5 4.1Sales Share1,613.9 20.11,327.3 16.5732.6 9.1509.5 6.4328.1 4.1414.0 5.2351.1 4.4Sales Share1,680.4 20.21,305.9 15.7740.6 8.9491.5 5.9357.6 4.3445.6 5.4387.6 4.7Sales Share1,776.7 20.41,310.0 15.0767.6 8.8511.2 5.9396.3 4.5485.1 5.6455.0 5.2Sales Share1,868.6 20.81,344.3 15.0793.0 8.8521.4 5.8460.3 5.1515.0 5.7509.6 5.7Sales Share1,929.2 20.81,384.6 14.9811.4 8.7541.5 5.8529.8 5.7536.8 5.8535.6 5.8Sales Share1,978.2 20.61,391.5 14.5819.0 8.5523.5 5.5598.0 6.2566.8 5.9605.2 6.3Sales Share2,037.5 20.61,399.8 14.2851.8 8.6529.7 5.4651.8 6.6599.4 6.1665.1 6.7Sales Share2,018.0 20.31,371.8 13.8843.0 8.5503.0 5.1671.5 6.8630.0 6.3705.0 7.1211.5 2.7207.742.92.6211.349.52.6209.959.52.564.0221.52.564.6219.92.561.6217.72.359.0216.769.046.62.3210.951.8 42.42.1204.926.741.62.1 cum Maxwell ReportExhibit 2Advertising Spending telly MediaMajor CSDs ($MM)CokePepsiMountainDewSpriteDr. Pepper7-UpSurge1990$157.4$129.8$ 12.91991$139.9$141.3$ 20.01992$168.1$137.8$ 25.91993$131.1$144.0$ 29.11994$161.5$120.6$ 30.31995$124.7$133.1$ 38.31996$199.8$ 98.1$ 40.41997$156.8$133.1$ 43.11998$140.4$140.5$ 50.31999$167.7$165.9$ 45.02000 (Est.)$208.3$159.6$ 55.9$ 32.0$ 32.2$ 38.8$ 0.0$ 36.1$ 49.3$ 37.4$ 0.0$ 27.5$ 50.1$ 23.7$ 0.0$ 26.9$ 52.8$ 29.4$ 0.0$ 36.0$ 61.5$ 27.3$ 0.0$ 54.6$ 65.4$ 23.2$ 0.0$ 57.9$ 67.9$ 33.1$ 0.0$$$$$$$$$ 69.9$102.4$ 38.7$ 19.6$ 87.7$106.8$ 45.1$ 0.2 line of descent Competitive Media Reports60.681.038.715.556.286.827.021.0502-040Exhibit 3Mountain Dew Brand Communications Strategies (1993-1999)Objective1993-941995-13-Increase awareness and trial of Mountain DewDistinguish Mt. Dew within the warring environmentthrough contemporary communication of the trademarksdistinct, historic aligningStrategyTargetYou can have the most thrill ing, exciting, presumeexperience but it will never compete with theexperience of a Mt. DewMale teens/young adultsYou can have the most thrilling, exciting, daringexperience but it will never compete with theexperience of a Mt. DewBulls eye 18 yr. old leading edge maleExecutional Direction-Distinct campaign with Dew honorconsistency-Leverage full tilt taste and rush aspoint of differenceBroad 12-29 year olds-Shift to a unified trademark focusmodeled after Do Diet Dew-Explore outdoor settings-Predominant male, mid-20s casting-Preserve balance between outlandishand vivid actions/sports19961997Optimize Dews positioning equity among the target in ahighly relevant and contemporary flair(You can have the most thrilling, exciting, daringexperience but) theres nothing more intensethan slamming a Mt. DewBulls eye 18 yr. old leading edge maleOptimize Dews positioning equity among the target in ahighly relevant and contemporary manner(You can have the most thrilling, exciting, daringexperie nce but) theres nothing more intensethan slamming a Mt. DewBulls eye 18 yr. old leading edge male fellow traveller Mt. Dew with thrilling and exhilaratingadventures in a light-hearted mannerBulls eye 18 yr. old leading edge male-Strengthen brand perceptions among AABroad 12-29 year oldsBroad 12-29 year olds-Bring Do the Dew trademark campaignto the next level-Continue Do the Dew trademarkcampaign and encompass the Mt. Dewexperience-Encourage product trial where familiarity is low1998Build badge value and authentic, truthful Icon status for Mt.Dew in the world of youth-targeted consumer goodsBroad 12-29 male/ womanish-Evolve the Do the Dew campaignagainst core target with fresh andrelevant copy-Develop ethnically-targeted crossappeal spot-Enhance product perception1999Optimize relevance of Dews positioning among the targetAssociate Mt. Dew with the exhilarating intensity oflifes most exciting, fun adventuresMale Teens (16 yr. old epicenter)Develop pool of Do the Dew executions-Invit e teen girls while continuing as maleCSD-Explore other metaphors beyondalternative sports to express exhilaratingintensity-Maintain cross-over appeal among 2039 year olds-One execution should have AA/urbanrelevance-Communicate quenching-Inclusion of water-greenery elements notmandatory seed PepsiCo502-040Exhibit 4Mountain Dew Brand Development Index Map radical BBDO New York-14-502-040Exhibit 5aSpectra Lifestyle AnalysisMOUNTAIN DEWCONSUMPTION mightLIFESTAGESPECTRALIFESTYLE18-34 W/Kids18-34 W/O Kids35-54 W/Kids35-54 W/O Kids55-6465+Total LifestyleUpscale Suburbs8277 ci56451364 conventional Families11812116079423596Mid UpscaleSuburbs10111110871641866Metro Elite1398514147472172Working forkTowns2371392421216742139Rural Towns &Farms2251532121419139140Mid Urban melt butt1481049752493174 downmarket Rural3091422911278743158Downscale Urban999810773553276Total Lifestage171112165836131100Source AC Nielsen Product depository library 11/97 to 11/99-15-502-040Exhibit 5bMountain Dew Selecting N ew CreativeLifestyle GlossaryLifestyle GlossaryUpscale SuburbsThe American Dream, a clarified house in a nice suburban neighborhood.College-educated executives and professionals who index high on travel, eating out, playing golf, going to health clubs, buying imported cars, watching/reading business and news. small(a) African-American and Hispanic. High income.Traditional FamiliesLike Upscale Suburbs, but lower socio-economic level. Mix of lower level administrators and professionals with well-paid blue-collar. Index high on gardening, DIY al-Qaeda improvement, driving SUVs, camping, classic rock, sports radio. Low African-American and Hispanic. Mid-high income. Mid/Upscale Suburbs dwell in first-generation suburbs that are now part of the urban fringe. Lower income than Traditional Families, but more college-educated and white collar. Index high on baseball fans, casino gambling, using internet, attending live theatre, reading science and technology, auditory modality/watching news. Low African-American and Hispanic. Mid-high income.Metro EliteYounger and more urban, college-educated, ethnically diverse. Very attuned to new fashions. Geographically mobile. Index high on health clubs, bars and night clubs, fashion magazines, VH-1, music, film, computers. Middle income.Working Class TownsWell paid blue collar families living in suburbs of littler cities. Index high on auto racing, fishing, hunting, country music, camping, televised sports. Own trucks or minivans. Low African-American and Hispanic. Middle income.Rural Towns & FarmsSmall towns mostly in the middle of the country, dominated by blue-collar and agricultural work. Index high on rodeos, fishing, woodworking, chewing tobacco, wrestling, camping, country music, TV movies, USA and TNN channels. Dont read magazines and newspapers. Low African-American. Lower income. Mid Urban Melting PotUrban multi-ethnic neighborhoods. Old European ethnic enclaves and new Asian immigrants, mixed with African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods. Index high on menthol cigarettes, dance music, boxing, pro basketball, lottery, Home Shopping Network, heavy TV viewing, urban contemporary radio. Lower income, low college, service industries.Downscale RuralPoor rural areas in Appalachia, throughout the South, and the Plains States. This socially conservative and religious area is sometimes called the bible belt While indexing high African-American, these are very segregated neighborhoods with little racial mixing. Lowest on education, occupation, income, housing. Index high on trucks, chewing tobacco, belonging to veterans club, target shooting, tractor pulls, country music, fishing and hunting., daytime drama TV programs.Downscale Urban homogeneous socioeconomic profile as Downscale Rural but very different cultural profile, more similar to Mid-Urban Melting Pot. Mostly African-American and Hispanic urban neighborhoods. Source AC Nielsen Product Library 11/97 to 11/9916502-040Exhibit 6aBrand mental i magery Mountain DewProduct tomography*Too sweetMost entertain adsFun to drinkIntense experienceLots of flavorWhen need energy boostIn mood for something different*At a sporting eventUser tomography(54%)Psychographic mental imagery adventurous screwballActiveDaring*CourageousExcitingFree-spiritedRebellious unpromptedacrobaticYouthfulCoolHip*Out-going(Someone youd spendtime with)Source BBDO New York-17-502-040Exhibit 6bBrand Imagery SurgeProductImagery*Cant relate to ads*Low quality product*not always availableUniqueIntense experience*Tastes artificialWhen need energy boostIn mood for somethingdifferentSource BBDO New YorkUserImagery(49%)PsychographicImageryWildRebelliousDaringAdventurousActiveUp-to-dateAthletic*TrendyYouthful*Leading-edgeExcitingSpontaneousIndividualistic*PowerfulHipIn style-18-502-040Exhibit 6cBrand Imagery 7 UpProductImagery*Least fill outLowest caloriesLow in atomic number 11*Too little flavor*Not sweet enough*Not filling*Healthy/good for youMost refreshingSo urce BBDO New YorkUserImagery(48%)PsychographicImagerySensitiveRelaxedPeaceful*HealthyFeminineKind*Nurturing(Nice)(Loyal)(Cooperative)-19-502-040Exhibit 6dBrand Imagery SpriteProduct ImageryLowest caloriesMost refreshing*Thirst quenching*Goes down easyLow in sodiumIn a nice restaurant*After exercise/sports(In the evening)(In the morning)Imagery(56%)PsychographicImageryFeminineSensitivePeaceful*NiceRelaxedFree-spirited*Cooperative* couthy*HappyKind(Innovative)