Mountain Dew Boosts Spending

The soft drink unveils a campaign for its new flavors.

January 22, 2014

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Mountain Dew wants you to know there’s a Dew for each part of the day. After the successful launch of Kickstart last year, Mountain Dew has new flavors under the Kickstart umbrella designed for consuming in the evening hours: “Energizing” Black Cherry and Limeade, Advertising Age reports.

PepsiCo will support the new flavors with a robust ad campaign during the Super Bowl pre-game show. While some marketers “move on to the next shiny object and they don't support things in year two, [Mountain Dew is] really leaning into year two on Kickstart and actually going to spend more on Kickstart in year two from a marketing standpoint than we did in year one,” said Greg Lyons, vice president of marketing for the soft drink.

The company will also continue to push Diet Mountain Dew with a new tagline: “It’s the Only Diet with Dew In It.” Overall, Mountain Dew marketing spend will jump 20% this year.

Executives believe that Kickstart, which debuted last February in fruit-punch and orange-citrus flavors, will continue its growth. The beverage “certainly has gained a following,” said John Sicher of Beverage Digest. “Attempting to add additional day parts makes total sense,” he said about the new flavors. “I think PepsiCo appears to have the beginnings of a potentially nice little success on their hands.”

Because of these innovations, Mountain Dew has actually gained market share, while the overall carbonated soda category has seen sales drop 4.3% at retail (excluding fountain and vending sales). The new Kickstart flavors will be promoted as a way to “Kickstart Your Night.”

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