Case Study - Mountain Dew

I began brainstorming ideas for case study topics by thinking about purple cows that I have seen before. I thought about it for a while, a couple weeks went by and I still hadn't selected a topic. It finally came to me three weeks before I was signed up to present. My idea was so good that I didn't want to wait that long. Thankfully, Rob let me present early. 

I landed on Mountain Dew for my topic because they had a purple cow that was surely memorable. I started off by letting the class in on some of the history of the soft drink. Mountain Dew was established in 1940 and produced and owned by Pepsi Co. The origonal recipe was invented by Tennessee beverage bottlers Barney and Ally Hartman. However, in 1958 a revised formula was created by Bill Bridgeforth. During Super Bowl 50, Mountain Dew released a commercial for their energy drink; Kick Start. The commercial is called; Puppy Monkey Baby. And because of its extrodinarily weird premise, the ad gained mixed reviews, some were shocked, some were intrigued, and some were just wierded out.

I found their value proposition to be; Cool, New, Enegizing. The idea of the commercial is "three awesome things, combined." Hence: Puppy, Monkey, Baby. Dew, Juice, Caffiene. Personally I enjoyed this ad becuase it was interesting and memorable. However, I can see why it got mixed review, the commercial is quite bizarre. I have tried the product and it was fairly enjoyable in my opinion.

Mountain Dew KickStart as a product has been a complete success. In 2013 it generated $300 million in annual retail. "one of our most exciting innovations in the past decade" - Pepsi. I think it was a great business move for Mountain Dew to step into the energy drink industry because there is a huge market for this kind of product. KickStart has sponsored multiple extreme sports athletes/events, further expanding their reach. Even though the Puppy Monkey Baby ad got mixed reviews, I don't think it hurt the product.

uhttp://www.pepsico.com/live/pressrelease/mtn-dew-kickstart-expands-product-lineup-with-introduction-of-four-bold-new-flav01192016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql7uY36-LwA

uhttps://www.google.com/search?ei=h_Z4WrHdLsy4jwOZ8ZjIDA&q=when+was+mountain+dew+established&oq=when+was+mountain+dew+&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l7.482915.486728.0.488446.23.12.0.11.11.0.154.874.10j2.12.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.23.905...0i131k1j0i67k1j0i3k1.0.09W1jfUxO0o

Week 2 Topic 2

Week 2 Topic 2

http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/doritos-mtn-dew-plugged-super-bowl-ads/311959/

I found an article on adage.com titled "DORITOS AND MTN DEW GET LINKED SUPER BOWL ADS STARRING PETER DINKLAGE AND MORGAN FREEMAN" by E.J. Shultz
This title definitely caught my attention. Four huge names, Doritoz, MTN DEW, Peter Dinklage, and Morgan Freeman! Those companies are notorious for their wacky commercials, and the actors are just flat out notorious. So you could say I didn't have a choice, I HAD to read this article!

Credit: PepsiCo
According to the article, the two brands have booked back to back ads, totaling 60 seconds of air time. Thats a lot of time, with endless possibilities. The soda company MTN DEW will be promoting a new flavor called "Lemon-Lime flavored Mtn Dew Ice", and Doritoz will be promoting a new flavor called "Spicy Doritoz Blaze". Okay, at this point in the article I'm already pumped to view this commercial! After analyzing the article, I found the entire value proposition of this commercial combo is that these two product are a great one two punch, soda and chips, the classic dynamic duo!

Morgan Freeman will be representing the new Mtn Dew drink, and Peter Dinklage will being backing the new flavor of Doritoz chips. This should be an amazing commercial. However, the companies have some big shoes to fill. Everyone will be expecting better form both companies, as they both sat out last years Superbowl. That poses the problem, will it be good enough? Or, will it fall short.

I learned that advertising on such a big stage, could come with some huge risks. However, as we learned from Seth Godin, it's risky to be safe. You could end up, failing miserably. Or, you could succeed epically.

Week 2 Topic 1
As we all know, the Superbowl is approaching. This made me think about all the wacky ads that will come along with the great American sporting event. On a side note I am very depressed that the Patriots will almost certainly win again, perhaps the funny commercials will ease my pain. The annual Superbowl have time show is presented by Pepsi, so i decided to see what social media had to say about the huge soda company. @marketing_birds tweeted this picture of a new Pepsi semi truck ad, and i found it interesting.

The Value Proposition of this particular ad, is to show that the light version of Pepsi is so light, that is floats in the cargo trailer. @gadrian84 says "meh" when prompted by the tweet for a yes or a no on the advertisment. @tantriclens tweets in reply to the first comment: "Tend to agree". My personal opinion is a positive review of the add. I like Pepsi better than Coke so I may be a little biased. However, I think this is a clever play on words, and give the ad a thumbs up.
The company may get mixed reviews on this ad so we'll see if it was worth the money. If I were the Brand Manager I wouldn't even respond to the comments, I would be confident in my ad and let it speak for itself.

Chase Fortmiller

"7 Ways to Use Humor in Your Online Marketing" - By Leyl Master Black

I found this article on the Mashable website, it invokes the idea of using humor as a tool to make marketing more fun and memorable, listing 7 ideas and examples. The article has a few main ideas about the use of humor in marketing, however most of them sing the same song. Leyl emphasizes creativity and relevance to the audience. I concur with the authors theory that humor is a great tool for connecting with your target audience.

The article includes examples of relevant humor techniques called memes. Personally I am a "memeaholic". Memes are great, they are hilarious, entertaining, and people can relate to them. I think incorporating memes into marketing is a great idea. If your target audience is 15-25 years of age, the people will relate to your ad more, thus being more inclined to buy your product.

The article also mentions an interesting idea about soliciting humor from your fan base. If you can ask your fans for their own creations that incorporate the brand or product into some form of humorous post through some sort of social media like Facebook, you can both gain exposure and relate to exponentially more people. I think this is a great way to market a brand or product. The article does a good job listing simple ways to add humor to your advertising.

Chase Fortmiller

Not only do I need to complete this class to finish my BA Admin associates degree, I also have aspirations to join the marketing world. My dream is to do sports marketing for some of the biggest names in athletics. I am excited to learn about marketing techniques that I can use in my career. I hope to learn some helpful tools, as well as some secrets of the field.

Outside of academics, I love playing video games in my free time. My favorite games include: Overwatch, PUBG, and Fortnite. I also enjoy playing basketball, lifting weights, and spending time with the people that I care about. I love traveling, however i haven't done very much of it. Although I hope to see the world one day, I made the decision to get an education and join the work force before hand.