Overview

Mountain Dew is citrus flavoured high caffeine carbonated soft drink distributed by PepsiCo., Mountain Dew was made in the early 1940 s by two brothers, Ally and Barney ′Hartman, who were bottling a litigated-lemon drink as a personal mixer for hard-liquor. It was called “Mountain Dew” after Tennessee Mountain Moonshine. . As of 2007, Mountain

Dew was the 4th best selling carbonated soft drink in the United States, behind Coca-Cola Classic, Pepsi-Cola, and Diet Coke. Mountain Dew's Diet version is ranked 9th in terms of sales. On October 15, 2008, Mountain Dew's official logo was redesigned to "Mtn Dew", as a result of a PepsiCo rebranding of its core products.

Consumer Segmentation

Mountain Dew has been targeted at male audience in the age group of 16-35 belonging to

Socio Economic Classification(SEC) A & B. This can be further classified on the following basis –

1) Demographic Segmentation Age - As Mountain Dew is considered an energy drink so it is segmented demographically for the age group 16-35. Gender - it has been specifically targeted at males.

2) Psychographic Segmentation

Lifestyle - Mountain dew has segmented its product for the outgoing, sporty type youngsters who take part in adventure sports.

3) Behavioural Segmentation

Mountain Dew made the behavioural segmentation on the basis of people who enjoy outdoor activities not only as means for healthy life, but also as an intrinsically enjoyable activity itself.

Benefits – Product is low cost , easily available, has high caffeine content which gives instant energy so has appeal among youngsters.Loyalty status –Mountain dew enjoys a high loyalty status amongst its followers.

Factors affecting the choice of target market

Living up to its global imageMountain dew has been linked with outdoor sports and adventure activities throughout the world. Therefore when it was launched in India Pepsico. wanted to create an image which is consistent with how it is perceived globally.

Unexplored segmentThis particular segment (adventure loving, outgoing sports enthusiast) has not been targeted by the competition.

Effect of Competition All other broader segments have already been targeted by the competition e.g Manly drink – Thumps UpYouth – PepsiFamily – CokeRefreshing lemon drink – Limca

Environment factors affecting the choice of target marketTechnological environment –Evolution of internet has complemented its choosing of target market as they are also the prime users of Internet. This has enabled it to develop a consistent relationship with its consumers.

Other brands produced by Pepsico in same product categoryProduct category is carbonated soft drinksPepsico has following brands in this category

Pepsi 7 Up Diet Pepsi Mirinda Pepsi max(Recent launch)

The segmentation of Mountain dew is quite narrow and it has been done on the following basis:On basis of age 16-34On basis of gender MaleOn basis of socio economic classification A and B

Marketing communication

For advertising different kind of media is being used by mountain dew which is as follows:

Television, Radio, Internet, Newspaper and Others

The main product of PepsiCo is Pepsi but they are spending 75% of its advertising budget

on mountain dew advertising.

Ads of mountain dew

1. One of the most appealing ad of mountain dew is with tag line “Cheetah bhi peetah hai”

where it is targeting there target customer by showing a fighting with a leopard for Dew. This

ad is suitable with its image of daredevil and fearlessness.

2. Second ad includes one man fighting with long horny animal for the dew can. It also

shows hardiness nature and also tells how powerful drink is with tagline “do the dew”

3. After repositioning in 2007 new ads targeted human feeling of fear and had a tagline “dark

ke aage jeet hai” 

Sales promotion

Mountain dew is not using many type of sales promotion because it is in a niche

market and customers are loyal .It is using some contests on its website to create awareness

about product and the price for right answers is free adventure tour which is also suitable to

its positioning.

Promotion through internet gaming

Internet games like Dewmocracy have been very popular and have added a lot to the brand

loyalty of this product.

Public relation

It is not using this tool of promotion very much but in recent in the movie mission Istanbul it

was one of the partners and got publicity by this. It will also associate with bollywood in

future.

Events organizationEvents are the important part of its promotion as it is targeting youth. It is organizing many bike racing, mountain riding events where youth participates. It has also organized road shows with Jagran Solutions featuring activities such as Spider Web, Monkey Crawling, Fidget Ladder and Conquer On the Wall for consumer awareness in 185 cities of 7 states. 

Word of mouthThis is the important way of promotion where satisfied customers encourage other people who come in his contract. Mountain dew is enjoying this tool of promotion because it is youth targeted drink and satisfied youth themselves promote it as a good drink among their friends.

Packaging

Normally csd used to be available in 300 ml glass bottles and 500ml PET bottles. But for past few years 200ml glass bottles are more prevalent. 500ml pet bottles are no longer produced instead 600ml bottles are produced. The colour green represents the plant life which goes with outdoors.

PET can be semi-rigid to rigid, depending on its thickness, and it is very lightweight. It makes a good gas and fair moisture barrier, as well as a good barrier to alcohol (requires additional "barrier" treatment) and solvents. It is strong and impact-resistant. It is naturally colourless with a high transparency.

In India Mountain Dew has changed its label once in 2008

Till 2008 since 2008

The change in label goes well with its philosophy of freshness and spirit of adventure and to maintain this regular changes in design of the labels are done. The target market is such that it Gets bored of the same label easily so continuous change is necessary.

There has also been a change in the packaging of pet bottles

The new grip pack provides a special grip on the bottle . this goes well with its overall theme of supporting adventure sports and creates a perception that even when you are engaged in some sports you can have a firm grip of mountain dew. They have also tried to build masculine personality through grip on the bottle.

Brand positioning among competition

Prime competitors in same segment

On the basis of flavour and colour : sprite and 7 upalthough mountain dew has a unique flavour which is not similar to any other existing csd drink ,but in India sprite and 7 Up are considered as substitutes of same flavours. Probably because of same coloured bottles and a citrus taste.

On the basis of target market: Thumps UpThumps Up has traditionally targeted the masculinity of Indian males with campaigns portraying it as a strong drink for MEN . But recent campaigns have presented it as a drink for those who live in the fast lane and has thus become direct competitor to mountain dew.

Positioning as compared to competitors

Brand Target segment Positioning Mountain dew Young males Energetic and exhilaration

drinkThumps Up Sturdy men Strong, manly drink Sprite Young male and female No nonsense drink7 Up Young male and female Refreshing lemon drink

Competitors in the product category

All csd will come as competitors in the product category. They are:

Pepsi, Coke, Limca, Fanta, mirinda,Diet coke, Diet Pepsi , Rc cola

Thums Up16%

Pepsi Cola13%

Sprite12%

Limca11%

Fanta10%

Mirinda9%

Coke Classic

8%

Mountain Dew7%

7 Up6%

Others8%

Chart Title

The pie chart shows market share of different csd brands as compared to mountain dew

Market Positioning

Mountain Dew was initially as positions as a product for outgoing, adventure loving young males with a love for extreme sports. It captured a whopping 5% of the market in just 3 months. However a survey by Synovate in late 2005 among 16-20 year old SEC A1 & SEC A2 showed that people preferred Sprite and Limca, with Mountain Dew performing only a shade better than Frooti. This ‘baffling’ result revealed an insight.

Concept of extreme sports is limited to Indian metros, that too among the more

upwardly mobile sections. And even there, awareness does not necessarily mean

appeal.  To most, adventure sports were and still are, confined to the television, with

neither the inclination nor the means to pursue them.

The ad campaigns itself were found to be over the top and unrealistic. This survey

and the market performance of Mountain Dew set the stage for a course correction.

To address these issues in 2007 brand repositioning was done.

Brand Repositioning

The new campaigns portrayed the Dew Dudes as human beings with human emotions like

fear. Instead of asking for people who have ‘been there done that’ to adopt Mountain Dew it

asks for people who wish to conquer fear to adopt Mountain Dew. Thus the campaign

effected a subtle repositioning of the brand from that focusing on identification with the Dew

Dudes to one focusing on the aspiration quality of conquering ones inner monsters. All the

while it remains faithful to its association with adventure.

The latest campaign certainly seems to be a step in this direction; the commercial attempts to

associate the drink with one’s ability to conquer fear, rather than indulge in thrill-seeking.  It

appears to be a cautious move to reposition the brand in an attempt to make it more attractive

to a wider consumer base. This ‘mainstreaming’ of Mountain Dew also reflected in its

secondary associations. From sponsoring fringe/niche extreme sporting events in India,

Mountain Dew has moved to sponsoring regular sports and even movies.

Our recommendations

at present positioning strategy is effective but in future it can include some issues like

increasing pollution and global warming (as these are harming the adventure sport

spots )

assign a popular youth icon as their brand ambassador