Group Three
MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
November 1, 2022
BUSI 520 D07
BUSI 520-D07 Group 3
MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
Mountain Dew History
Mountain Dew is a soft, carbonated, and caffeinated beverage brand that is manufactured
and owned by PepsiCo. In 1940, two brothers Barney and Ally Hartman invented the beverage in
Knoxville, Tennessee. Originally, the Hartman brothers prepared the recipe with the utilization as
a mixer with bourbon. At the time, their recipe was called "Personal Setup" with the original
glove of lemon-lime. However, their recipe became recognized as "Mountain Dew", which is a
common southern name to indicate “home brewed spirits".(Doug Mason, 2002) As the beverage
began to become sought after, a local teenager and next door neighbor of the Hartman brothers,
John Brichetto, was asked to draw a hillbilly as a logo. (Doug Mason, 2002) Next, the product
was taken to a convention jokingly, yet surprisingly was well-received. Due to the receptiveness
and attraction to their beverage thus far, the two brothers filed for a trademark of the green
bottled product with the slogan, “It’ll Tickle Your Innards”, in 1948. Ally Hartman continued to
revise the illustrative logo design and bottle. Eventually, he finalized a green bottle of 7 ounces
with the logo displaying "a hillbilly shooting at a Revenoo'r as he exits from the outhouse."
(Harris, 2009). Five years later, the trademark was approved and the Tri-City Beverage plant
began bottling the citrus flavored product (Doug Mason, 2002; Harris, 2009).
In 1957, Ally transferred the rights of the recipe of Mountain Dew to the Tip Corporation,
a company that made its profits from selling concentrates to bottlers. Furthermore, Bill
Bridgeforth, the plant manager of Tri-City Beverage, the bottling company of Mountain Dew,
consulted with Billy Jones, the president of the Tip Corporation, to help with a new flavor
concentrate. One year later, Bill Bridgeforth formulated a citrus-flavored lemonade drink with
reduced carbonation, which gained popularity. Although the flavor was preferred, the marketing
of the product lacked attraction. Subsequently, Bridgeforth began using the original Mountain
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
Dew logo and bottling the drink as the “NEW” Mountain Dew. The distribution of the “New
Mountain Dew” was limited to a small geographic area. “Willy the Hillbilly” became the
animated spokesperson of the drink in the 1960’s. As the product gained popularity, several
bottlers, including the Pepsi-Cola company, were involved. In 1964, the Pepsi-Cola Company
acquired the Mountain Dew brand name and production rights from the Tri-City Beverage
Company (Harris, 2009).
The Evolution of Mountain Dew
During the production's first 40 years, there was only one type of Mountain Dew which
was a citrus flavored and caffeinated beverage. Mountain Dew's evolution began in 1988 with
Diet Mountain Dew and Mountain Dew Red. The most recent evolution has been Mountain
Dew's Kickstart energy drink which contains a variety of flavors. Even as production has
evolved Mountain Dew has primarily been limited to the sales in the United States and Canada.
Global production efforts were initiated in the UK in 1996 through 1998. Different formulas
under different trade names have been introduced in Ireland and the UK (Harris, 2009; Mountain
Dew, 2013).
In 2001, Mountain Dew Red (Code Red), was introduced as a cherry flavor, soft beverage
that did not surpass expectation of its' first year of production. Currently, Code Red continues
production during a select period of the year within defined geographic areas.
Mountain Dew offers a huge variety from regular to diet in addition to a host of many flavors.
The production of Mountain Dew's unique logo design has remained on every type of container
and comes in many different sizes of bottles and cans. (Mountain Dew, 2014)
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
Mountain Dew Marketing Matrix
Mountain Dew's Marketing Matrix consists of the four P's. The four Ps of marketing are
influential in the division of Marketing Management. The four Ps have evolved in the expansion
of the definition into an old versus new concept. The old four Ps are divided into four categories
that are named product, price, place, and promotion. Whereas, the new four Ps that are targeted
towards the holistic marketing concept are people, processes, programs, and performance.
(Kotler & Keller, 2012)
Old 4Ps
Mountain Dew is a product that offers an array of variety within its flavors such as
regular, diet, cherry, orange, ginseng with raspberry, and citrus. Recently, a previous version of
an energy drink called, "Kickstart" was introduced that includes real sugar. Mountain Dew has a
unique logo design that they use on every type of container. Mountain Dew comes in many
different sizes of bottles and cans. (Mountain Dew, 2014)
Outlining the price of Mountain Dew is significant to the strategy of the marketing
process. The price of a product such as Mountain Dew is not definite and can be changed to
ensure the product remains marketable. According to the Chicago Tribune, on May 22, 2013,
PepsiCo said they were going to adjust their pricing for their drink products t cons ensure that
consumers would buy soda beverages even when it is not on sale. PepsiCo refers to this strategy
as “hybrid everyday value” and the goal is to lessen the discounts on its products between regular
days and holidays. (Chicago Tribune, 2014)
Mountain Dew has utilized different promotion tactics which have been feasible in
quarterly earnings and forecasted potential. Primarily, Mountain Dew's advertisement is
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
television and radio. For instance, a great advertising promotion and sales promotion that they
are currently partaking is pairing up with the new video game Call of Duty. Call of Duty has not
been released yet, nonetheless, Mountain Dew is offering its consumers ways to earn in-game
gear in preparation of the game release. This type of promotion is targeting avid game players
who want to get ahead before the games even appears in stores. Mountain Dew and other
beverage companies are also notorious for having celebrities as Brand Ambassadors for them to
promote their products. Mountain Dew strategy is comprised of celebrities that are idolized by
the consumers to influence buyer demand in the products. The selection of location for Mountain
Dew is strategically formulated to generate the most sales. Mountain Dew is sold globally and in
many various types of markets such as convenience stores, supermarkets, vending machines, and
etc.
New 4Ps
When considering the section of people in the new four Ps, it is important that all
departments within the company are working together toward the same marketing concept. It
also illustrates that marketers must view consumers lives as a whole and not just their consuming
habits. Mountain Dew became popular by its sales in largely white suburbs in the Plains states.
The Southeast states are now trying to broaden its appeal to a wider, younger, and more diverse
group of consumers. The marketing concept that they chose was a skateboarding promotion that
Brett O’Brien, the vice president of Marketing hopes will reach more urban areas. (Stanford,
2012)
The processes section is how the marketing management creates, disciplines, and
structures the marketing strategy. This defines up-to-date strategies and offer breakthrough
products, services, and activities. The most recent strategy that Mountain Dew has created
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
includes a partnership with Doritos. This requires a great deal of structure and coordination with
two other products to make sure that the process of this marketing concept goes smoothly. An
additional marketing process utilized by Mountain Dew is providing a new beverage that has an
energy boost in it. This allows them to target multiple types of consumers who are looking for
the latest trend of energy drinks.
Programs are a way that encompasses the old four Ps while integrating old and new
traditions and activities. Recently, Mountain Dew has introduced a new product called
Throwback Mountain Dew. This product has the expectation to represent the original Mountain
Dew prior to the arousal of health issues. The product is advertised as containing real sugar and
being the real Dew.
Performance is a way to measure how the company as a whole is doing with the
integration of departments. It is a way to capture the possible outcomes of the company.
Mountain Dew who falls under the PepsiCo financials shows a 1% increase in net revenue from
2012 to 2013 and a 4 % operating profit from 2012 to 2013 (PepsiCo Financial Report, 2014)
These figures indicate that PepsiCo and Mountain Dew are showing that their marketing
strategies are doing great and providing an increase in profits.
Scanning the Market Environment
Mountain Dew’s demographic trends have an 18-24 population mix in diversified markets
from athletes to a typical college student who is seemingly always pressed for time. The soft
beverage is merely inexpensive in comparison to its competitors and represents an ideal
percentage profit toward PepsiCo's beverage sector. According to the Wall Street Journal, the
geographical reach of Mountain Dew state that,
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
"The beverage's core customers live in an area Pepsi marketers refer to as the Mountain
Dew "comet." A curving swath of geography that starts high in the Dakotas, it bends down
through rural Illinois and Indiana and whips around into the Carolinas. There, marketers say,
Mountain Dew is helped partly because consumers in rural areas drink a less varied selection of
soft drinks than do people in cities". (McCarthy, 1989)
Mountain Dew's demographic trends have been in transition for over a decade with their
first integration into a new consumer market in ethnic endorsements in 2000. According to
Stanford's (2012) analysis, Mountain Dew formerly catered to upper and middle class Caucasian
men in the age range of 18-35 and even as their previous attempt in the ethnic consumer base
failed, PepsiCo., Scott Moffit stated,
"Ethnic markets are a huge growth opportunity for us and we are investing more in that
area........Alternative sports are not all that relevant to ethnic consumers, so that is one area in
which we have used music as a marketing tool." (Howard, 2000, p. 30)
Stanford's (2012) data also consisted of Mountain Dew's revenue percentage of PepsiCo
dropping approximately 3% in the consumption level of white and non-Hispanic demographic
trends which negatively impacted sales. This reduction in consumption and profits is the turning
point in transition of diversifying the target consumer base. Mountain Dew is attracting new
consumer bases through promotion and advertising partnerships with urban icons in the Hip Hop
music industry as Brand Ambassadors. Endorsements in the ethnic market are expected to propel
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
the brand for Mountain Dew as a marketing tool which will encourage their fan base, that
generally are the targeted population mix, to drink the beverage and expand the geographical
preferences of the product.
Economically, the United States is currently experiencing a shift in demand due to the
emphasis on healthier living which may reduce consumption. Healthier living has become an
economic concern in the United States, as the change in demand has weathered unfavorable
desire for consumers and impacted the financial outlay of Mountain Dew. As the soft beverage is
inexpensive, production costs will increase as more consumers become adverse to such
ingredients in Mountain Dew which may result in a lower return on investment for Mountain
Dew's percentage in the net revenue for PepsiCo. This is a significant concern as PepsiCo has
grouped all revenue together under the snack sector and the beverage sector. The beverage sector
for PepsiCo could potentially incur a great loss of profit, if Mountain Dew only generates half its
dollar sales from the previous year due to the new healthier lifestyle norm of society.
In addition to the health contrast, technological trends play an important role in the
attraction of promotion as well as production cost. As technology is rapidly changing,
manufacturing and promotion cost for Mountain Dew will be affected as well. Mountain Dew's
promotion for it's new target market will generate more online presence as many of the cultural
events are broadcasted on social media to capture the new target market and act as a diversified
medium for prospective markets.
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
References
Chicago Tribune. (2014, 10 29). Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-
22/business/chi-pepsi-price-pepsi-adjusting-prices-to-lure-customers-
20130522_1_pricing-strategy-soda-prices-holidays
Doug Mason, N.,arts writer. (2002, Jun 09). Mountain dew is knoxville brew; soft drink's history
told through exhibit at ewing gallery. News Sentinel Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/393582827?accountid=12085
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MMGP: Mountain Dew Background Information
Harris, P. N. (2009). Undoing the damage of the Dew. Appalachian Journal of Law, 9(1), 53+.
Mountain Dew. (2013). In Encyclopedia of Global Brands (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp.
718-721). Detroit: St. James Press.
Howard, Theresa. (24 Apr 2000). Being True to Dew. Brandweek, 41(17), 28-31. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/218056086?pq-
origsite=summon
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing Management 14E. Upper Saddle River: Prentice
Hall.
McCarthy, Micheal J. (19 Apr 1989). Mountain Dew Goes Urban To Revamp Country Image.
Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/398173536?pq-
origsite=summon
Mountain Dew. (2014, 10 29). Retrieved from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-
22/business/chi-pepsi-price-pepsi-adjusting-prices-to-lure-customers-
20130522_1_pricing-strategy-soda-prices-holidays
PepsiCo Financial Report. (2014, 10 29). Retrieved from
http://www.pepsico.com/Assets/Download/PEP_Annual_Report_2013.pdf
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