To promote the recent launch of their new flavor — MTN DEW MAJOR MELON — the Dew team wanted to go big!  And what better way than doing something that’s never been done before, during literally the biggest event in American sports – the Super Bowl. MTN DEW wanted to “own” the conversation and share of voice during the game and on social media.  Working closely with DEW and their creative partner, TBWA/Chiat/Day, the idea of creating a Super Bowl commercial that not only entertained and created a buzz around the new product, but challenged consumers to put their skills to the test was finalized to launch and air on Game Day!  

Running a first-of-its-kind promotion is no easy task.  Creating a Super Bowl commercial is challenging enough, but when MTN DEW wanted to add the element of a consumer promotion they knew they must have all their details locked down.  Everything from security and confidentiality of the video, to the legal development and protecting the brand, to determining what qualified as a “bottle” in the commercial, and fulfilling the final $1 Million dollars; all details would be under a microscope like never before. Drawing from 20+ years of experience managing and flawlessly executing PepsiCo projects, the DEW team knew they could trust MRi’s experts to Identify, Develop, Execute, and Analyze the best solutions for their one-of-a-kind promotion.  

MTN DEW’s Super Bowl ad, starring John Cena, asked consumers to watch the Major Melon Super Bowl commercial, aired during the game and then posted on the Mountain Dew Twitter handle. Consumers were asked to count the exact number of Major Melon Mtn Dew bottles found in the commercial, post the number with @MountainDew and #MTNDEWMAJORMELON and @MyPromotionEntry, and the first person to Tweet the right answer could win $1 Million dollars!

Doing something never done before requires thinking like never before, and the MRi team quickly dove into multiple areas for which we needed to manage and focus to bring the promotion to life for the DEW Brand and their loyal consumers.

Promotional Consultation:

MRi’s promotional expertise was on full display, with the Client Services, Project management, Digital, and Marketing Services teams all closely collaborating to provide the best guidance and direction for MTN DEW and the agency partners on the project. At times working through different options and challenges, we came together closely as a team to manage each aspect of the project from the start to finish.

Security of the Video and Edits:

Any leaks or advanced viewing of the video by consumers would have spelled disaster for the program and created legal and consumer issues for the DEW team. MRi’s promotional experience managing high-value loyalty programs, games, sweepstakes and contests, made us the perfect partner to guide and manage security & distribution of the commercial as it went from the initial idea phase, through review, to completion. We set up a secure distribution method, sharing procedures, and auditing process to ensure MRi and Mtn Dew knew exactly who had access to the video before it aired.

Rules Writing and Brand Protection

MRi’s Project and Legal team got to work from the beginning, outlining the key elements of the program, identifying areas of exposure, and working closely with MTN DEW to narrow down the level of risk. With the help of Mtn Dew, we knew we needed to push the boundaries of consumer promotions, helping to craft a campaign that would protect the Dew brand and guide consumers on exactly how they needed to participate.

Final Audit and Locking in the Final number

Asking consumers to count and tweet the correct bottle count in a 30 second TV spot meant that the MRi team needed to know EXACTLY how many bottles were in the spot — zero room for error. With security always in mind, MRi worked closely with MTN DEW and TBWA/Chiat/Day to confirm all qualifying bottles in the spot, and then scrutinize each pixel, frame-by-frame, to ensure a final number was locked in and kept under strict security during the promotional period. And if you needed proof, we worked with MTN DEW and TBWA/Chiat/Day to create a bottle key to show consumers where each and every bottle was placed in the spot.

Twitter Scraping and Social Media promotions

Having executed many different social media promotions, we knew our capabilities were in place. For this promotion, we ensured our system was fully optimized to handle the onslaught of tweets coming in from consumers once the spot was live! And we’re glad we did — the MRi team was able to pull in and record over 100,000 Tweets in the first 20 minutes once the spot was aired! And we kept going after that to collect nearly 275,000 official entries from consumers!

Microsite Development

To help guide their consumers and boost participation, MRi and the DEW team took the basic rules page to the next level. In addition to the official rules, we worked with the DEW team to create an engaging homepage that guided consumers on how to enter (even including visual examples of bottles they may see in the spot) and FAQs.