How Dew Does a Commercial 2

Originally published HERE on ThisToolsLife.

Everything is last minute rush! But, a rush none the less.

At the wardrobe fitting I asked the advertising agence folks, Motive, what I should avoid blogging about. I expected there to be a tight lid on info until after the commercial airs. But, they seemed relaxed about it. They said not to give details about the story board and the closing tag line. The last bit was surprising to me because the tag line for the new diet dew commercial "Diet tastes better on the Mountain" was circling around for weeks before the commercial came out. Whatever.

The director of the commercial, Vincent Laforet, overheard me talking about it and hustled over to interject "blog about working with me!" At first I didn't know quite how to take this remark. Did he, a pulitzer prize winning photographer, esteem my pitiful blogs so highly that he geniunly wanted the publicity? Or, is he savvy with his SEO and just wants another link to http://www.laforetvisuals.com/? Nah, none of my blogs have a page rank greater than 3, his is a 4. Maybe he felt like my interaction with him would be the only thing worth blogging about? I found out later that not only is he brilliant, but a genuinly nice guy - so I doubt he had any selfish motive behind letting a hobby blogger throw his name around. I am sure I will dedicate a post to him in the future.

Overall, my impression of the commercial shoot was very positive. Everything was organized as well as it could be under the circumstances. I was able to connect with a member of the Mountain Dew brand team, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. The advertising agency gave us celebrity like respect, the production company (the Joneses) were curtious even when I was stepping on their toes and asking one too many questions.

9 of us "talent" were flown out there coach class, put up for two nights in the Westin Tabor in Denver, given $150 bucks total for incidentals, $200 for shoot day fees, and three meals. In return, I talked my head off about a subject I love, wore everyday cloths, and just acted like myself.

Much more than the material benifit of going, I felt like for a day I was part of a team. I sincerly connected with my fellow Dew comrades (Jones, Buckman, Maska, Kinch). I would hang out with them any time. I connected with the folks at Motive (Matt, Jon, and the rest) and have come to really respect what they do; I would recommend them to any client. Nate and Loretta from Pepsi, it was SO REFRESHING to talk with you. For the first time I felt like I was being listened to, that I was respected and trusted, that the legal-paranoid-brand-wall was down for a while. What ever doubt about the integrety of the Mtn Dew brand I had is long gone.

I'll never forget the dinner we had together at the end, all laughing and toasting, eating until midnight... the absinthe. Honestly, after dinner I felt better than having just been part of a team... I felt like family.

Behind the Scenes at the Latest DEWmocracy Campaign

*Originally Published HERE by Brian Quinton*

The people have spoken, and Mountain Dew's newest citrus flavor, crowd-sourced for a year and due to hit store shelves in late August, is White Out

But both the product development and the activation campaign also came up winners for both Pepsi's Mountain Dew brand and Motive, the Denver-based agency that managed what may be the longest and most involved grassroots brand event.

DEWmocracy 2 kicked off in June 2009 as an update to DEWmocracy, a Web project in which fans played an online adventure game to develop flavors, names and packaging for three potential new Dews. This time out, the brand went social, found about 4,000 passionate brand fans through its Twitter and Facebook pages, and organized them into a Dew Labs consumer group.

“Dew Labs members were the core of decision-making for flavor, name and color, but also the mouthpiece for saying ‘This is why White Out or Typhoon is great,’” says marketing director Brett O'Brien. “It's a lot different when it comes from a fan.”

And when it came time to let the nation vote, fans themselves were given control of the 31-day, 69-city tours by the three teams representing the new flavors. Starting from Boston, Orlando and Seattle, the teams used Facebook and microsites to ask fans how and where to accomplish challenges, such as setting up a voting HQ, taking part in a ball game, attending a wedding, etc.

“DEWmocracy had incubated this passionate community, and when a team came to their town, they jumped at the opportunity to get involved,” says Matt Statman, founder of Motive. One volunteered his home for a marathon videogame session; another got the team onto the field during a game by the Durham NC Bulls.

“'Crowd-sourcing' to me feels like handing the bus keys to the public and telling them to drive off,” says O'Brien. “DEWmocracy was more like letting the fans onto the bus with us, and deciding together where we want to go.”