Mountain Dew ramps up UK marketing spend with X-Men tie

The partnership with 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past marks Mountain Dew’s “largest ever” international entertainment promotion.

The campaign, created by creative agency Motive, will include commemorative Mountain Dew and Mountain Dew Sugar Free packaging featuring X-Men characters, cinema programmes, a global TV ad and digital and social activity sharing exclusive behind the scenes content and prizes.

A spokesman for Mountain Dew says the UK element of the campaign marks a “significant” uplift in terms of marketing spend, although he would not be drawn on the year on year increase.

The Mountain Dew brand returned to the UK after a 12-year absence in 2010. To date much of the brand’s marketing activity – including its relaunch – has been purely on social and digital platforms.

Kurt Frenier, vice president of global brand development for PepsiCo’s beverages division, says of the X-Men campaign: “Mountain Dew is a global brand fuelled by self-expression, confidence and authenticity, qualities that are also anchored in the iconic X-MEN film franchise. To celebrate these shared passions, we’re excited to bring our fans and customers around the world an immersive program of engaging content, money-can’t-buy experiences and exclusive promotions, all designed to bring them closer to what is expected to be this summer’s biggest blockbuster.”

The Mountain Dew brand returned to the UK after a 12 year absence in 2010. To date much of the brand’s marketing activity – including its relaunch – has been purely on social and digital platforms.

The UK glucose and stimulants drinks category in which Mountain Dew sits grew 12.5 per cent year on year to £400.8m in value in 2012, giving it a 7.4 per cent share of the total grocey market, according to the latest Britvic Soft Drinks Review.