Running head: MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARENESS 1

Dew It for Others, Dew It for You: Spreading Breast Cancer Awareness
William G. Hogan
Grand Valley State University


























MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 2


Dew It for Others, Dew It for You: Spreading Breast Cancer Awareness
This campaign includes a target audience, a situation analysis, a budget, a creative plan,
and a media plan. The purpose of this student advertising campaign is to develop something new
to a particular brand that has had much success with previous campaigns. I figured a brand that
PepsiCo Inc. offers would be good as they have generated over 57 billion dollars and this is due
to the many successful brands it offers, one of which is Mountain Dew (Advertising Red Books).
Mountain Dew is one of the most popular soft drink brands in the world (Top Beverage Brands,
2009). Mountain Dew is a great brand for many different kinds of themes as it has a wide range
of consumers. For my theme I have decided to spread Breast Cancer awareness. Mountain Dew
will distribute a new flavor, strawberry kiwi, in regards to the pink color it would have which is
the color usually used when spreading breast cancer awareness. In addition, for every can or
bottle sold, Mountain Dew will donate 10 cents to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Mountain Dews target audiences in the past mainly include gamers and more extreme
sided people (Hein, K., & Edwards, J). This is a perfect brand for breast cancer awareness as this
theme goes in the completely opposite direction. The target audience for this new promotion will
be breast cancer awareness supporters ages 13 through 40. Both single and married people of any
race will be targeted, but mainly women as they are diagnosed with breast cancer substantially
more than men. The promotion will probably have more ads in magazines as most of the target
audience will be magazine readers, as an older audience is being targeted. The promotion will be
planned to last 12 months it will begin May 1
st
and end April 30
th.
For this particular advertising
campaign delayed response advertising will be used as Mountain Dew is trying to express that
they care for their consumers. Mountain Dew will want people to be aware that they are willing
to give back to the communities. Mountain Dew is demonstrating the benefits of buying and
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 3


drinking mountain dew as when consumers buy their product there are also helping others in
need. This is a very important advertising campaign as breast cancer is the second leading cause
of death in women; about 40,000 of the 200,000 diagnosed women die of breast cancer each year
(What is Breast Cancer?). This advertising campaign can be very successful because not only is
Mountain Dew coming out with a new flavor it is also giving back to their consumers which
should turn out beneficial to everyone.
Target Audience
For my advertising campaign I will target consumers of energy drinks as well as people
who like to try new drinks as many people who enjoy energy drinks enjoy soft drinks and
mountain dew in particular is producing a new flavor for people who look for new drinks to try
(2011d; 2011e). According to SRDS Media Solutions people who enjoy energy drinks or like to
try new drinks also like to stand out in a crowd (2011a). In addition, people who like to try new
drinks are also likely to turn to the internet as the first place they look for information. People
who like new drinks also tend to shop online as well as actually make a purchase online (2011b).
This would be helpful in regards to my campaign as I would be able to promote my drink online,
as those online shoppers could see my advertisements and see that it is a new drink flavor and
therefore may be persuaded to buy my product. The highest percentages of people who drink
energy drinks reside in the states of Texas and California. The highest percentages of people who
like to try new drinks reside in Arkansas, California, Utah, and Texas. Specifically of residents
of Los Angeles, CA 7,841,694 are between the ages of 15 and 44. Of those residents 4,010,335
are male and 3,831,359 are female. Of the 4,061,207 family households, 2,079,452 have children
2011c). Because my campaign is more helpful to the community than previous Mountain Dew
campaigns this could help with the role that families play in my campaign; as children with
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 4


mothers that are diagnosed with Breast Cancer could be supportive of their mothers by drinking
Mountain Dew.
Consumer Profile
Mike Henderson is an ambitious 19 year old college student. He lives in an apartment
with three of his friends; he is single and is the son of Michael and Sarah Smith. He enjoys
drinking energy drinks and soft drinks; he also loves trying new flavors of drinks. His mother
was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 43. Of late he has decided to wear breast
cancer awareness bracelets and shirts. He has a job working a grill at a local diner near campus
where he earns minimum wage. When he has free time he enjoys playing video games with his
roommates and other friends, and when its nice out he enjoys showing off when playing sports
and likes being active. His favorite television programs include The Office, Family Guy, and
Tosh.0.
Situation Analysis
The situation analysis is a crucial campaign as it will provide information which will
ultimately help make future advertising decisions. The situation analysis will require a historical
background, trends of the type of product and a competitor analysis; all three of which are
essential components of making smart advancements to the Mountain Dew brand.
Historical context
Mountain Dew was created in the early 1940s and trademarks by two brothers, Barney
and Ally Hartman. They named the drink Mountain Dew after Tennessee Mountain
Moonshine. Its initial use was to be a mixer with whiskey, but it was discovered that people like
the taste of it by itself. And although people still mix the drink with alcoholic beverages it is
mostly consumed by itself. Its initial label featured a hillbilly with a gun back in the 1940s
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 5


(Mountain dew timeline, 2008). It wasnt until PepsiCo bought the Mountain Dew brand in 1964
when they began marketing the drink towards exciting, outdoorsmen, sporty people. Today there
are several flavors of the brand including, livewire and code red which are also popular,
therefore a new flavor would be a nice addition to the various flavors Mountain Dew offers
today.
Competitor analysis
As far as brands go, Coke and Pepsi are the only two brands ahead of Mountain dew in
the non- alcoholic beverage sales department; with Dr. Pepper, Gatorade and Sprite trailing not
too far behind (Top Beverage Brands, 2009). When Mountain Dew is compared to other citrus
based soda brands Mountain Dew is on top with the utmost superiority with Mello Yellow,
Fresca and Sun drop as its inferior competitors. It is extremely hard to compete with Coke and
Pepsi and usually their competitive strategy is aimed at each other rather than even giving Dr.
Pepper or Mountain Dew much thought because they own the market essentially. The mountain
Dew brand is in a tough position as far as where they stand competitively. On one hand they rule
the market of sodas other than colas. But on the other hand they are so far from being on top as
Coke and Pepsi dominate the soda market.
Trends
Most of these competitors have sports involved in many of their campaigns, the popular
sport being football. Recently Sprite is seen to be more music oriented like their recent
promotion of music downloads and concert ticket giveaways. Dr. Pepper tries to define their
drink as a distinct flavor, promoting the idea of theres nothing like a Dr. Pepper. In previous
years Mountain Dew has targeted people who are extreme and have had people vote for their
new flavors in recent years such as DEWmocracy. Which is what people nowadays want; they
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 6


want to help shape their brands into what they are today. Mountain Dew does a good job in
giving back to the consumers as do the other top brands. For example Coca- Cola has the popular
my coke rewards website where consumers gather codes on the caps of bottles and redeem
those codes for rewards. Mountain Dew has done similar things by having codes be entered for
sweepstakes. In addition, when looking at the 2010 annual report of PepsiCo, they have made an
effort to promote the idea that the environment is important and people have choices, perhaps
trying to support the idea that PepsiCo products are trying to be more environmentally friendly.
Budget Plan
Mountain Dew is one of several brands PepsiCo Inc. offers and is also one of their more
successful ones. The total revenue for PepsiCo Inc. in 2010 was 57 billion and 838 million
dollars. Their expenditures are only a fraction of that with 1 billion and 900 million dollars spent
on advertising. This means that only 3% of what they make is spent on advertising and other
business expenditures. I suspect that there sales would increase, perhaps only slightly but still an
increase and this is due to the popularity that soft drinks in general have let alone Pepsi products.
I can only assume that Pepsi is to credit for more expenditure than any other brand they produce,
therefore less is of the expenditures is spent on Mountain Dew. Judging from the research I have
previously stated, Mountain Dew still remains one of their most popular brands of the 138 brands
they currently offer. For that reason I divided the total expenditures by the number of brands
getting a total of about $13,768,115. But because Mountain Dew is more successful than other
brands they produce I will put the budget at approximately 18 million dollars.
Creative Discussion
The objective in this advertising campaign will be to transform consumption experiences
of the consumers. I want them to feel like they are doing a good thing when they drink Mountain
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 7


Dew as some proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. In 2010, Mountain Dew
held 6.8 percent of the market for carbonated soft drinks (Top carbonated soft drinks, 2010).
After this advertising campaign is finished I want a 2 percent rise, increasing it to 8.8 percent.
In the past, Mountain Dew has advertised primarily toward gamers and sports enthusiasts.
This campaign seeks a new market, the family-oriented people. The advertising strategy that will
be used will be transformational ads as I want the family-oriented ads to not feel extreme but
rather feel like they are doing something good every time they take a sip. The purpose of these
ads will be to gather those whom have been affected by breast cancer and transform their
attitudes and feelings about Mountain Dew to a more helpful and worth-while one rather than an
energetic, gaming one. These ads will make people want to drink Mountain Dew because they
will be helping their community by having some of the proceeds go to the National Breast cancer
Foundation. The positioning strategy is all about the donation to Breast Cancer. People whom are
affected by Breast Cancer will be more attentive to these ads, such as victims and family
members.
Copy Platform
The target audience for these ads will mainly be people whom have been affected by
Breast Cancer, mainly the children of the mothers whom have been diagnosed. These teenagers
may or may not of been a regular drinker of the Mountain Dew brand. Mountain Dew has a huge
competitive advantage one being that it was one of the very first citrus flavored softer drinks thus
making it the original of all citrus flavored soft drinks. In addition, Mountain Dew is one of the
many brands PepsiCo, offers and with a strong brand name as Pepsi as its partner, the credibility
of Mountain Dew was therefore uplifted above all other citrus flavored drinks. In regards to
citrus flavored soft drinks, Mountain Dew is number one; the only disadvantage it has is that
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 8


Coke and Pepsi are number one and two in regards to soft drinks as a whole. This advertising
campaign will advance the Mountain Dew brand as there are several features that it offers. One,
being that there is a new flavor, making regular Mountain Dew drinkers to taste the new flavor
for themselves. Secondly it is a flavor dedicated in spreading breast cancer awareness. And
thirdly a portion of the proceeds will go to the Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. The tone
of the ads will take on a more serious role than previous Mountain Dew ads have had. It will be
much more family-oriented. The one thing that consumers should take away from these ads is
that if you drink Mountain Dew you are helping victims of Breast Cancer.
Media Plan
I chose three main DMAs to target for my advertisements; these being Fresno-Visalia,
CA, Salt Lake City, UT, and Laredo Texas. These were the chosen DMAs as they were best
suited for my advertising campaign as people residing in those areas like to drink energy drink as
well as try new drinks. It is also these areas and only these three areas because my budget is
fairly low and it wouldnt be a well-use of the money if I had only one had run on 8 different
newspapers or television networks, the advertisement just wouldnt sink in to the viewer and
some viewers may not even see they ad. It was also important for me to pick cities in which the
ads did not cost a large amount. The desired DMA in California was Los Angeles, but it was too
costly therefore the second best choice was Fresno-Visalia. The thought process was the same
for Texas, instead of Houston, I chose Laredo; Utah DMA had not needed change as the cost was
not outrageous to work with. The newspaper ad size is a good size as it works well with my
budget at it gets the message across very simply, just like I need it to. The Fresno Bee and the
Laredo Times each of a total of 6 newspaper ads run as opposed to the 10 I chose to run with The
Herald Journal simply for cost reasons. My campaign is scheduled to last a year therefore the ads
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 9


for the Fresno Bee and the Laredo Morning times will be run the first of every other month. The
Herald Journal however will have the ads run the first of every month besides the months of July
and February as these months are during the middle of the campaign time. Though Salt Lake
citys DMA has 4 more newspaper ads running than the other two DMAs it is made-up for
through the television ads. The budget allowed for 10 commercials in the Laredo and Fresno-
Visalia area where as Salt Lake city was to run only 6 commercials. These commercials are set to
run during the prime access time (6:30pm-8:00pm) as not only is it the best choice as fair as cost
goes but it also isnt a bad decision for my target audience. This is often the time where families
eat dinner and nowadays a lot of families watch television while eating dinner, especially kids
(Hellmich, 2001). My target audiences are kids and mothers and this just corresponded well with
my budget; prime time would most definitely be a better time to run my commercials but my
budget restricts this therefore I accepted prime access as the next best time. The commercials
will run the 15
th
of every month besides June and August and for the California DMA and the
Texas DMA, but the Utah DMA will have the ads run the 15
th
of every other month. As far as
my magazine ad goes, the budget restricts the ideal ad size (see appendix). Instead of a full page
ad it is shrunk to a mere sixth of the page, but it will work as the magazine chosen is Good
Housekeeping. This magazine is aimed at women, several women have breast cancer today and
to those diagnosed with Breast cancer reading this popular magazine my ad may grab their
attention. Although my budget only allows me to run the magazine ad once, that me be all that is
necessary. Magazines are not a one-time read like most newspapers but are picked up and read
over and over again, giving the ad a better chance and getting seen multiple times. The ad will be
run on the first weeks issue in July. Although my budget is fairly low, the distribution of that
money was well placed. My budget is a mere $120,000 which is not much to work with in the
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 10


advertising industry today. The total cost for all my advertising is $109,701, leaving $10,299 for
IBP.





















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References
Advertising Red Books. (n.d.). PepsiCo Inc. In Company Profile: Advertising Redbooks.com.
Retrieved September 19, 2011, from
http://www.redbooks.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/Subscriber/Profile.aspx?ent=62291
Hein, K., & Edwards, J. (n.d.). Not So Extreme: Dew Retooling Image. Retrieved September 22,
2011, from Academic Search Premier.
Hellmich, N. (2001, February 14). many kids are eating (too much) in front of TV. In USA
Today. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2001-
02-14-kid-diet.htm
Mountain dew timeline (2008). In Twoop timelines. Retrieved October 17, 2011, from
http://www.twoop.com/food/mountain-dew.html
SRDS. (2011a). Lifestyle Ranking Index: Food and Beverages: Like to Try New Drinks:
Lifestyle Category: Psychographics. SRDS Media Solutions.
SRDS. (2011b). Lifestyle Ranking Index: Food and Beverages: Drink Energy Drinks: Lifestyle
Category: Electronics and Internet. SRDS Media Solutions.
SRDS. (2011c). Local Market Audience Analyst: Demographic Overview: Los Angeles, CA.
SRDS Media Solutions.
SRDS. (2011d). Local Market Audience Analyst: Market Potential Report: Food and Beverages:
Drink Energy Drinks. SRDS Media Solutions.
SRDS. (2011e). Local Market Audience Analyst: Market Potential Report: Food and Beverages:
Like to Try New Drinks. SRDS Media Solutions.
Top Beverage Brands, 2009 (2010, June 21). In Gale Directory library Document. Retrieved
September 22, 2011
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 12


Top Citrus Soda Brands, 2009 (2010, December 9). In Gale Directory library Document.
Retrieved October 15, 2011
Top Carbonated Soft Drink Brands, 2010 (2011, March 17). In Gale Directory library
Document. Retrieved November 13, 2011
What is Breast Cancer? (n.d.). In National Breast Cancer Foundation. Retrieved September 19,
2011, from http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/About-Breast-Cancer/What-Is-Breast-
Cancer.aspx




















MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 13


Appendix A
Newspaper Ad























Every can or bottle you
buy a donation is made
to the National Breast
Cancer Foundation.


MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 14


Appendix B
Magazine Ad






















MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 15


Appendix C
Commercial storyboard














[Woman Walks towards
camera]
[Woman continues to walk]
Hundreds of thousands of
women are diagnosed
with Breast Cancer every
year
[Woman stops walking] Every
day families everywhere are
affected with it, but luckily
there are ways to treat it.
Every time you buy a
Mountain Dew Strawberry
kiwi you are donating
money to the Breast
Cancer Awareness
Foundation
With your help we can
help fight cancer and save
lives
[Sips can]
MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 16


Appendix D
Newspaper media chart
SRDS. (2011). Newspaper advertising source. SRDS Media Solutions.
Newspaper Cost per unit Ad size Cost per ad Number of ads Total
The Fresno Bee

230.25 4 921 30 27,630
The Herald
Journal
15.19 4 60.76 30 1,822.80
Laredo
Morning Times
51.35 4 205.4 30 6,162
Hanford
Sentinel
34.75 4 139 35 4,865
Visalia Times-
Delta
54.09 4 216.36 40 8,654.4
Salt Lake
Tribune
253.50 4 1,014 30 30,420
Daily Herald

46.90 4 187.6 30 5,628














MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 17


Appendix E
Television media chart
SRDS. (2011). TV and cable source. SRDS Media Solutions.
T.V. DMA Cost per unit Rating Cost per ad Number of ads Total
Fresno-Visalia

94 15 1,410 30 42,300
Salt Lake City

130 15 1,950 30 58,500
Laredo

46 15 690 35 24,150


















MOUNTAIN DEW BREAST CANCER AWARNESS 18


Appendix F
Magazine newspaper ad
SRDS. (2011). Consumer media. SRDS Media Solutions.
Magazine Size of ad Cost per unit Number of ads Cost
Good Housekeeping 1/3 page 148,890 3 446,670

Womens Health

1/3 page 76,965 4 307,860