When Mountain Dew approached us in early 2023, the brand was losing share in the market to competitors. They needed a bold new brand platform, one which juxtaposed the everyday routine we’ve become accustomed to, against the brand’s signature, bold swagger.

The issue we faced when it came to positioning the business was the emphasis that the younger target demographic places on health and wellbeing. While Mountain Dew is not the most healthy option for the body, we reframed our product benefit, positioning the strength of Mountain Dew being that it is not just thirst-quenching, it’s also soul-quenching - each bottle is a taste of freedom from life’s responsibilities.

Ultimately, our key objective was to change Gen Z’s perception of Mountain Dew and recruit new drinkers to a brand that was rapidly losing share to the competition.

To create the souls, depicted as wild animals, we crafted functioning prosthetic masks and limbs. Upon completion, each character was scanned to create a 3D model which enabled the use of CGI. Overall, all three characters provided an opportunity to create and apply bespoke visual effects treatments which yielded unique and realistic results that complimented this bold, colorful, and expressive story.

The modeling process required a tremendous amount of experimentation in order to capture the right colors and textures for each animal. Visual effects were then used to realistically compliment character actions.

Overall, the campaign has been effective in getting people to talk. Since launch, the campaign has garnered 1M+ earned media impressions, and positive social media sentiment around the brand has increased since the spot launched (based on NetBase data).