DEWmocracy 2 was the second DEWmocracy promotion involving passionate fans by designing and creating the next permanent flavor in a national vote.
Phases[]
Phase 1: From Seven Flavors To Three[]
In July 2009, the second DEWmocracy campaign began with a tour of a team of DEW Labs trucks traveled to 17 markets in 12 states, giving consumers from Chicago to Charlotte the chance to sample the seven flavors. Matching with a “laboratory” theme, each astounding flavor were labeled with a coded number, and samples was presented in test tubes. Fans came from miles away to get a taste—and more than 1.5 million people attended the events.
Visitors were encouraged to document their experience in a video booth at the truck stop, describing which flavors they liked or disliked. These visitors were also direct their opinions to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to watch the taste-experience videos and comment on their own experience. This mobile tour drove more than 1,100 fans to the Facebook page during the four-week program.
Participants could vote on site using touch pads, or they can text in their vote later, referring to a card marked with their flavor choice. More than 3,000 tasters texted their ballot.
At the same time, 50 brand fanatics received unique DEW in a Box home-tasting kits. Recipients then selected from among hundreds of brand fans who submitted video clips of up to 12 seconds explaining why they deserved a kit. Home-tasters then asked to record themselves sampling the flavors and choosing their favorite. This footage then posted to YouTube and Facebook. The boxes themselves were one-of-a-kind: They unfolded into works of art, each designed by an up-and-coming artist commissioned by Mountain Dew. The artwork was unveiled at a July event in Denver, and included artists such as John Fellows, Jeremy Charles Burns, Delton Demarest, Jolt, Max Kauffman, Scot LeFavor and Kelly Potter. Three finalists emerged from the grassroots voting and the feedback from brand fanatics.
Phase 2: Online Product Creation[]
The next step was to create DEW Labs, an online community composed of the brand’s most loyal, hard-core fans. To recruit these fanatics, invitations were extended to DEW fans online. By e-mail, a short questionnaire, then screened for people who considered DEW their top beverage of choice, drank it at least a few times a week and were social media-savvy.
Each member of the DEW Labs community received samples of the three flavor finalists to prepare for the tasks ahead, forming into three Flavor Nations, then deciding on a color and concluding name for their favorite flavor.
“Express Your Flavor”
DEW Labs members had the opportunity to join a Flavor Nation, aligning themselves with their favorite flavor.
The first order of business for each Flavor Nation was to collectively decide how to describe their flavor. Three DEW flavor scientists involved in creating the products provided insight into the process, explaining what went into the flavors and demonstrating how to make each one via video clips.
Based on this briefing, the Flavor Nations came up with three flavor names: No. 231 is Lime Blasted DEW, No. 509 is Punch of Tropical DEW, and No. 493 is Smooth Citrus DEW.
Phase 3: Shoot Your Shade[]
Each Flavor Nation now needed a color that corresponded to their beverage. DEW Labs members received an 18-color palette and a “color pour” video, and were asked to select the three that best matched their flavor.
Then voting was opened up to DEW fans everywhere, who were asked to “Shoot Your Shade” and choose among the nine finalists (three colors for each flavor). People voted for their favorite colors on Facebook, and those votes eventually came to life: Each one triggered a shot from a matching paintball gun during a live event conducted in conjunction with Ustream.tv. The color shot the most at the event was voted the winner: Deep Green for No. 231, Cloudy Red for No. 509 and White Flash for No. 493.
Phase 4: Twitter Race[]
Finally, each Flavor Nation needed a name for their beverage. Community members thought about words they associated with their flavor and submitted lists of suggestions. After Mountain Dew’s legal department vetted the lists, each Flavor Nation chose their three favorite names.
Nation No. 509 was weather-obsessed, coming up with Cyclone, Hurricane and Typhoon. No. 231 chose Outburst, Luminous and Distortion. And No. 493 came up with Rainstorm, Flash and White Out.
Enter Twitter. The nation's DEW fans could get involved in the naming process by becoming followers of their favorite names on Twitter, each headed by Nation-selected leaders—an innovative way to engage brand advocates on this media platform. Proponents of each name were tasked with getting as many followers as possible; the names with the most followers won.
White Out garnered 46 percent of the vote, becoming the winning name for No. 493. Distortion collected a clear majority of votes (54 percent) for No. 231. And No. 509 was christened Typhoon, a narrow winner with 36 percent of the vote.
Phase 5: Submit Your Vision[]
Mountain Dew then sent-out a challenge to designers, art schools, artists and DEW fans to create a look for the three contending flavors. Entrants had to design a label for the base (green can) Mountain Dew—something with which DEW fans could judge their style. Voting then conducted on Facebook, where consumers narrowed the hundreds of submissions down to 10 designers.
The final decision then handed over to the three Flavor Nations. Members voted for the artist they felt had the sensibility best suited to their product: Ben Stone won for Distortion, Shanea Wisler for Typhoon and Andre Zottolo for White Out. The winners received $10,000 in prize money alongside an Apple MacBook Pro; the Top 10 designers also won MacBook Pros.
The three winners then worked closely with the Flavor Nations and DEW brand teams through conference calls, live online chats and daily feedback forums to create three unique designs for each product that will stand out on the shelf.
Phase 6: Creative Juices[]
To find the promotional studios who will produce a TV commercial for each Flavor Nation, the process was similar to that of the design challenge. A call went out to small advertising agencies, film students and individuals: Submit a 12-second spot for the base (green can) Mountain Dew that show your skills.
Entrants uploaded their videos to 12seconds.tv, where DEW fans voted for their favorites, choosing six finalists. Voting ended Dec. 13.
The finalists will now have the opportunity to create short pitch videos for the DEW Labs community, and the Flavor Nations will each select which ad creator they would like to work with in creating a commercial.
The three winners will get a production budget and will work with the Flavor Nations, DEW fans and the DEW brand team to produce each of the three 15-second ads, which will air in the spring when the products hit the marketplace.
Phase 7: What's Next?[]
In 2010, Mountain Dew will use both social networking and traditional media to conduct a two-tiered product rollout. Consumers will remain involved in all aspects of this process, from advertising to product launch.
Flavor Nations will now get competitive as they prepare to fight for the allegiance of DEW fans. Once their products hit store shelves in April, each Flavor Nation will rally friends, family and the rest of the country to vote for their product. National advertising will support the rallies. The flavor with the most votes will join the permanent DEW family.
Finally, DEW’s online community will come up with a launch plan for the winning product. The next permanent member of the Mountain Dew family, created entirely by DEW drinkers, will debut on Labor Day.
Store Release and Winner[]
The three contending Mountain Dew beverages were then on shelves for eight weeks, from April 19th until June 14th, providing fans with the opportunity to taste each of the flavors and cast a vote for their favorite at the DEWmocracy website. After voting, the winning flavor would be the next addition to the DEW lineup in the Fall season of 2010.
The final results of DEWmocracy II.
2010's DEWmocracy II winner would join the recent-winning flavor, Voltage, the latest addition to the Mountain Dew family. Voltage won the DEWmocracy I campaign in 2008 that relied on an immersive story‐based online game to develop a unique Mountain Dew beverage and saw more than 1 million people participate in the product creation and selection process.
The statistics changed rapidly over the voting period, and voting closed on June 14th, 2010. Immediately after voting ended, White Out was then announced the winner, and the final statistics were announced: White Out had won 44% of the votes, Typhoon had 40%, and Distortion had 16%. Typhoon and Distortion fans often referred to White Out as 'Sprite Out' due to its similar flavor profile to Sprite.
Legacy[]
In early 2011, Mountain Dew began its FanDEWmonium campaign to decide the next permanent diet flavor (much like DEWmocracy, but on a smaller level). Four flavors from DEWmocracy II were featured in Diet form, namely the three finalists as well as the semifinalist Flavor 722 (renamed Diet Crave).
During the summer of 2011, Mountain Dew started its Back by Popular DEWmand promotion and re-released three flavors, Pitch Black from Halloween of 2004, and the runner-up from each DEWmocracy: Supernova, and Typhoon. Fans have wanted a specific flavor back at least to experience it or to have a chance to taste their favorite flavors once again since they were discontinued.
In early 2019, White Out, the winning flavor of Dewmocracy II, along with many other underperforming flavors was pulled from shelves in most regions. As a result of this, White Out is currently only available in 20 ounce bottles until 2023.
In 2021, a newly updated design of Typhoon was discovered. In June 2022, Typhoon was released as a online DEW Store exclusive flavor for a limited time while supplies last.
On August 7th, 2022, in a now-deleted r/MountainDew Reddit post, a user posted an image of potential upcoming flavors for 2023. It features a now-canceled HoneyDEW flavor and Cobra Cane, a berry & candy cane flavor, the return of Baja Blast, and a VooDEW (2023) flavor. In addition, a DEWcision 2023 event has been confirmed with cult-favorites Pitch Black and Typhoon returning to shelves with new Zero Sugar variants. The promotion was later canceled, and Pitch Black was revealed to instead be releasing for a limited time in January of that year.
Cancelled "Third Dewmocracy"[]
On June 5th, 2012, Mountain Dew confirmed that there were plans for an upcoming third DEWmocracy promotion in the future on their Twitter page. However, nothing came to fruition, meaning the supposed Dewmocracy 3 was scrapped, and it later became DEWcision 2016.
Trivia[]
- At one point, the "Shoot Your Shade" phase was similar to a voting event at Hollywood and Highland shopping area in Los Angeles, that the first DEWmocracy I did in June 19th, 2008.
- A gallery of photographs of a Media Event can be found here.
- A Media Hub website was dedicated for this promotion: archived website.