Mountain Dew, Have a Baja Blast

Every month we dive into the biggest and boldest campaigns airing across the U.S., celebrating the most creatively disruptive and commercially effective work.

Blasting its way to the top this month was Mountain Dew, whose standout “Have a Baja Blast” campaign delivered a mighty Branded Memorability score of 7.5 to earn a place in the top 20% of ads in America.

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If you’re new to Cubery, the Branded Memorability score is a prediction of an ad’s long-term brand building potential. It’s a composite measure that diagnoses the breadth and intensity of the emotions elicited, together with the level of brand distinctiveness – applying an equal weighting to each of these fundamental ingredients.

Partnering with Goodby Silverstein, “Have a Baja Blast” featured a machete-wielding Danny Trejo and mischievous monkey as the central characters in a tropical island party. The ad’s light-hearted humor and adventurous theme struck a chord with viewers, resulting in strong feelings of excitement, amusement, and happiness.

Crucially, the distinctive Baja Blast bottle/color played a central role in these emotionally climactic moments. From Trejo using his machete to chop the top off a cold one, to the monkey distributing the bottles from atop the tree, the brand was woven seamlessly into the story – thus ensuring the memories created were unmistakably linked to Mountain Dew.

Further strengthening long-term brand connection was the style, tone, and theme all synergizing with people’s preexisting perceptions of the brand. The upbeat, summery storyline reinforced associations of Mountain Dew as a fun, refreshing, and great tasting soda. This positioned the product as the perfect companion for a hot summer’s day, a critical category entry point with the warmer months now upon us.

Importantly, the clear, relevant, and credible message worked to refresh and reinforce existing mental structures. When paired with the aforementioned entertaining narrative and strong branding, the campaign is predicted to drive both a strong short-term sales uplift along with building the brand for the long-term.

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Curious about how to create advertising that’s impossible to ignore? Check out The Creative Effectiveness Playbook to learn more about the nine fundamental ingredients for short- and long-term advertising success.

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