Mountain Dew's "Stay Sharp" is sharp

Well, despite my past objections, soda advertisements continue to mutate into Web sites. This time it's Staysharp.tv, the latest Mountain Dew campaign. Apparently, they've made a version of their disgusting nerd nectar with ginseng, taurine, and other herbal-sounding stuff touted to keep you on your game. And its Web site, by the grace of the Almighty, is packed with ideas that relate back to the product. The site offers four short videos that viewers are quizzed on to test how many small details they noticed. If you missed anything, you've “lost your edge” and must regain it by drinking Mountain Dew. If you get all the questions right you're “sharper than [they] thought,” but advised to stay sharp by, conveniently enough, drinking Mountain Dew. This site, unlike the beverage it's pushing, is refreshing because it doesn't burst into abstractions the moment it's opened, like Sprite's "SubLYMONal" and Pepsi One's "Oneify" effort. I mean, sure, they could have invested all that time into making the product not taste like crap. And sure, it took them this long to tap into the comedy gold mines that are New Wave music and Eastern European backwardness (the second video on the site). But it is nice to see something marketed to my demographic that shoots for creativity over faux-trendy groupspeak. Although in reference to my previous description of the soda, I hope Mountain Dew one day capitalizes on this huge, loyal, and as-yet-undiscovered consumer base.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

January 8, 2007 in Kiefaber | Permalink