KANGCHENJUNGA CALLING

TitleKANGCHENJUNGA CALLING
BrandMOUNTAIN DEW, PEPSICO
Product / ServiceMOUNTAIN DEW
CategoryA13. Excellence in Audience Engagement & Distribution Strategy
EntrantVICE INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Idea Creation VICE INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Media Placement VICE INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
PR VICE INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Production VICE INDIA Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Samira Kanwar VICE Head of Content

The Campaign

To celebrate the spirit of Risk Utha Naam Bana, Mountain Dew and (Company) India devised to cover the entire journey of 25 year old Arjun Vajpai, the youngest mountaineer to climb six 8000+ metre peaks in the world, as he scaled the third highest peak in the world, Kangchenjunga and back. This would be his second attempt, after having failed the first time. The climb can be deadly, and he could potentially not return. The first part of the series covered his life and the challenge he had undertaken. We wanted to understand the entire process of preparation, mind training, and finer moments of truth from sports scientist, Arjun’s family and friends; hence, narrating the true side of the story of a real risk taker. By supporting an extraordinary attempt of a real person, we aimed to make a story far braver and more engaging than pure-play mainstream ATL advertising.

Creative Execution

The journey of Arjun Vajpai was captured on a minimal budget as part of an 11-piece episodic series (average length of 2-6 minutes) with a total creative collateral count of about a 100+ digital-first assets. Through strategic partnerships, we were able to showcase Kangchenjunga Calling series across the digital universe and generate earned media. Web: VICE.com Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube VICE Partner Network: India Times, MensXP, Hungama Mobile Video Partner: ShareIT OTT Players: Voot, Hungama Play both available on Amazon Fire Stick as well Digital Carriers: BSNL and MTNL Mainstream media (local and APAC): Economic Times, Campaign India, Content Asia, Mumbrella, Ad Gully, Impact Magazine, Business Standard

Built on set brand measurement metrics of ‘Love’ ‘TrendSetting’ ‘Inspiring’ with gains of +8 +6 +7 points respectively. 70% of the target audience said this campaign inspired them to push their boundaries & take risks. Mountain Dew India YouTube channel: #1 for MD globally, 40M views for the 11-part series over 2 months. Increased Target Audience Reach (584M) Resulting in Total 3.2BN Impressions. VICE India’s Partner network (ShareIT, Voot, Hungama) helped Mountain Dew navigate routes unexplored by the conventional paid media reach, resulting in over 90M video views, 20% from earned media. Targeted content distribution has led to the brand generating a media valuation of more than 4X and counting. The final piece of content, long-form documentary on Arjun Vajpai’s story is in line to be released in a theatrical format in the coming months.

Prior to our India operations launching our public facing full scale operations, Mountain Dew (part of PepsiCo India) came to us for an interesting, and somewhat frightening proposal. We wanted to create an experience, a moment, a journey that could inspire.

Authentic Approach: Real life stories are more impactful than staged drama or Bollywood scripts. We decided to go beyond a celebrity studded approach by creating an epic and real storyline or experience that helps the brand Mountain Dew become synonymous with adventure in India. This had to be done in an authentic manner for the attention-deficit viewer so that he/she is impressed and knows that when it comes to an adventurous lifestyle, Mountain Dew is the got-to-brand in the online space. Putting powerful insight into action: The insight that ‘current millennials at large are a lot more risk-taking (than their ancestors) was put to test. We used this insight to reinforce Mountain Dew’s leadership in the market by increasing target audience reach and engagement to ensure brand love. Truly embody its own brand philosophy of risk-taking/ “Risk Utha Naam Bana” by exploring new ways to connect with the target audience.

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