Mountain Dew has earned a reputation for interacting with consumers to create new products. As one of the brands that is at the forefront of a new trend that Schneider Associates is calling Customer Calibration,™ Mountain Dew has actively involved consumers in all stages of new product development and marketing. First launched in late 2007, the DEWmocracy campaign allowed consumers to help create new Mountain Dew flavors, which resulted in the production of Voltage® in 2008 and the newest craze, White Out®, in 2010.
In 2011, Mountain Dew took a new route in DEWmocracy and developed another way to incorporate consumers into their production decisions – “Back by Popular Dewmand.” In an interview with Ad Age, Zach Harris, the senior marketing manager of Mountain Dew, explained, “In 2011, we consistently heard from our consumers, ‘But what about our favorite flavors that are no longer in the market?’ Instead of creating more new products from scratch, like we’ve done with Dewmocracy 1 and 2, we decided to celebrate our fans and portfolio by bringing back their favorite flavors.” The flavors were chosen by fans for fans and are back on the market as limited edition products during the summer of 2011.
“Back by Popular Dewmand” was designed to let fans reach out to other fans. 
Mountain Dew used Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and partnered with other media outlets like Adult Swim, College Humor, and Gizmodo to advertise the campaign. Mountain Dew also asked their passionate advocates, or “Dew All-Stars,” to lobby for their individual favorites. Some fans created their own Facebook pages to rally friends and acquaintances to support specific flavors, while others produced viral videos to inform the World Wide Web. In the campaign’s press release, Brett O’Brien, senior director of marketing at Mountain Dew, discussed the company’s intention of encouraging participation from the masses. “Back by Popular Dewmand was created to celebrate our incredible fans by rewarding them with the return of some of their favorite Dew flavors,” said O’Brien. “There is no fan like a Mountain Dew fan – Dew fans are always engaged.”
On May 16, 2011, Mountain Dew re-launched the three top-voted favorite drinks: Mountain Dew Pitch Black®, Mountain Dew Supernova® and Mountain Dew Typhoon®. Mountain Dew revealed that the diet version of Mountain Dew Supernova® will remain as a permanent addition in their lineup of diet drinks, so Dew lovers won’t lose the strawberry-flavored soda again. Mountain Dew is also featuring the “Dew All-Stars” in their print and web campaigns featuring fans and the resurrected flavors. It remains to be seen whether Mountain Dew’s fan engagement in flavor creation and marketing will result in strong sales, but it’s certainly an excellent case study in Customer Calibration™ where consumers help design both the product and marketing experience.
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