The :30 spot begins textually, with Mountain Dew MDX presents “StaySharp Test No. 3” on a bold black background with bright green and red lettering. Then a shattering image of a techno rock band appears, which breaks into its signature song, Elektronik Supersonik, which begins, “Hey, baby, wake up from your asleep.” At the end of the clip a question appears: What is the band’s name?*
The spot, part of a new TV/Web campaign for Pepsi-Cola North America’s Mountain Dew MDX that launched in November, was created by BBDO New York and produced by Spontaneous, New York. The techno rock clip originally appeared at YouTube and was selected for the campaign after the agency conducted a search. “We wanted to find 20 seconds of something that was weird and could be viewed over and over and you’ll see something new every time,” said BBDO’s creative director/copywriter Peter Kain. “It had to be material you could ask questions about” because the campaign was comprised of spots with questions that sent viewers to www.Staysharp.tv to find the answers.
“The idea was part of a relaunch of the brand, to say you drink it anytime you want to feel mentally sharp,” Kain said. It was originally just an energy drink. The campaign is geared to 18-24-year-olds, he said.
Producing the spot wasn’t too complicated because it was basically lifted from YouTube. “We did a little color correction, but we didn’t do much to adulterate the main content,” said Brian Mitchell, managing director of Spontaneous, the visual effects company that produced the spot.
He called the spot “reverse osmosis,” because it was a YouTube video that became a commercial, instead of a commercial that was replayed on YouTube. “It’s the first time material has been taken from the Net and put on TV,” Kain said. “So it could end up back on the Net,” Mitchell replied.
BBDO acquired the clip from its creator, Santo Cilauro, the Australian comedian who appears in the clip as the band leader.
The techno rock spot is one of three that were created for the campaign that appeared on TV and at www.Staysharp.tv along with a fourth spot that only appears on the Web as a bonus for Web surfers and repeat viewers. The web site also provides answers to the questions and additional questions for each spot. The campaign also appears at MySpace and has been viewed 11,000 times, Kain said.
*Zlad