So, I got this e-mail the other day...

Hey TheUncleBob,

1 of the 500 lucky ones!! The Mystery Flavor activity is over, and Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner, you were chosen!! You are one of the 500 that will be receiving a delicious taste test can with a mystery DEW flavor. They will start arriving in a couple of weeks, and here's what we want YOU to do:

Tweet/Post on Facebook: We want you to cover every step, and tell the world what DEW sent you!
Video: We want to see your OFFICIAL TASTE TEST on Facebook and in DEW Labs' Mystery Flavor Video activity!
DEW Labs: Login, post on our Mystery Flavor Reax discussion that we will share with the rest of DEW Labs on what you THINK!

We want YOU to tell the world about your experience in these three easy ways and tell the world how much YOU love DEW!

So... what did I get in the mail today?



Gonna get some friends together and try it out. Wonder if it'll be any good.

You're so lucky.

I no longer care about flavor extensions. I still cannot buy the current ones in 12 packs.

Interesting that they're actually encouraging you to talk abut it on the Internet, when not too long ago, Tannerman had to pull a post about Pepsi Next off his site.

My first impression was the same thing. A sample size of 500 die hard Dew fans seems more like a promotional gimmick than a test/study. It's sort of like "Preaching to the choir" keeping the "buzz" going about Dew flavor extensions. Interesting.

Yeah, I think Mountain Dew is all about the consumer engagement or 'buzz' as Mr Zabe mentioned. They're big on Facebook and Twitter - Mtn Dew's personality has become about new colours and flavours constantly coming out and creating viral campaign out of them.
Actual Pepsi products - not so much.

DewLabs seems to be a successful way for them to handle all these flavor extensions, even if it really just boils down to a "hyperaffilated fan club" rather than real test marketing. I think the difference between this situation and the Pepsi Next scenario that we faced on BevReview is that DewLabs is totally a controlled release; there's no surprise there. You get what they want you to get, much like the DEWmocracy campaigns, which are pretty much targeted at a given result no matter what "wins". On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Pepsi didn't want any info about Next leaking out