PepsiCo?s Mountain Dew hopes to build excitement for the launch of Mtn Dew Black Label with a GIF keyboard for mobile users, playing into the popularity of emojis and GIFs among younger consumers.

The beverage marketer?s new campaign relies heavily on college students and millennials, as evidenced by its decision to pre-launch Mtn Dew Black Label at 600 universities last fall, a move that significantly boosted social media buzz for the new soda. Consequently, Mountain Dew?s imminent rollout of a downloadable GIF keyboard for mobile users is a smart strategy for the brand to continue catering to a younger target audience.

?Enabling young consumers to express themselves in unique ways is a way for Mountain Dew to remain relevant despite its own age,? said Jeff Hasen, founder of Gotta Mobilize and author of The Art of Mobile Persuasion. ?With the GIF effort and irreverent messaging, few in the target audience will care that the brand is about 70 years old.?

Going for the GIF
Mountain Dew is planning to introduce a mobile keyboard featuring GIFs, formats that support both animated and static imagery, in the next few weeks to coincide with the nationwide release of Mtn Dew Black Label. The new carbonated soft drink includes ingredients such as herbal bitters, real sugar and a dark berry flavor.

While the exact launch date for the keyboard is unknown, the soda brand is likely to experience a surge in product awareness when the feature hits consumers? smartphone screens.

Younger individuals ? such as the ones Mountain Dew is attempting to target with this new flavor ? have proven to be big fans of alternative communication mediums such as GIFs and emoji stickers. This widespread trend has prompted a slew of food and beverage marketers to implement these tools into their own marketing tactics.

For example, Burger King ramped up excitement for the return of a popular menu item, Chicken Fries, by rolling out a chicken-inspired emoji keyboard for mobile users, a move that resonated positively with its customers (see story).

The shareable nature of GIF and emoji sticker keyboards enables brands to enjoy wider consumer outreach by placing their content in the control of loyal fans.

Mountain Dew claims the GIFs in its keyboard will feature material from its newest television spot, titled ?Gentlemen of the Jacket.? Additional details about the release date will be posted on the new soda?s dedicated site, http://www.mountaindew.com/blacklabel/, in the coming weeks.

Catering to college students
Mountain Dew undertook a strategic advertising approach for its Black Label soft drink. Last fall, it released the beverage exclusively at 600 colleges, thereby uncapping excitement for the darker and more mysterious side of the brand.

This resulted in strong word-of-mouth branding, as well as considerable buzz on social media networks.

To build upon this successful tactic, Mountain Dew is embarking on a road trip to introduce the soft drink to consumers across the nation via a grassroots sampling tour, which will make stops at various festivals, retail locations and universities.

The PepsiCo-owned company is no stranger to leveraging social media traction for its advertising initiatives and branded content.

Last September, Mountain Dew was one of the brands that quickly embraced Snapchat?s new category of filters that leveraged facial recognition technology, as pressure grew on marketers to engage mobile users in a more organic way than standard ads (see story).

Additionally, When Twitter first debuted its video live streaming app Periscope, Mountain Dew immediately jumped on board for a chance to bring its mobile social strategy to the next level (see story).

?What's old is new when marketing adapts to the times,? Mr. Hasen said. ?GIFs may be a thing now, but just like Mountain Dew evolves its products, we'll see more tools of expression that will catch the eye of young consumers.?