When it comes to soft drinks, MTN DEW is a brand with close to 100% awareness in the United States, yet its popularity and relevance is half of that figure. Fragmented behaviors and a competitive shelf have made connecting with audiences harder than ever.

MTN DEW needed to gain the attention of the younger, multicultural cohort it was losing share with and make them advocates of the Brand. To do this, we needed to meet this audience where they spend their time and move them from merely observers to active participants.

MTN DEW is no stranger to gaming and at its core, it has always encouraged its loyalists, DEW Nation, to have a damn good time living life instead of watching it. With this charge, the Brand knew it had to go beyond talking the talk to walking the walk in its bold approach to gaming.

DEW developed a purpose-meets-performance campaign called the MTN DEW Real Change Challenge to address industry gaps and provide utility for Black gamers. Through our research, we found that 1 in 3 Black gamers in the US spend over 20 hours per week on fighting games.

The Fighting Game Community (FGC) has generally lacked outside investment and tournament prize pools are smaller compared to other gaming genres, such as first-person shooter games for example.

This clear lane allowed MTN DEW to identify a 32-year-old franchise with intense, cross-generational fandom: Mortal Kombat.

DEW then aligned with key gaming moments and Black-owned companies to ignite the platform. DreamCon, a gaming and anime convention, acted as the launch moment, Cxmmunity Media (Cxm) would be the engine behind the tournament, and 3BLACKDOT (3BD) would document player journeys.

MTN DEW gathered intelligence from gaming experts, Reddit, and social media to formulate its strategy. DEW found that 77% of Black Americans are more likely to game compared to 62% of their white counterparts. In spite of this, they face barriers that prevent them from seeing gaming as a viable profession.

Serious gaming means serious investment. A recent study found that the average gamer spends about $912 a year on gaming, not including the start-up cost of a $1,250 console or a $3,000 PC setup. And entering a tournament can set players back up to $300.

Lack of funding and access to equipment are key factors preventing Black gamers from thriving in the esports industry. This gap in representation is what led MTN DEW to launch an esports tournament exclusively for Black gamers.

In July 2023, MTN DEW announced the Real Change Challenge tournament at DreamCon in front of 20,000 attendees, 70% of which identify as Black.

Entering the tournament was free. To alleviate financial pressures, MTN DEW provided Xbox consoles and the Mortal Kombat 1 game to participants free of charge.

In partnership with Cxmmunity Media, MTN DEW devised the platform: a 64-player bracket-style tournament culminating with the final 12 players going head-to-head for an overall prize pool of $500,000 at the Championship live in Atlanta at the end of October 2023. To enable fans at home to be live, active participants, matches were streamed on Twitch.

Black-owned gaming publisher, 3BLACKDOT, filmed the journey from announcement all the way through to the live Championship for a social-first docu-series giving visibility and exposure to the next generation of Black gamers.

Gaming fans showed up in droves to support the next generation of Black gamers:

On average, roughly 500K live unique viewers tuned into each stream, on par with popular culture tentpoles like the MTV Video Music Awards (roughly +600K live viewers for its 2022 telecast)

The tournament garnered over 7.3MM Live Minutes watched on Twitch

MTN DEW drove lasting impact for Black gamers:

3BD viewers associated MTN DEW with increasing Black representation in gaming (+48pt)

They also agreed that MTN DEW supports Black communities (+26pt)

The Tournament streams on Twitch drove a 15pt lift in Purchase Intent and a 9pt lift in Brand Favorability

The tournament resonated with participants and left a lasting impression:

Tournament participant Ahmad Whitaker said, “The opportunity to compete under MTN DEW was different. Even just having MTN DEW in the title was like, ‘Wow, this is really being recognized in this way.’”