The Philippine island of Siargao is one of Asia’s leading surf destinations, even voted the Best Island in Asia in the 2021 Conde Nast Travelers Readers Awards. Throngs of tourists flock to the island for its epic swells and laidback surfing culture.

But on December 16, 2021, Siargao Island was devastated by category-5 Super Typhoon Rai, leaving little but scrap wood in its wake. Typhoon Rai became the second costliest typhoon in Philippine history—destroying everything on the island from basic shelter & infrastructure, to community boats and all means of livelihood. Relief efforts poured in to help Siargao, but morale and tourism continued to struggle even coming onto a year since the storm.

Mountain Dew wanted to help Siargao’s surfers rise again with an uplifting design campaign. The goal was to inspire interest and aid, while drawing positive attention for the island’s reopening surf tourism.

Mountain Dew wanted to help revive and rebuild one of the Philippines’ most beloved adventure playgrounds.

Re-Dew Scrapboards is a design initiative that transforms the broken pieces of Siargao and upcycled Mountain Dew PET plastic bottles into inspiring symbols of the surfers’ undying ferocity & spirit. Materials that would otherwise be considered waste for island communities like Siargao were transformed into ‘Scrapboards’—unique, full-size surfboard sculptures that served as the headlining trophies for the return of the World Surf League’s International Surfing Cup to Siargao and bolstered the island’s recovery.

Mountain Dew is a brand that champions the spirit of adventure, with its mainly 18-24 year-old Gen Z demographic of thrill-seekers continuously looking for more relevant and authentic brand experiences. When one of the country’s biggest adventure capitals was completely devastated by a category-5 super typhoon, Mountain Dew saw the opportunity to create an uplifting brand experience that could help the struggling surfing community get back on their feet.

We sought to create an emblematic symbol for the Siargao surfers’ unbreakable spirit of adventure, using what was broken and transforming it into their story of resilience and rebuilding. These could then be used to drive more positive media pick-ups for the island’s slowly reopening surf tourism. The brand searched for a solid partnership with the official global governing body for surf sports in order to tap into the tight-knit international surfing community.

In partnership with the World Surf League (WSL), Mountain Dew sponsored the return of WSL’s 2022 International Surfing Cup in Siargao held in October. The first, after years of closure due to both the pandemic and typhoon. The Re-Dew Scrapboards debuted as the official winners’ trophies for the momentous event.

Used Mountain Dew plastic bottles were pulverized into a neon green resin and combined with the wooden debris left by Typhoon Rai to form the Scrapboards. The Dew resin acted as a binding agent to hold the pieces of debris together in intricate designs inspired by iconic locations around Siargao.

On the anniversary of the typhoon, five surfboard-sized Scrapboards and other Re-Dew collectibles were featured in a gallery-media launch to raise awareness and funds for Siargao’s most affected communities. Mountain Dew turned the pieces over to local NGOs, RISE Siargao & ReMaker Space to be auctioned off for Siargao recovery.

The Re-Dew Scrapboards were a hit with the local and international surfing communities, drawing flocks of travelers’ interest during WSL’s 2022 International Surfing Cup and gaining much-needed positive media traction for Siargao Island’s reopening tourism. With no media spend, the Scrapboards made headlines that earned a total PR value of over $116,000. The local pro surfers— who nabbed the top spots were overwhelmed by the significant, uplifting message the trophies carried for their year of comebacks.

Over 163kgs of typhoon debris and 125kgs of plastic bottles were upcycled in creating the Scrapboards and will serve greater repurpose in raising funds for Siargao.

The five full-size Scrapboards and Re-Dew collectibles have been picked up by Salcedo Auctions— one of the country’s leading auction houses. The pieces will be auctioned on February 4, 2023 with all proceeds going to the rebuilding of community boats that are critical to local tourism and livelihood.