The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Mountain Dew's DARESCORE graded peaks by real risk and rerouted Nepal's climbing economy
Mountain Dew graded peaks by real risk, not height — 100+ expeditions beyond Everest, $500K for Sherpas, a Spikes Grand Prix.
Mountain Dew (PepsiCo)
The solution
Nepal holds eight of the world's fourteen highest mountains, yet its adventure economy funnels through Everest: in spring 2023 more than 470 climbers attempted the same South Col route inside a three-week window, while harder, deadlier peaks like Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Makalu drew fewer than 30 each. The belief that the tallest mountain must be the hardest distorted the entire market.
Mountain Dew, with Leo India, Discovery and Nepal's Tourism Board, replaced height with risk. DARESCORE, the world's first mountain-grading system based on real climbing conditions, scored each peak across five dimensions — rescue challenges, natural hazards, failure rate, route challenges and Sherpa variability — drawn from decades of expedition records, terrain instability, weather volatility, rescue logistics and Sherpa knowledge.
The index became a platform: a hero film of a Sherpa calmly correcting a climber's Everest fixation, an interactive microsite where users compare peaks, walk routes virtually and send expedition enquiries straight to local partners, and limited-edition packs whose QR codes open 'Check the DARESCORE'. The drink itself became the gateway into Nepal's real mountain map.
Results: 23% sales growth, 2.5 times the carbonated-drinks category average, roughly 400,000 microsite interactions, 100+ confirmed non-Everest expeditions and an estimated $500,000+ of new income for Sherpa communities. The campaign won the Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix at Spikes Asia 2026.
Why it worked
- It fixed a real market distortion: with only height as a benchmark, over 90% of Nepal's adventure economy and Sherpa livelihoods concentrated on one seasonal route.
- The tool had genuine utility — route planning, rescue feasibility, seasonal conditions — so the brand became useful instead of merely loud.
- QR-enabled packaging turned every bottle into an entry point, so product and media amplified each other.
- Credible partners — Discovery and the Nepal Tourism Board — made the index feel like science rather than advertising.
- It produced measurable downstream value: expeditions, income and a changed mental model, with 1 in 3 users no longer seeing Everest as the only ultimate test.
What can be applied
When a market runs on a wrong benchmark, supply a truer one. Give people a better measure of what they want, and demand re-routes itself — the brand that sets the standard owns the conversation.
Aftermath
The platform outlived the launch: microsite enquiries kept being routed to local operators, climbers adopted the scores, and the QR packs kept running in Nepal and select markets. The behavioural shift — 5% of users filing serious climb enquiries, 2,000–3,000 new seasonal opportunities in overlooked regions — turned a soft-drink promotion into a small piece of tourism infrastructure, capped by the Spikes Asia 2026 Brand Experience & Activation Grand Prix.
Sources
- Mountain Dew | DARESCORE
- Mountain Dew launches 'Peaks of Courage' campaign to spotlight Nepal's untold mountaineering legacy
- India dominates Spikes Asia 2026, Leo Mumbai takes APAC Agency of the Year
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