Mountain DewCopied

In October 2024 Mountain Dew unveiled a new logo and packaging that dropped the abbreviated MTN DEW. CNN reported that the brand had dropped the word mountain from its logo in 2009 in favour of the shortened, angular version, and that the new design spells out the full name again, losing the angular font.

PepsiCo's own account says the brand had been MTN DEW for 14 years before returning to its full name. The angles of the old mark were softened, a citrus leaf now sits over the i, and the brand's founding year appears on pack. The palette was refreshed with yellows, blues and greens, and flavours are organised in a V formation across the range.

PepsiCo says the new mark shifts away from the sharp, extreme energy of the previous one, and that the founding year, which CNN gives as 1948, is there to reinforce heritage and build trust. Packaging artwork takes its cue from vintage WPA National Parks posters, giving the range an outdoorsy feel.

Marketing Dive supplied the people and the plan. The logo was designed by PepsiCo's in-house Design & Innovation team, and the look would roll out across packaging, equipment, advertising and experiences in the US from the following summer. Mauro Porcini, PepsiCo's chief design officer, said the typography recalls the fonts of the eighties and nineties as a nod to heritage, that each flavour gets its own outdoor landscape and palette as a canvas for storytelling, and that the aim was the most authentic expression of the brand projected towards the future. The brand's marketing vice president said the refresh followed a revived Do The Dew tagline and a new Mountain Dude character, part of a shift away from an individualistic, extreme positioning toward energizing refreshment. The outlet also noted the logo brings the brand's eponymous mountains back into the mark, and that it followed Pepsi's own more maximalist rebrand the year before.

The abbreviation was a product of its moment, all sharp edges and attitude. Spelling the name out again is a quieter, more confident move: the brand is old enough to have heritage, and heritage is easier to sell than attitude.

The leaf is the useful addition. It gives the mark a reminder of citrus flavour, something the old shouty lettering never did, without abandoning the colours shoppers find on the shelf.