Mountain Dew Is Going Back to Its Roots

With sales falling sharply, Mountain Dew is going back to its past, though it apparently doesn't plan to bring back the Willy the Hillbilly mascot from decades ago. The soft drink has unveiled a new logo and packaging design that reintroduces the word "Mountain," CNN reports. The drink was rebranded Mtn Dew in 2009. The new design replaces the sharp angles from the 2009 rebrand with a tree-lined, mountainous background. "Mountain Dew appears ready to shake off the adrenaline rush that has defined the brand's marketing for almost two decades, when a key strategy was to market Dew like an energy drink to an energy drink crowd," Beverage Digest editor Duane Stanford tells CNN.

Sales of the PepsiCo-owned drink dropped 7% in the first half of this year, according to Beverage Digest. The new look includes the date 1948—the year Mountain Dew was trademarked by Tennessee bottlers who created it as a mixer for whiskey. PepsiCo exec Umi Patel says the "nostalgic" look, which will be rolled out next May, "tested positively and drove positive purchase intent across Dew loyalists, Gen Z, and millennial consumers," reports USA Today. The brand recently introduced a new, '70s-inspired, Mountain Dude character. (Both vice presidential candidates are fans of Diet Mountain Dew.)