Rachel Sheets
Special to The Sun
EDMOND —
Being an avid fan of Mountain Dew since he can remember, Edmond graphic designer Ben Stone never dreamed that he would be chosen to design the label for a new Mountain Dew flavor called “Distortion.”
Last fall, Stone was one of the top 10 winners in a Mountain Dew contest that challenged Dew fans to design their personal vision for the newest Mountain Dew beverage and vote for the best design through Facebook. The contest was part of DEWmocracy 2, the overall campaign to create the brand’s next permanent flavor.
DEW Labs, which are groups of the brand’s most loyal fans based in an online community, selected three of the design winners to design labels for the three new flavors — Distortion, Typhoon and White Out. Stone was chosen by the Distortion DEW Lab group to design the flavor’s packaging while the rest of the group chose the name, color and ad campaign for the product.
The three flavors are available on shelves now, and online voting is open until June 14 for fans to vote which flavor they like best at www.dew
mocracy.com. The winning flavor will become the new permanent Mountain Dew beverage.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Stone said. “I sent in my designs back in December. Since then, I have been waiting to go and buy one in the store.”
Stone said that before he knew which flavor he would design, the “Distortion” lime flavor was his favorite out of the three.
“I think mine tastes the best,” Stone said. “I know people’s taste buds are a little different, but hopefully we will come out on top eventually.”
“Distortion” DEW Lab member Amanda Atkin said the group could tell Stone had tasted the beverage after they saw his first design, because it went hand-in-hand with the taste of “Distortion.”
“Not only is he a great artist, but he is also a true Mountain Dew fan,” she said. “His design shows there is a powerful lime flavor inside every bottle or can.”
While “Distortion” is currently leading for Oklahoma, the smooth citrus flavor of “White Out” is leading nationwide.
Stone is working hard to let Oklahomans know about his product through sending out regular texts, tweets and Facebook messages to his 500 Facebook friends. He also wrote an article about the competition on his graphic design Web page, www.stonegraphicdesign.com.
Mountain Dew Brand Manager Angie Gentile said the company chose to collaborate with its fans because of the fans’ commitment and loyalty to the brand’s future.
“We thought that our Mountain Dew fans know this brand just as well as or better than we do, so let’s give them a chance to voice their opinion,” she said.
The DEW Lab fans have been working closely to prepare the three new flavors since last summer.
“People across the nation are really going to love these flavors, because they were created by them,” Gentile said.
