MAM
Mountain Dew brings skateboarding to India in latest TVC
MUMBAI: Food and beverage company PepsiCo India has unveiled a new campaign ‘Darr Ko Maro Dew‘ for its beverage brand Mountain Dew. The campaign is based on the concept of facing your fears and overcoming them with a bold, daring and a can – do attitude.
The campaign is created by Taproot India and produced by RDP.
The campaign brings to India leading skateboarders, BMX & FMX professionals along with the internationally popular Mountain Dew Xtreme Tours through a new TVC that was launched along side the start of IPL 5. It sets out to amplify and instill a feeling of confidence to shrink your fears and get ahead in life with “Darr ko jitna chota samjho utna hi achha hai”.
Kick-starting the campaign, Mountain Dew recently associated with boxing champion Vijender Singh; World champion wrestler Sushil Kumar; and Indian national hockey player Sandeep Singh and has given consumers a unique opportunity for to train with the top athletes in India for a day. Both Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar were seen conquering their fears in Mountain Dew‘s on-air campaign around the theme of ‘Darr Ko Maaro Dew‘.
PepsiCo India EVP- marketing beverages (flavours) Ruchira Jaitly said, “Mountain Dew has always believed that going beyond fear is the path to victory and with this latest campaign, we urge the consumers to shrink their fears and move ahead with a self- belief and a never say die attitude to win. Aligned to this thought, we had initiated this season with an association with Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar and Sandeep Singh, who have been a source of inspiration to us by emerging victorious after facing testing times and the toughest of challenges.”
Taproot national creative director Agnello Dias said, “This film stays consistent with our current year‘s interpretation of the emotion of fear – that the more we are scared, the larger any fear grows and the more one confronts it, the smaller it seems. We‘re happy to build on the classic Dew platform of Darr ke aage Jeet hai.”
The Mountain Dew Xtreme Tours will unveil over five locations namely Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Chandigarh. Professional skateboarders BMX and FMX will share their trade secrets in interactive consumer workshops and on ground interactions with consumers across the country. The “Mountain Dew Xtreme Tours” will be supported by a 360-degree approach including on-air, outdoor nd on-ground initiatives and digital engagement programmes.
MAM
Sleepwell unveils nationwide sleep study on World Sleep Day
79 per cent use screens before bed, 36 per cent of 18–25-year-olds sleep ≤5 hours.
MUMBAI: Sleepwell just dropped the pillow truth bomb because when India’s sleeping less and scrolling more, even the mattress wants to stage an intervention. On World Sleep Day 2026, Sleepwell released its nationwide Sleep Study, painting a stark picture of India’s escalating sleep crisis. The findings show that 79% of Indians use screens right before bed, fuelling restless nights and drowsy days. Alarmingly, 36% of young adults aged 18–25 sleep five hours or less making them the country’s most sleep-deprived group.
The study also busts the myth of “catch-up sleep”, 65% of respondents actually sleep even later on weekends, pointing to increasingly irregular patterns that spill fatigue into the working week. Mattress discomfort emerged as a frequently overlooked culprit behind late-night wake-ups and constant leak-anxiety checks.
To drive the message home, Sleepwell’s CMO Puneet Gulati appeared on Zee Business, stressing that quality sleep isn’t a luxury, it’s foundational health. He highlighted how the right mattress can transform restless nights into restorative ones.
The brand doubled down with clever late-night activations, partnering with a quick-commerce platform to serve contextual ads between 11 pm and 3 am, gently nudging bleary-eyed scrollers to consider mattress discomfort as the reason they’re still awake and pointing them to the nearest Sleepwell store. Digital influencers and creators also shared relatable stories of how poor sleep fuels impulsive late-night behaviour.
In a nation that celebrates hustle but quietly pays for it in lost rest, Sleepwell isn’t just selling mattresses, it’s selling the radical idea that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is close your eyes and actually sleep well.
