PuppyMonkeyBaby: Because We Can, That’s Why

Three bros gather ‘round the TV set on an inauspicious Saturday night. Their demeanors are dull, lifeless, and static. As one of the dudes confirms that they will remain glued to the couch this evening, a Frankenstein-like creature straight out of “Goosebumps” consisting of baby legs, a monkey torso, and pug face struts in the room. Like a discarded Pokémon, it repeats its name over and over: Puppymonkeybaby, Puppymonkeybaby, Puppymonkeybaby. It hooks it up with cold cans of Mountain Dew Kickstarts for all to drink, which are infused with a hip, awesome, radical cocktail of Mountain Dew, juice, and, of course, caffeine. The fellas take their collective sips as a crescendoing beat in the background complements the waddling Babymonkeypuppy’s rattles that coaxes the young men out of their apartment. What follows next is presumably a night of sheer awesomeness. This commerical, while superficially stupid and pointless, actually effectively employs critical advertising techniques such as the old school “hard-sell” technique and associates an unforgettable mascot to its product which easily separates itself from its competition.

Upon watching the commerical, the 100 million plus Super Bowl audience is stunned, wondering what in the hell they just witnessed. “Was the marketing team smoking something during the creation of that ad”? That’s a completely different issue but their unconventional strategy accomplished their goal beautifully. The Puppymonkeybaby ad is the Donald Trump of Super Bowl commercials: brash, in-your-face, unyielding, and stirring enough to get everyone talking about it. Simply mentioning the “Puppymonkeybaby” will immediately associate the mascot to its product: a spiked-up caffeinated drink that has made itself familiar to its audience because of constant repition. Similar to ads from early television, Mountain Dew Kickstart lays out its product directly to its audience, no strings attached. No, the product is not asserting its dominance over perennial energy drink moguls Monster or Red Bull; rather, it endorses its own features through a hilarious medium that combines the most adored species in America. Among countless other products with essentially the same negative health effects, Mountain Dew’s simple commercial works because its unique selling product is its “awesome” ingredients which ostensibly will “kick-start” the drinker’s night. As long as the product is made familiar to the consumer, he or she will likely pick it up next time they are at the store because they are more aware of what that specific product will offer as opposed to the others.

Despite not having a profound nor as positive a message as some other Super Bowl commercials this year, the Puppymonkeybaby ad surprisingly left a lasting impact on its viewers. As the saying goes, “there is no such thing as bad publicity”, the same message applies to this ad whose strategy was clearly to get its product’s name out to its audience in the most absurd way possible. The effectiveness of any advertisement is based on the cohesiveness of its message; if it isn’t clear nor catchy, people will not be intrigued enough to buy it. Even if the product is potentially as cringeworthy as a Puppymonkeybaby, the widespread reactions of the ad is just enough to convince consumers to try it out. Similar to the Taco Bell talking chihuahua, an animated mascot could be just what companies need to give their product a sales boost. Firms have been associating mascots and spokespeople to their products for years, and creating the right mascot to the ideal target audience will undoubtedly lead to profitable returns in the long run.