KEVIN LYONS | Art collaboration

project overview

Client: Mountain Dew (PepsiCo) – Green Label Exclusives Division
Role: Cultural Collaboration Architect & Community Integration Strategist
Timeline: 2013–2014 (Part of six-year PepsiCo strategic partnership)
Category: Multi-Stakeholder Cultural Partnership, Authentic Community Integration, Cross-Platform Launch Strategy

Most brands enter skate culture by buying attention. I got Mountain Dew in by respecting the gatekeepers.

Skate is a community that recognizes a corporate takeover instantly, and Mountain Dew wanted in for real.

I built a four-way collaboration that put each partner's credibility to work, GIRL Skateboards' authority, Kevin Lyons' art, and Sean Malto's standing as an athlete, then launched it where it mattered: on The Berrics, through core skate shops, with a Brooklyn gallery release timed to the Dew Tour. The brand showed up as a contributor, not a sponsor.

It earned legitimacy with the skate audience, drew press and insiders to the release without reading as a takeover, and landed in a Mountain Dew global commercial.

Communities let you in when you add to them. Respect is the price of entry.

THE PRODUCT

MEDIA