Mahesh Babu and Mountain Dew Mark Five Years of High-Risk Ads

Over the last five years, Mountain Dew’s association with Mahesh Babu has become one of the most recognisable celebrity brand partnerships in India.

The collaboration has consistently leaned on physical risk, scale, and spectacle to reinforce Mountain Dew’s core positioning around courage and overcoming fear, making it a standout example of long-term advertising strategy in the beverage category.

The association began in 2022, when Mountain Dew India brought Mahesh Babu on board to extend its long-running “Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai” campaign in southern markets.

While the platform already enjoyed national visibility, the brand used Babu’s strong regional connect to deepen relevance among Telugu-speaking audiences without altering the central message of fearlessness.

• Mountain Dew and Mahesh Babu mark five years of high-risk advertising in India
• From Burj Khalifa to mid-air stunts, Mountain Dew doubles down on fearlessness
• Mahesh Babu partnership drives consistency and recall for Mountain Dew campaigns

The first major commercial set the tone for this brand endorsement. Shot at the Burj Khalifa, the film showed Babu confronting fear at extreme height before riding a bike off the structure. The sequence relied less on dialogue and more on visual tension, positioning the location as a symbol of scale and risk within Indian advertising campaigns.

In 2023, the partnership escalated further with a mid-air stunt involving a bike jump between two aircraft. The campaign ran alongside a parallel execution in North India, allowing the brand to maintain a unified idea while tailoring faces for different regions. This high-impact execution strengthened Mountain Dew ads recall in an increasingly cluttered soft drinks market.

By 2024, the storytelling evolved. While action and risk remained central, the narrative added emotional context, focusing on friendship and trust. The films continued to support youth marketing by linking everyday fears with the brand’s larger message of courage.

Also Read: KISNA's Campaign Says Love Expression Should Go Beyond One Day

Industry observers note that this sustained celebrity endorsement in India works because each execution stays aligned with the same fear-versus-belief framework. As the partnership completes five years, it highlights how consistency and scale can drive strong brand recall and long-term relevance.