• by Danielle Oster , October 17, 2024

In its latest activation leaning into its canine mascot, Mug Root Beer is teaming up with a college football stars for a campaign celebrating National Fetch Day -- Oct. 19, a day celebrating the bond between humans and dogs.

The campaign hinges on a very simple observation about fall sports and dogs’ perennial pastime.

“Fall sports are basically just games of fetch, with more rules,” Mug Root Beer senior brand marketing manager Patrick Gamble said in a release. “Just ask our mascot, Dog, who wants to help everyone play more fetch, which starts with one thing: a stick.”

In the “Fetch Mug. Get a Stick” promotional giveaway. the first 1,000 customers to purchase Mug Root Beer and submit their receipt on the campaign landing page will get a  “one-of-a-kind stick from Dog’s collection, preserved in epoxy and delivered alongside a certificate of authenticity and a personalized note from Dog himself,” per the brand.

Those who don’t fetch Mug fast enough fast enough on Oct. 19 will still have reason to enter, though. All customers who upload receipts via the sweepstakes page will be entered for a chance to win Dog’s one “Golden Stick,” granting a year’s supply of Mug Root Beer.

To promote the activation, the PepsiCo brand teamed up with college football stars (who play for teams with dog-related mascots) who know a thing or two about how to fetch for a social-focused campaign, with stars posting on their social channels including: the Georgia Bulldogs’ KJ Bolden, Oscar Delp, Julian Humphrey, and Jalon Walker; Mississippi State’s Michael Van Buren; Texas A&M’s EJ Smith; and Yale’s Brogan McCaughey. Mug has also also started teasing the promotion through content on its own social media pages, including Instagram and TikTok.

The effort isn’t the first canine-centric campaign from the PepsiCo brand in recent months. Back in June, Mug ran a campaign to put the “World’s Ugliest Dog” on its cans.