The One Show
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Category
Brand Partnerships
Annual ID
OS26_CU008S
Background
Nepal is one of the world’s most formidable adventure landscapes — home to eight of the planet’s fourteen highest mountains. Here, climbing is more than a pursuit; it’s cultural identity, economic engine, and generational livelihood.
Yet globally, Nepal’s story has been narrowed to a single summit: Mount Everest.
At the heart of the issue lies a global myth:
That the mountain that stands tallest must also be the hardest to conquer.
Hence, Everest is the most climbed, most celebrated, and the world spends its money attempting to conquer this.
So as a result, Nepal, a country built on mountains, finds its entire adventure economy bottlenecked into one summit: Mount Everest:
• In spring 2023, over 470 climbers attempted Everest — almost all on the same South Col route, within a three-week summit window. Their journey ends where Nepal’s opportunity does.
• Sherpas can earn up to $6,000 during that short season — over 10× Nepal’s average income — but when Everest closes, so does their livelihood.
• By contrast, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and Makalu each saw fewer than 30 climbers that year — despite offering being challenging
Harder, deadlier, more remote climbs lie ignored — along with the communities that surround them.
Mountain Dew, Nepal’s leading beverage brand, is embedded in youth and adventure culture. Known for provoking thrill and challenging limits, it had both the credibility and responsibility to confront the myth.
The challenge was clear: to shift the world’s understanding of Nepal from the home of Everest to the home of the world’s greatest climbing challenges.
Creative Idea
Mountain Dew introduced the world’s first mountain grading system that measured difficulty based on actual risk, not just height.
Developed in partnership with Discovery and the Nepal Tourism Board, the idea analysed decades of expedition records, terrain instability, weather volatility, rescue logistics, and Sherpa knowledge — bringing together previously unaccounted variables to identify five true dimensions of difficulty: Rescue Challenges, Natural Hazards, Failure Rate, Route Challenges, and Sherpa Variability.
These powered DARESCORE — a dynamic, multi-variable index that scored Nepal’s peaks based on real climbing conditions and seasonal data.
The idea came alive as an immersive microsite that visualised survival risks, route complexity, and rescue feasibility. Users could assess difficulty, simulate climbs, and even leave expedition enquiries — transforming data into a participative brand experience.
By building a measurable, multi-variable index, the idea gave climbers a credible new standard for choosing their next summit.
Developed in partnership with Discovery and the Nepal Tourism Board, the idea analysed decades of expedition records, terrain instability, weather volatility, rescue logistics, and Sherpa knowledge — bringing together previously unaccounted variables to identify five true dimensions of difficulty: Rescue Challenges, Natural Hazards, Failure Rate, Route Challenges, and Sherpa Variability.
These powered DARESCORE — a dynamic, multi-variable index that scored Nepal’s peaks based on real climbing conditions and seasonal data.
The idea came alive as an immersive microsite that visualised survival risks, route complexity, and rescue feasibility. Users could assess difficulty, simulate climbs, and even leave expedition enquiries — transforming data into a participative brand experience.
By building a measurable, multi-variable index, the idea gave climbers a credible new standard for choosing their next summit.
Insights & Strategy
The global climbing community is driven by one behavioural instinct: the desire to conquer the toughest challenges. But for decades, there was no system to define what “toughest” really meant.
In the absence of a better benchmark, climbers defaulted to the only available metric — height. As a result, Everest, the tallest, became the presumed hardest. Not because of data, but because of lack of it.
This flawed metric shaped global climbing behaviour, distorted Nepal’s adventure narrative, and concentrated over 90% of economic activity, tourism, and Sherpa livelihoods into a single seasonal route.
The strategic unlock was to correct the core misbelief: toughest ≠ tallest.
By identifying the different dimensions of difficulty beyond height, we could reframe how challenge is understood, pursued, and valued.
The goal was to rebuild the world’s mental model of what makes a climb worth chasing.
Execution
1. Film: Start with a human explanation
We launched with a hero film built around a real dynamic: a Sherpa and a climber in conversation.
The climber arrives with the usual belief: Everest is the ultimate test.
The Sherpa calmly explains that height is only one dimension and that other Nepal peaks are as tough or tougher when you factor real risks.
The film introduces the idea of DARESCORE and invites people to “Discover Nepal’s Mighty Peaks of Courage”.
The film ran on TV in Nepal, on YouTube and socials for the global climbing community, and through Discovery’s channels to reach serious mountaineers.
2. Microsite: Turning data into an explorable tool
The core product was the DARESCORE microsite.
Each peak had its own profile: score breakdown, risk factors, seasonal difficulty, and route overview.
Climbers could compare Everest with other 8K, 7K and 6K peaks and understand why some scored higher on difficulty.
An interactive view let users “walk” the route virtually, see where hazards intensify, and understand how conditions change by season.
A simple form converted intent into expedition enquiries that were routed to local partners.
This is where the data model actually did its job: help people choose climbs.
3. Packaging: The product as the entry point
Limited-edition Mountain Dew packs carried a simple instruction and QR code.
Scan any bottle to “Check the DARESCORE”.
The scan opened the microsite directly, so the drink became the physical gateway into Nepal’s true mountain map.
This ran in Nepal and in select Mountain Dew markets where climbers and aspirational adventurers are most active.
4. Surround: Making it visible and credible
To deepen reach and credibility:
Discovery created supporting content and amplified the film and platform across its YouTube and social channels.
Outdoor and print targeted travellers at airports, climbing hubs and local markets in Nepal.
Influencers, climbers and Sherpas shared their own takes on the new grading system and specific peaks.
We launched with a hero film built around a real dynamic: a Sherpa and a climber in conversation.
The climber arrives with the usual belief: Everest is the ultimate test.
The Sherpa calmly explains that height is only one dimension and that other Nepal peaks are as tough or tougher when you factor real risks.
The film introduces the idea of DARESCORE and invites people to “Discover Nepal’s Mighty Peaks of Courage”.
The film ran on TV in Nepal, on YouTube and socials for the global climbing community, and through Discovery’s channels to reach serious mountaineers.
2. Microsite: Turning data into an explorable tool
The core product was the DARESCORE microsite.
Each peak had its own profile: score breakdown, risk factors, seasonal difficulty, and route overview.
Climbers could compare Everest with other 8K, 7K and 6K peaks and understand why some scored higher on difficulty.
An interactive view let users “walk” the route virtually, see where hazards intensify, and understand how conditions change by season.
A simple form converted intent into expedition enquiries that were routed to local partners.
This is where the data model actually did its job: help people choose climbs.
3. Packaging: The product as the entry point
Limited-edition Mountain Dew packs carried a simple instruction and QR code.
Scan any bottle to “Check the DARESCORE”.
The scan opened the microsite directly, so the drink became the physical gateway into Nepal’s true mountain map.
This ran in Nepal and in select Mountain Dew markets where climbers and aspirational adventurers are most active.
4. Surround: Making it visible and credible
To deepen reach and credibility:
Discovery created supporting content and amplified the film and platform across its YouTube and social channels.
Outdoor and print targeted travellers at airports, climbing hubs and local markets in Nepal.
Influencers, climbers and Sherpas shared their own takes on the new grading system and specific peaks.
Results
Brand Impact
• Achieved 23% sales growth, 2.5× the CSD category average of 9.28% — driven by QR-enabled packaging that transformed the product into a portal to adventure.
• Reached ~20 million people through a multi-platform mix of TV, digital, Discovery, and influencer integration.
• Drove ~400,000 microsite interactions, turning brand exposure into immersive experience and real expedition planning.
Cultural Impact
• Enabled 100+ confirmed non-Everest expeditions, reframing Nepal’s climbing identity beyond Everest.
• Estimated $500K+ in new local income for Sherpas and support ecosystems — expanding tourism value beyond a single summit.
• Created 2000–3000 new seasonal opportunities, injecting livelihood into previously overlooked regions.
Behavioural Impact
• Inspired action: 5% of users submitted serious climbing enquiries.
• DARESCORE reframed challenge itself — with 1 in 3 users no longer viewing Everest as the only ultimate test of courage.
• Achieved 23% sales growth, 2.5× the CSD category average of 9.28% — driven by QR-enabled packaging that transformed the product into a portal to adventure.
• Reached ~20 million people through a multi-platform mix of TV, digital, Discovery, and influencer integration.
• Drove ~400,000 microsite interactions, turning brand exposure into immersive experience and real expedition planning.
Cultural Impact
• Enabled 100+ confirmed non-Everest expeditions, reframing Nepal’s climbing identity beyond Everest.
• Estimated $500K+ in new local income for Sherpas and support ecosystems — expanding tourism value beyond a single summit.
• Created 2000–3000 new seasonal opportunities, injecting livelihood into previously overlooked regions.
Behavioural Impact
• Inspired action: 5% of users submitted serious climbing enquiries.
• DARESCORE reframed challenge itself — with 1 in 3 users no longer viewing Everest as the only ultimate test of courage.
2026 Awards
Total Points: 21
Silver Pencil
Credits
Agency
Leo India / Mumbai
Client / Brand
PepsiCo India / Delhi
Associate Creative Director
Ameya Mestry
Chief Creative Officer
Sachin Kamble
Vikram Pandey
Chief Strategy Officer
Anirban Roy
Copywriter
Hritika Ahuja
Shivanghsh Mukherjee
Senior Creative Strategist
Ashish Gautam
Sr Creative Director
Adwait Kulkarni
Brand Service Partner
Saniya Raina
Brand Strategy Partner
Varsh R
CEO
Amitesh Rao
Chief Creative Officer - Publicis Groupe South Asia and Chairman - Leo South Asia
Rajdeepak Das
Group ECD
Shahnawaz Qadeer Khan
Managing Partner
Jaikrit Singh
Sr Art Director
Abdul Rahim Poothokkil
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