When Mountain Dew set out to tell a deeper story about Nepal’s mountaineering heritage through the “Peaks of Courage” campaign in collaboration with Leo Burnett and in association with Discovery and the Nepal Tourism Board, the brand needed more than just a message, it needed a platform that could immerse, engage, and inspire users across devices and geographies. That’s where our team came in.
The Vision and Purpose
As the technical partners for this campaign, our role was to design and deploy a high-performance web platform that merged 3D visual storytelling with real-time AR capabilities. The result was mdpeaksofcourage.com — a dynamic, scalable, and immersive site that brought Nepal’s unexplored peaks directly to users’ hands.
Why Immersive?
At the heart of the “Peaks of Courage” campaign was a powerful brand message — challenge your fears. To make that message real, we needed more than words; we needed immersion. For a campaign rooted in the idea of challenging new fears, we knew the experience had to do more than just inform — it had to transport.
By recreating the scale, altitude, and difficulty of Nepal’s toughest peaks through interactive 3D routemaps, we allowed users to experience the journey — its highs, risks, and resilience — from the safety of their homes.
We paid special attention to the audio design, layering howling mountain winds, crunching snow, distant avalanches and more — all synced to where the user was on the 3D routemap. These immersive soundscapes weren’t just aesthetic; they were strategic. They created emotional texture, pulling users deeper into the climb and making the journey feel real, tangible, and alive.
Our goal was to recreate the scale, drama, and atmosphere of Nepal’s legendary peaks from the comfort of a user’s home. That meant building more than a visual journey. It was a way to make fear tangible, and courage accessible, all through the browser.
Campaign Objectives and Approach
- Build a Scalable Immersive Web Platform for Mass Engagement
- Make a site that works across browsers with zero app downloads
- Deliver real-time 3D visualisations of Nepal’s 8K Peaks
- Integrate AR to visualise the campaign while scanning the Mountain Dew Logo on Peaks of Courage Branded Bottles
- Optimise for low bandwidth environments while retaining visual quality
We architected a lightweight yet visually rich solution that leveraged modern web technologies to create an experience that was as educational as it was inspirational.
Impact
The Mountain Dew “Peaks of Courage” AR and 3D web experience revolutionized how users connect with adventure campaigns. By leveraging immersive technology, we transported people to the breathtaking mountains of Nepal without requiring them to leave their homes. This digital expedition allowed users to experience the majesty and challenges of these peaks in ways traditional media simply cannot replicate.
1.5 Million
Users Engaged across 7 Weeks
64 Countries
Global reach across six continents
The campaign’s success demonstrated that immersive AR and 3D technologies aren’t just novel additions to marketing efforts—they’re powerful tools for creating meaningful connections. By blending digital innovation with authentic storytelling, we created an experience that resonated with audiences worldwide, allowing them to feel the spirit of adventure that Mountain Dew represents while gaining appreciation for Nepal’s iconic peaks.
Key Features: Interactive 3D Map
Peak Explorer in 3D: Users could rotate, zoom, and interact with an Interactive map of Nepal and explore mountaineering data through an interactive UI overlay
Dare Score Parameters: We built a user interface to visually represent a peak’s challenge level — factoring in data such as Rescue Factors, Route Challenges and Sherpa Variability.
Find Your Sherpa connects users with verified trekking agencies recommended by the Nepal Tourism Board. It’s a seamless way to turn inspiration into action by booking real treks with trusted local partners.
Beginner & Intermediate Treks: To make Peaks of Courage more accessible, we added two curated sections: Beginner Treks and Intermediate Treks. The Beginner section highlights exciting routes for first-time adventurers, while Intermediate Treks offer a step up—designed for those ready to test their limits. This way, the experience empowers users to not just explore courage, but live it.
Additional Features and Optimizations
Web-Based AR Deployment
With MindAR integration, users could launch Augmented Reality experiences from any mobile browser, showcasing the different 8K Peaks of Nepal visualised creatively.
Optimised Asset Pipeline
Heavy 3D models were decimated, LOD-optimized, and converted into GLTF files to reduce load time without compromising detail.
Cross-Device Compatibility
Cross device optimisation was used to ensure the best experience across different devices with varying resolutions and performance.
Peak Hunter
We created Peak Hunter—an interactive tool that recommends Nepal treks based on user inputs like fitness, skill, altitude, and season. It adds a personal touch, guiding each user to peaks that match their adventure goals.
Designing the Climb: Evolving the User Interface
UI isn’t built in a single pass — it’s shaped through layers of iteration, feedback, and refinement. For “Peaks of Courage,” we explored multiple visual directions to balance clarity with thrill.
From information architecture and typography to interaction models and terrain rendering, every round brought us closer to an experience that felt both intuitive and powerful. Through this iterative journey, we arrived at a final design that merged rich data, immersive visuals, and seamless navigation — allowing users to explore Nepal’s mountains
Bringing Routes to Life: The 3D Journey Behind the Maps
Creating the interactive 3D routemaps was a meticulous process rooted in real-world data and storytelling. We began by extracting precise heightmap data to reconstruct the topography of each mountain in 3D. Using these elevation maps, we generated accurate digital terrains, layering high-resolution satellite textures to enhance realism and visual depth.
But we didn’t stop at the surface. The actual climb routes were modeled using inputs from seasoned Sherpas — those who know every camp, crevasse, and challenge by heart. Their knowledge helped us shape the journey with authenticity, down to the most commonly used trails and the elevation markers that matter most.
To make the experience truly immersive, we added interactive audio layers that respond to the user’s position along the route — incorporating ambient sounds and audio cues that evolve as you progress. The result is more than a map — it’s a climb you can feel, see, and hear
Tech Stack
Our engineering team carefully selected and integrated these technologies to create a seamless, immersive experience:
- Three.js – For rendering high-fidelity 3D terrain and peak models interactively within the browser.
- GLSL – For building custom shaders & materials for snow, particle animation, line animations in 3D.
- MindAR – Image target based AR for scanning labels & augmenting models.
- Vite – As a bundler for building the project.
- GSAP & WebGL – For smooth animations and transitions between sections.
- CDN and S3 – Based deployment for fast load times and asset delivery at scale.
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