Coca-Cola Schweppes Beverages has awarded the world’s fourth largest
non-cola, soft-drink brand, Dr Pepper, to Saatchi and Saatchi.
The agency is understood to have secured the business in secret and,
sources say, has been preparing to tackle the task of replicating the
brand’s overseas success in the UK. It is understood that media will be
handled by Zenith, Saatchis’ sister company.
Plans in the pipeline for Dr Pepper next year include TV advertising -
which is likely to break in early summer - plus media-supported
promotions and a massive sampling campaign.
The combined work is thought to carry a budget of up to pounds 8
million, compared with a 1995 marketing spend of pounds 500,000, which
went into a series of on-pack and trade promotions.
Kevin White, commercial director at CCSB, would not confirm details of
the Saatchi win, but said: ‘We have already been working with an agency
for some time. We are not launching a pitch for Dr Pepper.’
Tamara Ingram, joint managing director at Saatchis, would not comment on
the win, which apparently vindicates the agency’s decision to
concentrate on winning more business from existing clients, rather than
chasing new clients.
The win shows Charlotte Street’s growing relationship with CCSB, for
which it already handles the Sunkist and Oasis soft-drink brands.
Saatchis will be charged with tackling aggressive competitors such as
Irn-Bru, Vimto, Tango and Tizer. Dr Pepper, which claims to contain no
less than 23 fruit flavours, now sells about ten million ready-to-drink
litres in the UK, accounting for an estimated share of less than 0.5 per
cent of the carbonated soft-drinks market.
White added: ‘Our ambition is to create a brand that the ten- to 15-
year-old age group will adopt as its own.
By increasing investment we will create an understanding of the brand
which has not been communicated efficiently to the UK marketplace to
date.’
At the same time, CCSB has wrested marketing and distribution control of
the brand from Food Brokers, which has distributed Dr Pepper since the
drink entered the British market in 1982.
