Saatchi and Saatchi has won the pounds 12.5 million review for Schweppes
Europe, the soft-drinks arm of Cadbury Schweppes that has been handled
by the DDB network for the past four years.
The appointment embraces all Schweppes branded products, including the
core mixer drinks, as well as the carbonated fruit drink, Schizan, and
the coffee-flavoured carbonate, Sienna.
Saatchis already handles Oasis, Sunkist and Malvern for Schweppes.
Saatchis beat the incumbent, DDB Needham, as well as Lowe Howard-Spink,
Grey, the Paris-based Louis V and Foote Cone Belding to the business.
In the past, Saatchis has created famous Schweppes advertising,
including pastiche spots starring John Cleese. The Saatchis chairman,
Jennifer Laing, was also responsible for winning the brand for Saatchis
in 1975.
Tamara Ingram, joint chief executive at Saatchis, said: ‘Schweppes is
one of the world’s most famous brands and it is a great privilege to be
working with it again.’
The main thrust of the brief will be to raise awareness of Schweppes,
whose brands vary by market, as a generic soft drink brand across
Europe. Charles Fallon, group director at Saatchis, said: ‘To date,
Schweppes has concentrated on individual products in the UK. Our
strategy will be to position Schweppes as a mainstream brand against
Pepsi, Coke and others.’
Saatchis will report to Dominic Lowe, vice-president marketing for
Schweppes Europe, supported by the brand’s director, Paul Troy. Both are
based in Watford.
Lowe, who says that Schweppes has consistently under-invested in the UK,
remarked: ‘The Schweppes brand is incredibly important to our business
and Saatchis has demonstrated its creative strength to build the brand
across Europe.’
