NEWS: Saatchis picks up Dr Pepper revamp

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.

This article was first published on Campaign