Young and Rubicam launches its first UK work for Dr Pepper next
month with a pounds 3 million TV campaign that emphasises the uniqueness
of the brand.
The TV commercial is set on a traditional porch-swing in the heart of
the US. A girl is enticing her shy male companion with something
mysterious, which we assume must be herself, but turns out to be a can
of Dr Pepper.
The endline says: ’You’ve got to try it to love it.’
The new commercial aims to move away from the ’in-your-face’,
youth-orientated strategies adopted by rival soft drinks brands such as
Tango, Fanta and Pepsi Max, which was also apparent in the ’mad world of
Dr Pepper’ campaign, created by Dr Pepper’s former agency, Saatchi and
Saatchi.
Suzanne Sharpe, the account director on Dr Pepper at Y&R, said: ’We
didn’t want to be weird for the sake of it. The UK has a lot of
high-spending competitors, so we wanted to show that Dr Pepper is
different and has a unique taste.’
The new work will also run in Holland, Belgium, Russia, the Czech
Republic and Slovakia this year, with more countries joining the media
schedule next year. Media is bought by Zenith Media and planned at
Y&R.
Dr Pepper is treating the new campaign as a repositioning of the brand,
which has been popular in the US for 100 years. Sharpe added: ’We are
still targeting teenagers, but by using a charming and simple
strategy.’
The commercial, which will be shown in 40-, 30-, and ten-second formats,
was art directed by Lee Goulding and written by Leighton Ballet. It was
shot in Los Angeles by Mark Story through Crossroads Films.
Y&R, which won the UK account from Saatchi and Saatchi last autumn
(±±¾©Èü³µpk10, 13 September 1996), was appointed to work on Dr Pepper across
the rest of Europe just over a year ago.
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