Mother wins £5m Dr Pepper brief

Coca-Cola Great Britain has handed its £5m UK Dr Pepper creative account to Mother to develop the first local advertising for the brand anywhere outside the US.

The advertising for Dr Pepper had been handled by Young & Rubicam’s European office, based in London. The relationship was inherited by Coca-Cola when it bought Dr Pepper from Cadbury Schweppes in 1998.

The move is part of holding company the Coca-Cola Company’s strategy of “think local, act local”. It follows the re-appointment last week of the London office of Wieden & Kennedy to handle its £7m UK Diet Coke account.

Coca-Cola GB also stripped Universal McCann of Coca-Cola’s media planning and the £7m non-TV buying business across its portfolio, handing it to BBJ. Universal retained the £25m TV buying account (MW November 16).

Mother already handles the £2m UK account for Lilt. It began work on Lilt in 1997 and has developed the memorable Lilt ladies campaign.

Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland marketing director Charlotte Oades says: “Mother was chosen to develop this new campaign because of its deep understanding of how to build powerful relationships between brands and British teens, using advertising and other vehicles.” A new campaign will be on air in early 2001 focusing on strengthening Dr Pepper’s relationship with teens. Dr Pepper is the number-three carbonated soft drink in the US.