BEVERAGE MAKERS HONORED FOR ETHNIC ADS

BARBARA MURRAY

NEW YORK -- Beverage makers, led by PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y., were honored for using advertising campaigns with an ethnic slant during a recent recognition ceremony held by The Advertising Club here.

Pepsi, with agency Dieste & Partners, Dallas, won in the Hispanic category for television and radio ads that promoted Frito-Lay's Doritos and Pepsi as a natural go-together.

The campaign also included point-of-purchase materials and merchandising. "The core idea is that Doritos and Pepsi are each great alone, but when you put them together, it's a mega-party of flavor," said Roberto Saucedo, creative director at Dieste.

"The reason we do this at Pepsi is quite simple: It's good for our business. We drove double-digit indices with both brands," said Randy Melville, vice president and general manager of urban and ethnic marketing for the Pepsi-Cola Co.

Honorable mentions went to Heineken and the Vidal Partnership, based here, and Miller Genuine Draft with Latin Works, Austin, Texas; both for work in the Hispanic category. In the African-American category, honorable mentions went to Coors Brewing Co., Golden, Colo., and its agency, Carol H. Williams, Oakland, Calif., as well as to PepsiCo for work with UniWorld Group, also located here.

Jose Gonzalez, with Heineken's agency, told SN the real trick to the ads was a certain insight into the Caribbean customer, who refers to the bottle of beer as "dressed like a bride" -- so cold that the bottle is coated in a sheen of ice like a white gown.

With its "Creatively Correct" showcase, The Advertising Club honored 15 companies in the multicultural marketplace that were Association of National Advertisers Multicultural Excellence Award winners. More than 100 campaigns were submitted to the ANA.