Mott's $5M Clamato Creative Boosts Ties to Hispanic Consumers - marketing strategy and planning - Brief Article

Brandweek, June 18, 2001 by Sonia Reyes

A year after it repositioned its Clamato line and aimed it exclusively at the Hispanic market, Mott's will buttress its new $5 million TV/radio effort with a summer onpack promotion with seasoning marker Twang.

The promotion builds on the tag "Clamato le pone sabor al momento"("Clamato adds flavor to the moment") and will offer boxes filled with nine packets of Twang's flavored salts in celery, lemon/lime and chili, plus a recipe booklet with mixer ideas in Spanish and English on necker boxes of 64 oz. Clamato bottles. By partnering with Mott's, the second-ranked player behind Campbell's V8 in the tomato-based drink category, San Antonio-based Twang is shooting for brand recognition beyond its limited distribution channels in regional markets.

Due to the presence of Mott's plants in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, Clamato is well-known throughout these respective communities in the U.S. The mix of clam broth, tomato juice and onion/garlic seasonings is used by Latinos in such varied ways as a breakfast drink, a condiment over ceviche seafood salad and a beer or alcohol mixer.

The effort, to run July and August, comes after the Cadbury Schweppes unit aggressively shifted focus of Clamato to America's 33 million Hispanics following research that showed Clamato usage, now at 6%, indexed higher there than among general market consumers. While not the first time Mott's had marketed to Hispanics in Spanish-language TV and print, previous efforts proved spotty and inconsistent.

"Campbell's positions V8 as a healthy drink. That's good," said Marcel Nahm, product manager of Clamato's red juice team, formed last year to launch the Hispanic strategy." With Clamato, we focus on the fun and sociability factors that are so important to Hispanics."

Radio and TV, via Dieste & Partners, Dallas, marked Mott's first creative to target Latinos in three years and broke two weeks ago on Univision, Telemundo and Galavision.

Mott's sales rose 4.2% to $34.7 million in the category while V8 was down 1.7% to $273.9 million for the year ending May 20, per Information Resources Inc.