Reptile rules as Don Pablo's retools ad campaign

Nation's Restaurant News, June 2, 1997 by Ron Ruggless

BEDFORD, Texas -- In the latest round of television advertisements for the 71-unit Don Pablo's casual Mexican chain, it's the day of the iguana.

A singing iguana. A sombrero-wearing iguana. A lip-smacking iguana.

"We had a little fun with the spot," said Paula Schultz, director of marketing at Don Pablo's parent, DF&R Restaurants, here, a division of Apple South Inc. of Madison, Ga.

The iguana is crooning the familiar "Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi" Spanish campfire tune in 12 of Don Pablo's 30 markets, Schultz said, and is picking up on the chain's 4-year-old tag line, "The Real Enchilada."

"That 'Real Enchilada' line has been used since 1993," Schultz added. "Our whole story is being authentic. We're not gimmicky. We're real. The whole goal of the spot is to say that there are a lot of crazy things out there, and they aren't real. But Don Pablo's is the real enchilada."

The ads were created by Gleason/Calise Associates of Dallas. The company's principal, Charlie Calise, said the creative team tried to capitalize on Don Pablo's image of authentic Mexican fare.

"We're trying to leverage the authenticity of the brand, from its food, the atmosphere and the people involved," Calise said of the two 30-second spots. One features the iguana; another highlights a cowboy skiing in the desert sand.

Gleason/Calise, which has overseen the Don Pablo's account for a year and a half, said the humorous spots followed one that aired last year. All-Spanish-speaking and featuring a number of food shots, the commercial was shown in primarily English-speaking markets.

"This is round two, our second-year effort, so we used the authenticity of the Mexican food and the song 'Yi-Yi-Yi-Yi,'" Calise said. "And then we leveraged the whole Tex-Mex aspect with the cowboys out on the range and cut to food and atmosphere. We want to generate awareness and traffic for the restaurant. That's a consistent outcome of the creative. It begins to build some identity for the brand and leave the viewer with a little bit of a smile."

Animators at Post Logic in Venice, Calif., were instrumental in getting the lizard to sing.

Schultz said: "We filmed him eating, and a computer filmed a man singing the song. Just like in the movie, 'Dragonheart,' they mimicked the mouth of the human onto the iguana, and they married the two with a computer."

The reptile currently is crooning in the Indiana markets of Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Lafayette, Ind.; in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla.; and in Dallas and Lubbock, Texas. They also appear in the Pittsburgh region.

Schultz said the iguana commercial "is a nice evolution" of the company's advertising. "It continues the 'authentic and real' positioning that we've been using," she said.

"We chose a new agency in January 1996, and it's refreshing when an agency says, 'You know what? You've got a great tag line, and your positioning is right on. We can take it to the next level,'" she said. "That's exactly what they did."

Calise, in turn, praised the executives at DF&R for their willingness to try new ideas. "This is a client that likes interesting, adventure-some and innovative work," he said. "What you see in the execution pulls from the strategy of this being an authentic Mexican restaurant."