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Tecate and Adrenalina Inject Brand with Ground-breaking Insights, Messaging

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 21:35 CDT

Brand, ad agency leaders reveal breakthrough strategies for connecting emotionally with U.S. Hispanics, forging an authentic brand identity and creating an innovative campaign that hails Mexican men as heroes

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Tecate and its lead ad shop Adrenalina are ramping up old-school marketing with shrewd insights spotlighting Mexican men as hardworking Americans and targeting consumers as brand managers who own, market and influence a brand's success.

Those are some of the insights expected to be revealed on Thursday (April 23) during a case study presentation showcasing Tecate's savvy marketing approach at the 5th Annual Voz Latina Hispanic Marketing Conference at the Eden Roc, Miami Beach, Fla.

Evoking the imagery and messaging of the successful 1960s "Think Small" advertising campaign of the Volkswagen Beetle, via DDB, marketing team leaders for Tecate and Adrenalina will urge conference attendees to remain true to their brands and avoid getting mired in cultural relevancy and other worn-out concepts including: 'think big, out-of-the box and brand synergies.'

"For too many marketers, cultural relevancy has overshadowed their main objective," said Manuel Wernicky, president and managing partner, Adrenalina. "What's getting lost in all of the 'iconic' imagery that some believe must be inserted in every Hispanic marketing campaign -- including a dark-skinned, mustached sombrero-wearing Latino with his family, Mexican flag, a pinata and a Mariachi group -- is the brand."

Eschewing the conventional, the Tecate-Adrenalina team will drive home the beer's own ground-breaking move: Successfully mounting a national creative campaign that connects emotionally with Mexican immigrants who see their lives and hardships honestly portrayed as hardworking and even heroic via TV, radio and out-of-home.

Earlier this month, Tecate embarked on its newest creative push, an extension of the 2008 breakthrough national marketing strategy that hailed Mexican men as heroes among America's working class. Creative for both campaigns is via Adrenalina, a leading advertising agency that is part of the MDC Partners network.

Last year's multiplatform campaign rolled out amid escalating anti-immigrant sentiment and an alarming surge nationwide of hate crimes against Latino immigrants.

Tecate made news a year ago when the Mexican beer crossed borders with the initial campaign aimed at celebrating and reaching Mexican men, or newcomer consumers, who come here to work and live better lives and previously made the brand the leading cerveza in Mexico, per the beer's distributor Heineken USA.

"Recognizing Mexican immigrants for the contributions they make in the workforce -- often doing the jobs no one else will, or knows how to do -- has helped to incite brand loyalty while honoring those whose impact on the U.S. labor force typically gets underplayed," said Carlos Boughton, brand director of Tecate and Tecate Light, Heineken USA, White Plains, N.Y.

Like the stark black-and-white print ads featuring a tiny image of the Beetle, which resonated nearly 50 years ago with U.S. auto consumers who related to the idea of "thinking small" (in terms of cost, efficiency and actual car size), the Tecate campaign devised by Adrenalina has consistently ranked in the top 2 percent of all Spanish-language advertising for enjoyment and believability, per qualitative research agency Millward Brown.

What's more, the Mexican beer broke onto the 2008 list of top imported beers to become the second leading brand sold in supermarket chains nationwide, per Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago.

"Consumers today are the real owners and stewards of brands, influencing a brand's ultimate success or failure every time they talk it up to someone either in person or virally through their favorite social networking site," said Wernicky. "When a brand shakes up its category positively everybody knows it -- instantaneously."

With consumers increasingly influencing the growth and success of a brand, Heineken's Boughton, suggests marketers step up their research efforts and get to know their customers up close and personal, studying shopping habits and behavior including: where and how they shop, either in-store or online; how they learn and get messages about the brand, either on the phone, online or via direct mail; and what influences their purchasing decisions: price, quality, recommendation from a friend, or whether the product is a store brand versus name brand, among other things.

"Don't underestimate the value of insights gathered directly from the source -- your customers," said Boughton, who is known for conducting impromptu focus groups at his doorstep with delivery men bringing up his food order. "I'm not easily influenced by data offered to me in a 30-page Power Point presentation. I'm more interested in what a guy named Garcia has to say about us."

To learn more about the 5th Annual Voz Latina Hispanic Marketing Conference in Miami Beach, Fla., go to www.marketingtohispanics.com/vozlatina/info/agenda.jsp.

For more information about Adrenalina, send an email to: news@getadrenalina.com.

About Adrenalina

Like the Spanish word for adrenaline, which is a hormone generated in the human body when we experience emotions, the New York-based Adrenalina creates ideas that provoke engagement, experience and emotion between brands and consumers. The agency specializes in media agnostic ideas, breakthrough advertising, grassroots and retail promotional marketing, and digital innovation. Adrenalina is a minority-owned and managed business.

About MDC Partners

MDC Partners is a leading provider of marketing communications services to clients in North America, Europe and Latin America. Through its partnership of entrepreneurial firms it provides advertising, specialized communications and consulting services to leading brands. MDC Partners' philosophy emphasizes the utilization of strategy and creativity to drive growth for its clients. "MDC Partners is the Place Where Great Talent Lives." MDC Partners Class A shares are publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "MDCA" and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDZA."

About FEMSA/Heineken USA

In 2004, Heineken USA and FEMSA Cerveza reached an agreement in 2004 that made Heineken USA the sole and exclusive importer, marketer and seller of FEMSA's beer brands in the United States. Under the terms of the agreement, Heineken USA assumed responsibility for the marketing, sales and distribution of the beer brands Dos Equis, Tecate, Sol, Carta Blanca, Bohemia, and the new Tecate Light across the United States. In April 2007, an extended ten-year agreement was finalized between Heineken USA and FEMSA, which became effective Jan. 1, 2008.

Heineken USA Inc., the nation's premier beer importer, is a subsidiary of Heineken International BV, which is the world's most international brewer. Besides the FEMSA portfolio, brands imported into the U.S. include: Heineken Lager, the world's most international beer brand; Heineken Premium Light; Amstel Light, a leading imported light beer brand; Newcastle Brown Ale, the leading imported ale in the United States; and Buckler non-alcoholic brew. Please visit EnjoyHeinekenResponsibly.com.

Founded in 1890, FEMSA is the largest integrated beverage company in Latin America with a portfolio of leading beer and soft drink brands. Its subsidiary FEMSA Cerveza is one of the leading brewers in Mexico with brands that include Tecate, Dos Equis and Sol. Its subsidiary Coca-Cola FEMSA is the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America and the second largest in the world. FEMSA sells its products through approximately two million points of sale, which serve a population of over 170 million people in nine countries, including some of the most populous metropolitan areas in Latin America, such as Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. FEMSA's manufacturing and distribution capabilities are enhanced by its retail and packaging operations; it operates Oxxo, the largest convenience store chain in Mexico, with over 3,000 stores as of June 2004. For more information on FEMSA, go to www.femsa.com.

Contact: Michelle Maldonado 917-743-2754

SOURCE Adrenalina

Source: PR Newswire

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