WHAT: Dr Pepper Snapple Group has partnered with Latin artist Romeo Santos as part of the beverage company’s “One of One” campaign that celebrates unique individuals. Santos is only the second musical act in this year’s campaign (the other is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) and the only Latino. The yearlong campaign includes a series of national TV spots (one of them an “anthem” ad that also features Macklemore and Lewis, YouTube beauty entrepreneur Michelle Phan and graffiti artist Retna, among others) including Santos’ own individual ad in both Spanish and Spanglish and featuring his music. The Santos ads will begin airing on general-market and Spanish-language TV prior to the Feb. 25 release of his album “Formula Vol. 2” on Sony Music U.S. Latin. Santos will also be integrated into in-store materials, consumer communications, and events and promotion around major Dr Pepper-sponsored events like awards show Premios Juventud.
WHY: Dr Pepper was actively seeking a personality to reach the key Hispanic demo and Santos’ name had already come up as part of the brand’s consumer research. Sony Music U.S. Latin had reached out to Dr Pepper last summer to pitch Santos on the strength of his accomplishments, including “the live broadcast of his concert at [New York’s Madison Square Garden] on HBO, the fact that he’ll be the first Latin artist to perform on ‘The Bachelor’ [and] the fact that he is without a doubt one of the top 50 social artists,” says Mary Nunez, director of music licensing and business development at Sony Music Entertainment U.S. Latin. “We are bringing bachata to the masses. And the brand really loved that component.” The clincher was the album’s release date, which dovetailed with the campaign’s launch.
WHO: Dr Pepper is heavily vested in the Latino demographic and has previously partnered with major Latin acts, most visibly with Pitbull in 2011 and 2013. Santos, one of Latin music’s top stars, had the genre’s top-selling album of 2012 (solo debut “Formula Vol. 1”) and four sellouts at the Garden. Sony was aggressive in providing analytics. “We pitched a very precise presentation of what Romeo means for the Latino in the U.S., and they listened,” Sony Music U.S. Latin president Nir Seroussi says. The deal-closer was Santos’ “one-of-a-kind” story as a bilingual, bicultural act who sings bachata. “There are great artists out there but if there isn’t a story we can tell, it’s a little harder,” says Olivia Vela, director of Hispanic brand marketing at Dr Pepper Snapple Group.
IF: When Santos tweeted about the campaign to unveil his album collaborations, he ended up trending worldwide, and “Dr Pepper had a chance to be part of that,” says Brian Bell, manager of integrated brand public relations for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, noting the brand is eager to see what sort of engagement develops after the campaign launches. Sony, which brokered the agreement, sees it as a major cornerstone of the album campaign. “This is really going to take him to a different stratosphere,” Nunez says.