- Della de Lafuente

NEW YORK To pack some star power into its first Hispanic-targeted marketing push, Nestle Waters North America this week signed a two-year agreement with Univision talk show host Cristina Saralegui, who will serve as the spokeswoman for Pure Life bottled water.

The push includes TV, radio, print, the Internet and point of purchase, accompanied by a "Vive Sanamente" message promoting the health benefits of water. The target audience is recent U.S. Hispanic immigrants, moms in particular, who are not acculturated to American products, yet have an affinity for the Nestle name.

"Hispanics have known the brand for many years, so this is an opportunity for us to put the brand out there and create an emotional connection with them here [in this country]," said Carolina Rodriguez, brand manager at Nestle Pure Life, Greenwich, Conn.

Pure Life aims to become the leading bottled water brand of Hispanic consumers, Rodriguez added.

Saralegui will be featured in five 30-second Spanish-language TV spots that will begin airing this week on Univision, TeleFutura and Galavision. Print ads will run in upcoming issues of Ser Padres, Vanidades, TV y Novelas, Cosmopolitan en Espanol and People en Espanol. Castells & Asociados Advertising, Los Angeles, handled creative duties and Publicis Groupe's Zenith Optimedia was responsible for media.

TV spots feature an affable Saralegui espousing the many ways that drinking water can serve as a healthy lifestyle alternative to Latinos who want to have healthy skin, live a happier life, or who want to cut their sugar intake to prevent diabetes and obesity.

"Cristina is someone who Hispanic consumers know, like and trust, which is the same way they feel about the Nestle brand," said Rodriguez. "We think it's a great partnership for us to communicate the brand and be out there in the market."

Saralegui will also narrate 60-second radio spots airing this week in Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Phoenix and San Antonio, and she will appear on bilingual in-store p-o-p promotions, Rodriguez said.

Additionally, Nestle has created ViveSanamenteNestle.com, an interactive site where consumers are invited (via a TV spot featuring Saralegui) to submit stories about the healthy changes they've made in their families' lives. The grand prize is a trip to watch El Show de Cristina in Miami and a chance to appear in a TV spot for the brand.

Nestle spent $20 million on Hispanic network and cable TV ads through June 2008; expenditures through all of last year totaled $30 million, up from $20 million in 2006, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.