- Kenneth Hein, Brandweek

NEW YORK Mott's believes it has a saucy little secret. So who better than Desperate Housewives' star Marcia Cross to share it among Mott's target audience of moms?

In its first TV campaign in more than a decade, Mott's will be promoting the fact that a cup of Mott's applesauce has a full serving of fruit. An 8-ounce glass of its apple juice, meanwhile, has two full servings.

The Dr Pepper Snapple Group-owned brand will boost its already substantial marketing budget by 33 percent to tout its "A secret like Mott's is worth sharing" rebranding effort. Mott's spent about $28 million on U.S. media last year, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

This new campaign, which debuts in March, will be supported by print and online ads. Agency Laird+Partners, Los Angeles, is currently in the middle of shooting the ads starring the Emmy-nominated actress. Cross began promoting her association with the brand during taped segments for popular entertainment shows which began airing this past weekend.

Cross was selected because this mother of twins is viewed as a dedicated parent "who is balancing her work and her life without surrounding herself with five nannies," said Hans Dorsinville, Laird evp.

The idea of focusing on the amount of fruit servings came about through extensive brand research. "Moms didn't know that about the brand and were interested in hearing about it," said Allison Methvin, director of marketing for Mott's. "We wanted to say something different and new about an old brand that has been around since 1842."

Mott's is the No.1 branded applesauce and juice brand. It currently owns about a 40 percent share of the applesauce category and 16 percent of the apple juice segment, per the company.

Mott's is nearly double the size of its nearest competitor Tree Top in an apple juice category dominated by private label players. Methvin said the brand relaunch would help draw attention to Mott's as it rolls out a significant amount of new products during the next 18 months.