According to a source close the situation, Strawberry Frog in Brazil won a piece of new business, Quaker Mexico, which used to be in the hands of BBDO (recall, the US biz was ripped from the hands of Element 79 recently).
Alexandre Peralta, who runs SF Brazil, answered a few questions about the win for us.
Matt: Who else was involved, how many rounds?
Peralta: Four agencies where involved: two mexican’s hot shops and the El Cielo (Agulla Baccetti Argentina).
It was a very organized process with only two meetings: one meeting when they delivered the brief, and another one when we delivered our frog recomendation [sic] for the PepsiCo’s Team.
Matt: What does this mean for PepsiCo?
Peralta: The importance of the pitch for the PepsiCo was big: 1) Mexico is the most important market for Quaker in (Latin America)— it is at least 5 times bigger than the Quaker’s Market in Brazil. 2) Plus, the brand Quaker has a wordwide role for PepsiCo, since the company has been oriented for the “Performance with a Purpose” principles.
Matt: What does SF have to offer that BBDO couldn’t (in your opinion)?
Peralta: (Quaker) were needing innovation. They bought SF because we really showed them more then a simple campaign: we showed them a Cultural Movement instead. Something strong enough to engage the mexican population in a cause.
Matt: What does the win mean for SF?
Peralta: This is another big leap for SF. We have the Frito Lay’s brands True North, Stacys and Sabra in USA; we have the PepsiCo’s foods brands Toddy, Toddynho, Coqueiro and Quaker in Brazil (conquered 4 mouths ago – where, by the way, the results of the work that has been made for Quaker has made PepsiCo very happy). And this win give us even more space to work with Pepsico in a global level.
Matt: Expected hires?
Peralta: We are hiring an Account Manager and a some new frogs that we must announce very soon. I will let you know very soon.
Confirmation from BBDO on the lost business could not be made by the time this story was published. SF will be handling all aspects of the Quaker campaign except for media buying.
More: “Update on the J&J Consolidation: Who’s In and Who’s Out”