A Morning Delight Dawns

Less Stress in DDB TV for Suiza’s Coffee Creamers
DALLAS–DDB Needham here marks its creative debut with Suiza Foods in launching an $8-9 million national television campaign today for the company’s International Delight coffee creamers.
Two 30-second ads and a 60-second version comprise a spot-buy push that will attempt to brand the sweet-flavored supplement as a morning respite from pressure and stress.
All three ads are cut from the same scenario: a traffic stop involving a yuppie couple and a police officer who decides that instead of a ticket, the pair needs some time to relax with a French Vanilla-flavored cup of joe.
DDB Needham account director Kyle Purdy said the agency’s goal was to brand the product with the soothing “coffee moment and coffee experience” associated with liquid creamers.
Each ad shows the officer leading the couple out of their car, then sitting them down on the roadside for a seemingly stern lecture. “Looks like you folks need a lesson in slowing down,” he says, before serving coffee and adding the creamer. He next treats them to a joyous morning of riding merry-go-rounds, swinging from trees and blowing bubbles. They conclude the day fishing, with the cop declaring, “The French . . . what they do with vanilla, it’s magical.”
DDB Needham won the account last April, after Dallas-based Suiza Foods had merged with Morningstar Foods, the original parent company of International Delight. The brand’s flavored creamer rivals include Nestlƒ’s Coffeemate.
Industry sources put International Delight’s annual sales at $200 million-plus. Boosting that total this year may be the company’s new store-shelf product, the single-serve container of creamer previously sold only to restaurants and convenience stores, according to Purdy.
“The brand has seen a lot of growth as coffee has become more popular,” Purdy told Adweek.