Reliant Energy Campaign Defines New Era in Electricity Marketing; Reliant Energy and Its Customers 'Happy Together' in Hispanic Campaign

Reliant Energy Campaign Defines New Era in Electricity Marketing; Reliant Energy and Its Customers 'Happy Together' in Hispanic Campaign

HOUSTON, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Reliant Energy and its Hispanic advertising agency of record, Lopez Negrete Communications, are driving a creative breakthrough in Spanish-language advertising with the launch of a new 2005 television and radio campaign for the Texas retail electric provider. The campaign is a first in the industry to feature English-language music in advertising targeting Spanish-speaking customers.

Set to the music of the 1967 English-language No. 1 hit song "Happy Together", the innovative campaign is a natural evolution from past campaigns and continues to feature popular Reliant Energy ad personality Beto, who has appeared in Reliant's Hispanic advertising campaigns since 2002. With The Turtles' well-known tune setting the tone, the TV spots highlight the energy giant's dedication to customer satisfaction and loyalty as depicted through Reliant Energy customers' love and appreciation of Reliant as personified in Beto. There is no dialogue in the ads; instead the spots use compelling imagery, cinematic effects and color treatment commonly used in motion picture productions, but rare in Hispanic TV advertising, to capture the viewer's attention.

The integrated marketing strategy includes radio commercials that use the same music, combined with narration, to paint a colorful picture the listener can relate to as they do the TV campaign. Acknowledging the diversity among Hispanics throughout the state of Texas, Lopez Negrete Communications also produced English radio spots to serve the Corpus Christi Hispanic audience, which has a higher preference for English. The campaign continues to use Confia en Tu Buena Energia ("Trust in your good energy"), a tagline established in 2002.

"A big part of our commitment to the Hispanic consumer includes demonstrating that we are listening to them and that we appreciate their bicultural, often bilingual way of life -- by going beyond the traditional images of Hispanics," says Jim Robb, senior vice president of retail marketing for Reliant Energy. "We are dedicated to serving the Hispanic community, and we want to be the first choice for electricity among Hispanics. This new campaign is one example of our efforts to reach them with this message."

The decision to incorporate the sixties' blockbuster hit, which has sold over two million albums to date, stems from the knowledge that English language music is, and has always been, tremendously popular throughout Latin America and that Hispanics, whether United States or foreign born, are familiar with the "Happy Together" melody and lyrics.

"Latinos don't live in a cultural bubble. We never have. Our strategy for this distinctly bicultural market has evolved into using techniques that are popular in Hollywood cinema and in advertising that targets the general market, but which are rare in the Hispanic market. It's time to shift the paradigm," says Alex Lopez Negrete, president and CEO of Lopez Negrete Communications, Reliant Energy's Hispanic advertising agency of record. "Dramatic visuals and music fill the viewers' senses, making the emotional connection much stronger. The commercials are very detail-oriented and will stand out even more among viewers of a Spanish-language network, who will notice this song immediately and probably pay closer attention because of its uniqueness.

The new "Happy Together" campaign was filmed entirely in Houston, Reliant's hometown, and is currently airing in the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, Laredo, McAllen and Harlingen markets. Its fusion of languages and cinematic effects represents a bold undertaking in Hispanic advertising, especially for the electricity industry.

Reliant Energy, Inc. (NYSE:RRI), based in Houston, Texas, provides electricity and energy services to retail and wholesale customers in the U.S. The company provides energy products and services to approximately 1.9 million electricity customers, ranging from residences and small businesses to large commercial, industrial, governmental and institutional customers, primarily in Texas. Reliant also serves commercial and industrial clients in the PJM (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland) Interconnection. The company is one of the largest independent power producers in the nation with more than 18,000 megawatts of power generation capacity in operation or under contract across the U.S. These strategically located generating assets utilize natural gas, wind, fuel oil and coal. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.reliant.com/corporate .

Lopez Negrete Communications is an independent, Hispanic owned and operated agency specializing in Hispanic marketing. Since 1985, Lopez Negrete has offered a full range of advertising, marketing and public relations services to industry leaders such as Wal-Mart Stores, Tyson Foods, Bank of America, GEICO Direct, Visa USA, Azteca Milling, L.P., Microsoft Corporation, Reliant Energy and others. With billings at over $110 million and with nearly 100 employees, Lopez Negrete is a proven leader in providing fully integrated national Hispanic marketing and communications services.

Source: Reliant Energy, Inc.; Lopez Negrete Communications

CONTACT: Merche Shannon of Lopez Negrete Communications,
+1-832-295-5420; or Pat Hammond of Reliant Energy, Inc., +1-713-497-7723

Web site: http://www.reliant.com/corporate

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