Made In Mexico, Marketed In Mexico, Downed In The U.S.A.

According to Ad Age, Heineken’s Tecate beer brand is moving U.S. advertising from Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners’ U.S. Hispanic unit Ramona to its longtime Mexican agency, Olabuenaga Chemistri.

The consolidation, which will save costs, means all Tecate and Tecate Light U.S. advertising — including digital — will be run from south of the border, an unusual arrangement for a brand sold in the U.S.

Under the new arrangement, the same Spanish-language ads will air in Mexico and the U.S. But Olabuenaga Chemistri will also create English language ads to air in several U.S. markets in the Southwest.

Here’s some recent creative from Ramona:

I don’t know anything about Olabuenaga Chemistri, but I hope they come up with something better than that.

Tecate is the fourth-largest U.S. import behind Corona Extra, Heineken and Modelo Especial, according to 2010 rankings from Beer Marketer’s Insights.