2018 commended, Yorkshire Tea, marketing communications - case study

The standard black tea market is a tough place to create switching and growth. It’s in decline, it’s led by two brands that go back generations (PG Tips and Tetley) and it’s one of the most habitual, low-interest FMCG categories there is. Nonetheless, growth was exactly what we needed to create for Yorkshire Tea. The
brand was a cult favourite and occupied the third position in the market, but wasn’t content to remain there. That meant we needed to look beyond Yorkshire’s current fans to the ‘Sleep shopping’ buyers of PG and Tetley, cutting through their apathy and waking them up to Yorkshire Tea’s merits.

So we created a new campaign based on the idea that Yorkshire Tea is a place ‘Where everything’s done proper’, and proved it by hiring some of Yorkshire’s most talented celebrities to perform jobs around the factory. The Brownlee Brothers became Yorkshire Tea’s new couriers, the Kaiser Chiefs performed their hold music
live in reception and Sir Michael Parkinson was brought on board to interview new recruits. This idea cut...