Creativity Done Proper With Yorkshire Tea

It’s Flashback Week on Ad Of The Week as we’re spotlighting one of the most effective ads of the last few years – Yorkshire Tea’s “Where Everything’s Done Proper” creative platform with Lucky Generals. Introduced in 2017, the campaign has won praise and awards for its entertaining ads making terrific use of Yorkshire celebrities like Sarah Lancashire and the Kaiser Chiefs, all doing their bit in the fictional Yorkshire Tea offices and showing audiences how things are “done proper”.

The ad we’re spotlighting here is one of the most famous of them all – their 2019 spot starring actor Sean Bean, who runs a new joiners induction session with the fiery passion (and sword waving) of his Game Of Thrones character. It’s become a modern classic ad, proving that current campaigns can have the wit, consistency and entertainment value of any famous 80s or 90s commercial.

They can also drive effectiveness – “Done Proper” won The Grand Effie award in 2023 with the evidence including Yorkshire Tea almost doubling its UK market share from 17% to 33%. The campaign is simply an exceptional example of the power of advertising to transform the fortunes and growth of a brand.

We’re featuring it this week because of the release of our new report in partnership with Effie, titled The Creative Dividend. This comprehensive report digs deeper into the mechanics of creative effectiveness to reveal the ‘creative stack’ – five elements of creativity which act as profit multipliers for businesses and drive long-term branding effects.

One of the most important parts of the creative stack is creative consistency, the immense business benefit that comes from investing in and building on your ideas and creative relationships rather than constantly looking for change and novelty. The most powerful element of creative consistency is that it builds over time, creating “compound creativity”, a dividend that pays off in business impact over years and decades. A long-running campaign like Yorkshire Tea is an example of the outsize effects brands can achieve from creative consistency.

Of course the Sean Bean ad is a shining example of other elements in the creative stack. It’s strongly branded, with the focus firmly on the product. It’s entertaining, and with a punchline at the end for an emotional payoff. And it’s absolutely not dull – avoiding the “cost of dull”, where tedious marketing drains resources with little payoff, is a crucial part of the stack.

“Where Everything’s Done Proper” is a great ad, and that’s reflected in its testing outcomes. Tested in 2022, it received a very strong 4.7-Stars three years after release (great ads don’t wear out!). The ad also got Exceptional scores in the short term Spike Rating metric and in Brand Fluency, with 95% of viewers recognising it was for Yorkshire Tea. With strong branding, great storytelling, and a wonderful use of a celebrity, it’s a campaign which pays creative dividends at every level, and looks set to do so for years to come.