Consistency Done Proper: Yorkshire Tea Brews Up Another Winner
Yorkshire Tea
Investigations Done Proper
Lucky Generals’ “Where Everything’s Done Proper” campaign for Yorkshire Tea stands as a shining recent example of creative consistency. For eight years, the brand has been following a simple formula: a celebrity with a Yorkshire link, an absurd office-based storyline, and that classic tagline to reinforce the brand’s heritage, provenance and values.
It’s what we at System1 call a “scenario” Fluent Device, as opposed to the common “character” Fluent Device like Kevin The Carrot or the Compare The Market Meerkats. In both cases a Fluent Device is a great way to build creative consistency and emotional engagement with a campaign. With a scenario fluent device, the cast of characters usually varies but the basic storyline doesn’t – the entertainment comes from seeing comic events play out in a familiar, satisfying way. With Yorkshire Tea that means taking a minor bit of everyday life and playing it with hilarious, over the top seriousness.
Which brings us to “Investigations Done Proper”, the latest Yorkshire Tea ad. This time the celebrity is Sarah Lancashire, playing a character which reminds us of her role in long-running Yorkshire police show Happy Valley. But her assignment this time is a far cry from the harrowing crimes she’d investigate on that show. In the ad she’s solving the case of the missing biscuits – and she tackles it with the same intensity she’d use tracking a serial killer. The office workers wither under interrogation, confess to unrelated crimes, and eventually the unlikely culprit is revealed and justice is done. Done proper, that is.
The ad works so well because it takes advantage of two things that reliably work to build effectiveness. The first is cultural references. Sarah Lancashire isn’t playing her Happy Valley character but her appearance is obviously a reference to the top-rated drama, so millions of viewers will get extra pleasure from the playful contrast between a very dark crime serial and a frivolous ad. Cultural references are wonderful attention getters for the right hemisphere of the brain, as described in Orlando Wood’s book Lemon. The right-brain pays attention to connections and context so juxtapositions like the serious policewoman and the trivial office drama draw its focus.
But with eight years of “Done proper” under their belts, Yorkshire Tea are tapping into a second effective element: creative consistency. The use of the Fluent Devices over such a long time builds familiarity, and consistency is a benefit which pays its dividends in the long term. Our recent Compound Creativity report includes Fluent Devices and consistent creative elements like taglines as one of the elements which builds over time to drive additional levels of business impact.
So do the viewers feel like the brand’s done proper again? They do. The ad scores a 4.7-Star Rating, well above the hot drinks average, and it also gets an Exceptional score on short-term Spike Rating, predicting both a potent sales boost and strong long-term growth potential. The ad’s Fluency Rating is also strong and firmly above the category average, proving the campaign’s steady effectiveness and familiarity. Yorkshire Tea’s effectiveness brew is one that gets better when it’s left to steep for a bit.