NORTHERN PLANNER

So. after much delay, finally we have the results for the Yorkshire Tea Account Planning School of the web task. Just in case you can’t recall what it was about, read this. If you can’t be bothered…

This was a task about tone and manner – the hardest thing to get across to creatives. I wanted to see what you would do with Yorkshire Tea’s brand voice and how you would communicate it to a creative team.

Feedback will take two distinct directions. Firstly, your idea, secondly, how you bring it to life.

This is a joint effort between myself and Steve. I wonder if you can tell who wrote what….

Anyway, well done to everyone. This was a hard one, very loose, thinking AND bringing it to life, but since that’s a big part of planning to life, something worth doing.

So………………………………………….

First up is Carlos Camacho and Juan Pablo Carrero, a planning and creative mash-up.

Download brief_tea.ppt

They’ve taken the angle that tea drinking itself needs to be redefined. They’re in a good area of finding something fundamentally human rather than mere category judo. They want to focus on pleasure as fundamental human right..and sipping Yorkshire Tea is tasting pleasure.

Now we like this. We like elevating Yorkshire Tea from the other, everyday, unsung heroes. Tea is one of those everyday masterpieces we take for granted, like paper clips and washing machines. As we’re sure they’ve noted from their research, Yorkshire Tea tends to win in taste tests, it does deserve to be appreciated. So far, so good.

We really like two bits about how it’s been brought to life for the creatives. Firstly, there’s that piece of writing…."A feeling nobody escapes from and everybody seeks". There’s real  meat in that, the idea of something you at once try to resist and constantly want. There’s a real tension in this, a real voice, a real truth, a real point of view. We would have made more of this.

At first we liked the wall of images, a really useful illustration of the world you want to create. But then we got confused. We guess much of that comes down to wanting to know what Yorkshire Tea’s view of pleasure really is.

We got a strong view that everybody has a right to it, that feels like a call to arms, a strong rallying call to unite a community behind. But the images range from a sensuous, sexy, almost dangerous expression of pleasure, to joyful, to contemplative. It would be good to explore the areas of ‘pleasure’ Yorkshire Tea should be associated with; those which reflect it’s brand values and heritage, and maybe those that don’t. This is where it began to fall down. Top marks for the use of imagery, but it seems to confuse what you’re talking about rather than solidify.

Maybe you’re intending it to be open, to build with a team, but maybe this is a little too open.

Next up is Anjali.

Download apsotw_yorkshire_teaanjali_2.ppt

In his email, he’s written that he’s certain he’s after tea drinkers who want to pay a premium for quality. Bang on considering Yorkshire Tea’s premium price. We quickly get to a strong point of view for what Yorkshire Tea will do for them.

They’re stressed, no time to think, no time to just be. Yorkshire Tea will bring them satisfaction.

On the idea front, the idea of a little island in the day to enjoy, to make the most of, to not have to think about it really strong. At first it wasn’t clear that ‘satisfaction’ would nail it. There seemed a disconnect between the idea of a mini- antidote to an overstuffed life, which feels very true of our relationship with tea and satisfaction, which suggested to us either rational quality, or something worth striving for.

Then we looked at the slides and got interested in ‘satisfaction for free’.  Not sure what it meant, but the shots of the Yorkshire Dales, serenity, someone taking time to smell the roses made a bit more sense. We presume you’re saying that Yorkshire Tea is all about taking some time to clear your mind, some me-time. Liked this, it seems evocative and something ‘Yorkshire Provenance’ could own.

It’s just that ‘satisfaction’ didn’t get us there. We guess that shows the weakness of words v images and associations. So great work on Yorkshire Tea’s role in it’s fans’ lives, great delivery of something creatively useful, but we would look for words that convey it a little more.

There is a strong idea in terms of Yorkshire Tea taking you out of the day-to-day to a natural, peaceful place. Take that idea and focus on it, rather than complicate with other ideas of satisfaction. Great stimulus, just be clearer.

  Then we have Andrea

Download fancy_a_cuppa.ppt

The heart of Andrea’s thinking is Yorkshire Tea making a typical day a bit better. However that might be as true of any tea brand as Yorkshire Tea. She identifies the facets of the brand essence (the scone recipe, heritage, etc) but seems to believe tit will lack appeal to the (new) audience. We wanted to see you identify what you’ve got, who your audience is, what they think, feel, do and identify what aspects of the brand ‘connect’. For a brand as rich in heritage as Yorkshire Tea there must be something – how can make the brand truth’s relevant?

So, potentially some good thinking but maybe needs more development and aligning to the Yorkshire Tea brand.

The stimulus in support of this was inspiring and convincing – although there was possibly too much.   It confused rather than evoked.

And finally we have Noako.

Download yorkshire_tea_final_na.pptx

‘A delightful stubbornness’ is superb – really different, rich and above all else, true to the brand.

The start of the presentation is equally inspiring – and it continues to make sense…

…so stop there.

A good idea is a good idea – it doesn’t need endless explanation and support.

It’s rare that you nail an idea with words alone – in this instance you have. Anything else would be bringing it to life, but it feels more like further exploration rather than building on what you have.

The more you explain something the less confident it feels.

So once you’ve got an idea, stop, interrogate it, keep it simple and ensure it makes complete sense. Don’t over-elaborate. This applies to planning in general.

So, lots of great stuff in everybody’s stuff. General feedback – stimulus is bloody hard. There’s lots of really great stimulus here, but absolute relevance is critical. It needs to solidify your thinking, build on it. Get your core thinking locked down, be confident about it and then work hard to make that interesting, rather than hedging your bets.

SO THE WINNER IS NAOKO WHO WINS ‘THE PIRATE INSIDE’ BY ADAM MORGAN. Give me your address and I’ll get your copy to you. Close run thing, but overall, the thinking was simple, inspiring and something only Yorkshire Tea could own. Those first two slides were so good, there was almost no need to do anything else, there was compression of lots of meaty stuff in those two slides. Well played.

So that’s it. Sorry for the delays. Hope the feedback was useful and fair. If you disagree, do let me know. What does anyone else think?