NORTHERN PLANNER

The Yorkshire Tea School of the Web project isn't quite finished. Stephanie Kelly's entry got lost somewhere between her inbox and mine. So we're going to take a look at her entry today. This is the very last post before Gareth or Rob pick up the next project.

Stephanie's focused on some rock hard truths about tea drinking. I love the observation that everybody has their own idea of their perfect cup of tea. Anyone who regularly suffers a tea round in the office would recognised this fact.

There's also the idea of a cup of tea as chance to do something everyday for yourself. A little window in a plague of chaos.

Now, I really like the way Stephanie's delivered this. It's simple, to the point, some chunky truths to play with. The imagery is really done well, it builds on her points, brings them to life. Really, really good.

Now, I admire the way Stephanie's looked for a role for tea in people's lives, doing something for you. I like she's expanded it to find a voice that can talk about all sorts of things, really good, culturally significant…all that.

Now if you're the kind of strategist that believes in building a voice with around a cultural truth and owning it, this is great. If Yorkshire Tea was part of a portofolio of brands from a Unilever, Arla Foods or something then, again, great. Lurpak is a great example of this type of brand really finding its voice. I think Dove is another.

My view is that when you have a company with a clear culture already, you should find a way to bring it life, in a manner that's relevant to whoever you think your audience(s) is (are). It's not everyday you find a company with rich heritage and way of doing things, when this happens, thank your lucky stars and work from the brand out.

Like I said, not everyone thinks this way, but as far as I'm concerned, I'd have been focusing on bringing to life some of the great truths they have. So well played Stephanie, it's not fair to re-judge what's gone before, but to make up for the mix-up, you get a copy of Adam Morgan's book too.Please let me have your address.

For what it's worth:

There's a consistent richness and flavour to Yorkshire Tea you don't get with any other tea. It seems to me that comes from a unique richness and flavour baked into the company culture……

There's the obstinate sticking to quality levels that create the distinctive taste, a real family business since 1866 (I'll bet there's some great stories to be had), a real, small team of buyers (rather than made up Kenko characters), the attention to detail that means you have to choose the right blend for the right water.

It all seems to add up to a brand that's about doing things properly or not at all. 

If you take a look at their recruitment pages, there's a commitment to preserving traditional craft skills that seems to echo this.