How The Chimps kept PG Tips brand leader

Story of the film

In this film from Thinkbox and the IPA - part of a series celebrating some of the top case studies from 30 years of the IPA Effectiveness Awards – gives us an in-depth look at the 1990 award winning campaign. The brand’s enduring success story is bought up to date by Mother, who tell us about the thinking behind their Al & Monkey campaign. If you want to find out more about added value; brand resilience; commanding a price premium; the value of consistency in both share of voice and creativity, then this film is well worth a look.

Summary

The early PG Tips campaign (as seen in Part 1 of the films in the player) is an ode to consistency and like-ability and a showcase for the results that can be achieved from creating an intense emotional attachment to the brand. It’s a classic example of TV’s ability to establish these crucial emotional connections in our brains, with some brilliant and consistent creative, and also a consistent share of voice. It’s a story of added value and what that enabled the brand to do in terms of both resilience and commanding a price premium.

But what happens when such a well-loved, long-running campaign comes to the end? In part two of our story, Dylan Williams offers a unique insight into how Mother, the current brand custodians, looked through the heritage of the brand, and tea-drinking itself, and arrived at ‘Al and Monkey’. This second section also draws comment and advertising effectiveness learning from the original IPA paper and “what happened next”.

Appearing on film:

Titles were correct at the time of publish date

• Paul Feldwick, Consultant and Author
• Nigel Jones, UK Group Chairman and Chief Executive, Publicis
• Les Binet, European Director, DDB Matrix
• Dylan Williams, Former Partner & Head of Strategy, Mother

Additional effectiveness insights from:

• Laurence Green, Chairman of Fallon
• Gerry Moira, Chairman and Director of Creativity, Euro RSCG London 
• Robin Wight, President of Engine and WCRS.

Databank

The first part of this film is based on an award winning IPA paper. Here the details.

Title: How The Chimps Kept PG Tips Brand Leader Through 35 Years Of Intense Competition

Awards: 1990 IPA Effectiveness Awards, Gold Award and Grand Prix

Client: Brooke Bond Foods

Agency: BMP DDB Needham

Authors: Clive Cooper, Louise Cook and Nigel Jones