Live In Harmony
Issue 18 | March 2011
Agency
BBH, London
Creative Team
Simon Pearse and Emmanuel Saint M’Leux
Production Team
Production Company: Flynn; Director: Julien Lutz
Other Credits
Creative Director: Rosie Arnold; Producer: Glenn Paton; Team Manager: Josie Robinson; Team Director: Mark Whiteside; Strategists: Mel Exon, Simeon Adams, Kevin Brown
Date
October 2010
Background
Yeo Valley is a family-owned farming and dairy company based in Blagdon, Somerset, deep in rural England.
In 1993 they began making organic yoghurt and from there the company grew until in 2010 they turned to London advertising agency BBH to help them make organic food accessible to everyone.
The challenge was to drive demand amongst a broader, more mainstream audience, along the way helping people to remember Yeo Valley’s name and what it stands for.
Idea
The strategy was simple: tackle perceptions head-on by reversing expectations of how an organic brand should behave.
Rather than being worthy and preachy, the agency created Yeo Valley’s first-ever TV commercial using rap music to make the brand fun and approachable.
Called “Rap”, the ad was shot by US music video dirtector Julient Lutz and was filmed on location at Yeo Valley’s farm. Four young farners rap about Yeo Valley, sustainability and the brand’s authentic West Country roots.
The ad ran exclusively in breaks on The X-Factor, Britain’s most popular TV show and a tagline drove traffic to the website.
Rich in content, the site told the story of the people, the history and the products with interviews, recipes and behind-the-scenes footage.
In addition, there was a blog, a Twitter feed, @yeovalley, and a Facebook presence. Also Yeo Valley’s own YeoTube channel.
Coming soon is ‘Farmony’, an online game designed to teach kids and parents the importance of sustainability in farming.
Results
The campaign launched in October 2010. Latest figures show that in the 12 weeks to 25th December, the brand experienced a 14/9% sales uplift, outperforming the total yoghurt market by two-and-a-half times. The song has been downloaded from iTunes 27,000 times.
Our Thoughts
It’s easy to forget in these days of owned and earned media that still the easiest way to reach a mass audience is through TV. This family-run business will have debated long and hard about the costs involved but the results justify the investment. They’ve become famous. Directory is based in an orchard in the middle of the country and in these parts all the kids, and some not-so-young farmers as well, know the lyrics. Mash-up versions are sung in the pubs and a few are on YouTube.
Country people in the UK feel socially excluded. Our politicians are mostly townies and care little for rural matters. Yeo Valley has given the shires a voice.
My only beef with this huge idea is that they could be, and should be doing so much more in social media, including, perhaps, creating their own festival to rival the other West Country bash at Glastonbury.