When PG Tips officially ‘retired’ its famous Monkey mascot in May 2024 it felt like the brand was making a break from its Unilever past.
Under new private equity owner Lipton Teas & Infusions, the troubled tea brand had set out its stall to recapture the hearts and minds of UK shoppers. With a new square teabag, updated packaging and a glitzy £12m campaign directed by Steve McQueen and featuring Top Boy’s Ashley Walters and music from Mercury Prize-winning artist Ezra Collective, this was PG Tips reborn for the modern tea drinker.
But less than a year later, Monkey is back, returning to TV screens alongside British actor and Rivals star Emily Atack as part of an £8m push this year. Walters and Ezra Collective, meanwhile, are nowhere to be seen.
So, what has prompted the u-turn, and can Monkey do the business and revive PG Tips’ ailing fortunes?
Where PG Tips’ Rock Solid push went wrong
Announcing the ‘Rock Solid’ push last May, PG Tips said the 70-second spot was “a powerful story of overcoming self-doubt and finding inner courage” that “blazed a trail for British talent”. In it, Walters was depicted coaching himself out of the doldrums over a cup of PG Tips before “inviting the nation to summon their self-belief and positivity too”.
But the advert – while resonating with younger shoppers – failed to win over PG Tips’ core drinkers, the brand has now admitted.
“We tried to run before we could walk,” explained LT&I CMO Elle Barker, who has been drafted in following stints at Gü Desserts, Nomad Foods, Coca-Cola and Pernod Ricard to hit reset on PG Tips’ stuttering relaunch. “If you look at where the massive tea consumers are, they are older. We have to be pragmatic.
“Right now, what we really need is a mass-market, optimistic campaign that’s going to get the whole nation back in love with tea.”
Why PG Tips needs reviving
Perking up PG Tips will be no mean feat. In 2017, the brand was top of the tree in tea, but has been overtaken by Yorkshire Tea, Twinings and Tetley after years of stagnation – initially under Unilever, but with little signs of improvement under LT&I’s stewardship. Indeed, sales of PG Tips slid by £15.1m on volumes that crashed by 37.8% in the 12 months immediately following its September 2023 relaunch [NIQ 52 w/e 7 September 2024].
Declines have since slowed, but the brand has work to do if it has any chance of staging a comeback, by Barker’s own admission.
“We’ve fallen out of consideration,” she says. “Relevance is so important in tea, when you’re standing at the shelf, the brand that falls top to mind is often the one that gets picked up.”
Monkey’s comeback
Unlike her predecessors, Barker has resisted the urge for the new-and-shiny while seeking a solution to PG Tips’ woes, opting instead to bring back a famous figure from the brand’s past.
Enter stage left, Monkey, the knitted mascot that first appeared in PG Tips commercials in 2007 alongside Johnny Vegas and voiced by Ben Miller. Monkey’s return taps into the trend for nostalgia and will appease PG Tips mega-fans disappointed by his retirement last year, Barker predicts.
“There is a huge trend for nostalgia, and Monkey is one of our most distinctive brand assets,” she explains. “It’s very clear that the inconsistency on PG Tips has been one of the problems, and Monkey helps us bring back some much-needed consistency.
“PG is still the UK’s favourite tea brand, according to YouGov. People love it for a reason, and Monkey is inextricably tied up with that.”
Will Monkey’s return be a success?
The ‘Life One Tea at a Time’ campaign brings some familiar light relief back to PG Tips’ marketing. Shot in a behind-the-scenes documentary style, it sees Monkey – now voiced by comedian Ivo Graham – happily retired and married to Atack with two children called Earl and Chai (referenced but not seen on screen).
There are a few titter-worthy moments, notably a callback to Netflix’s 2023 David Beckham documentary, with Monkey telling Atack to “be honest” about how she takes her tea. It’s a clever ad that’s sure to stir an emotional response for PG Tips lovers, as well as being amusing for younger viewers meeting Monkey for the first time.
“PG Tips is a brand that historically always had humour and feelgood factor about it,” says Barker. “We wanted to bring that back and get people thinking about and drinking the brand. As such, it’s only right we brought back our knitted and sharp-witted mascot.”
PG Tips’ long road to recovery
But LT&I knows canny marketing alone won’t be enough to undo years of decline and missteps made by previous management. Barker likens the challenge to “turning a supertanker”.
Alongside the new campaign, it is seeking to rebuild trust and support with the mults after widespread SKU rationalisation undertaken by former CEO Nathalie Roos and UK and Ireland GM Liam McNamara led to a collapse in distribution.
McNamara has since followed Roos out the door, replaced in February by former Perfetti Van Melle exec Jonny Briscoe. PG Tips distribution is only now returning to September 2023 levels, according to Barker.
“We cut too deep, so we’re bringing back the packs that UK consumers really love, particularly big packs,” she explains. “It’s not been an easy road to walk because that was a mistake, but we’re refilling those gaps now.”
Having hit reset once again on the brand and invested heavily also in quality improvements at its Manchester factory in 2023, PG Tips is finally in a position where it can return to growth, Barker insists.
“We’ve invested heavily into quality and our new blend. Now we need to bring consistency back to the brand and make sure that consumers get a chance to try it.”
No pressure, then, Monkey.
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