Tetley's decision to axe its iconic Teafolk appears to have backfired with the tea giant suffering a dramatic drop in sales, new figures reveal. The number two tea brand pensioned off the famous Teafolk after 28 years in January as Britain's three biggest tea brands all opted for a radical advertising shake-up in a bid to reinvigorate the flagging tea market. But according to new data from Information Resources, monthly sales of Tetley teabags fell to £7.8m in May ­ down 14% from January. In contrast, sales of market leader PG Tips Pyramid bags rose 35% to £10.8m in May compared with the start of the year, while Typhoo regained third place from Yorkshire Tea, halting a 22% drop last year. Dorothy Sieber, customer marketing manager for Tetley GB, disputed the findings She said: "ACNielsen figures show our brand volume share is 25.2%, which actually puts us ahead of PG Tips." But PG Tips marketing manager Annemieke Tromp insisted that the brand was still number one by value. And she said: "Our research indicates our advertising has had by far the most cut through." Tetley's new £15m health-focused campaign featured the voice of Ewan McGregor. This went head-to-head with Unilever Bestfoods' £10m activity, which replaced the PG chimps with plasticine birds. Typhoo then launched a £5m campaign based on people regaining their oo'. {{NEWS }}

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