Our elevator pitch is that we are “a creative company for people on a mission”. This is a simple but very deliberate statement of intent, made up of three distinct elements:

WE ARE A CREATIVE COMPANY... While we excel at advertising, we have set this company up to deliver a broader definition of creativity. If you get closer to the problem, the solution will reveal itself.

FOR PEOPLE... This may sound obvious, but in our technology-driven world it is all too easy to forget that people are still people, with human needs and desires. Everything has changed, but nothing has changed. Insight is still key.

ON A MISSION... We are all about behavioural change. We want people to do things, not just feel things, as a result of our work. We get out of bed to make a difference.

When we first met with the Co-op in 2018, the business was in good shape and primed for further growth; it was expanding its presence in core markets, notably grocery, funerals and insurance, while also entering new sectors such as healthcare.
However, one key challenge remained: these different business units, offerings and initiatives didn't all add up to a consistent whole. People didn't understand how the overarching Co-op brand was different.

Over the last 4 years, we have successfully repositioned the brand by refocusing on its unique business model. Our brand platform - “It’s what we do” - has enabled separate business units to unite in telling the story of Co-op’s difference, weaving together commercial and community messaging.

Since then, we’ve used this humble philosophy to create products (like the own label range Honest Value, which we named), services (like the Co-operate app, which allows people to help out in their neighbourhood) and partnerships (like our support of Marcus Rashford’s food poverty campaign). We do plenty of great advertising too, but it’s the clarity of our underlying mission which has galvanised the organisation internally and helped them achieve £10bn sales for the first time and the highest share for almost 20 years. 

Having one big idea gives Co-op the confidence to assert their community-focused philosophy within the grocery category. Earlier this year, we put OOH ads outside competitors’ stores to show that even if you shop somewhere else,
you can recycle your soft plastics at Co-op.

Last Christmas, when the nation’s festive spirit was dampened by the pandemic, we reminded people of the power of little acts making a big difference
in our local towns and villages. 

When we first started working with Yorkshire Tea in 2016, they were third in the black tea market, lagging some way behind established market leaders, PG Tips and Tetley Tea. But they were on a mission to clinch the number one spot.

We found that what made the brand special was its philosophy of ‘Doing things proper’. Basically going the extra mile where other companies might cut corners to save money and time. But we knew our audience wouldn’t respond to a lecture about tea making so we decided to have some fun with the notion that at Yorkshire Tea, everything is done proper.

We brought this idea to life in TV by ‘recruiting’ some famous Yorkshire folk at the HQ into menial tasks; Parky did the interviews, the Kaiser Chiefs played the hold music, and Sean Bean gave rousing induction speeches. 

So, we had an idea that worked brilliantly in TV and focused on the core product, but what was almost more important is that we now had a single organising idea that every piece of activity could work to, no matter if NPD launches, sponsorship, sustainability comms, sub-brand promotions or reactive social activity. From biscuit domino rallies, social distancing teapots, AR games to celebrate tea planting and many more, it's been a proper good five years of activity. 

The results are proper good too: immediately after the 'Where Everything’s Done Proper’ went live, Yorkshire Tea sales began to rise, and they have continued to do so. This growth was in sharp contrast to overall category sales, which continued to decline. Yorkshire Tea became Britain’s favourite brew in 2019 and continues to hold the market leader position.

Having set up the platform we developed a 100% mobile, 100% social, 100% content approach to change young people's perceptions of hostels and show them just how nice they are these days.

The creative expression of this strategy was ‘Unexpected hostel guests’. We invited famous people to come and meet the world of hostels, and discover how nice they were for themselves. Over the years we hosted guests such as Chris Eubank, Mariah Carey and even Charlie Sheen! But perhaps our most celebrated guests was the rapper 50 cent, who had recently declared himself bankrupt...

And beyond adverting, the 'Meet the world' platform has led to some amazing initiatives to help young travellers meet and socialise. For instance, we worked with Google to put a 'Speak the world' function into the Hostelworld app.
Users could hold their phones up to their face and instantly chat with a fellow traveller in any one of 23 languages!