Brewing a Summer Anthem for British Tea Fans
Lightly caffeinated Brits have a new sound of the summer. This week Yorkshire Tea dropped a song and video from previously unknown rap star Skipton Alfie, ‘Pack Yer Bags’. An anthem for any Brit who’s despaired at the brew quality when overseas, the track suggests simply taking your own tea with you when you go on your summer holidays.
The song was packed full of relatable wit by agency Lucky Generals and developed in collaboration with the record label Ninja Tune. The music video was directed by Blink’s Fred Rowson, who made sure the visual gags and rap video references were crammed in there too, perfectly capturing the excitement of that first teenage holiday with friends.
LBB’s Alex Reeves caught up with Lucky Generals creative directors Nick Bird and Lee Smith and director Fred Rowson.
LBB> You've done some really funny Yorkshire Tea ads with some total legends, from Sean Bean to Patrick Stewart. Why did you take a different tack to work on writing a song and making a music video for this one?
Nick & Lee> Yorkshire Tea has made a few songs in the past and they asked us to come up with the next one.
The brief was to do something for the summer aimed at tea drinkers who are fed up with not being able to get a decent brew when they are abroad on their holidays. Something most of us are familiar with. The solution being ‘Pack Yer Bags’ and take your Yorkshire Tea on holiday with you. All wrapped up in a lovely little summer banger.
LBB> I don't know if the idea of people packing tea to go on holiday has ever been covered in British culture before but it's quite an amazing phenomenon when you think about it. Do you have any insights on how common this is?
Nick & Lee> Yeah it's something that most holidaymaking Brits can relate to, isn’t it?
We’ve all been there, staring at those terrible teabags in your hotel room or that weak as p*** cuppa that gets served up in beach side bars. Taking a few bags of Yorkshire Tea is like taking a little bit of home with you. A nice familiar place… when you’re in an unfamiliar place.
Also works wonders if you have partaken in a few too many ouzos the evening prior.
LBB> How many Yorkshire Tea bags can you fit in a standard cabin-sized suitcase?
Nick & Lee> We squeezed about 10 boxes in a small case and had just enough room left for sunglasses and a bucket hat. But I reckon if you take them out of the boxes and you could have 1000s in there. With obviously no room for anything else.
LBB> Where did the idea for the song begin? What were some early ideas for what it would be about?
Nick & Lee> We landed on the idea of ‘Pack Yer Bags’ pretty early on in the process. We knew we wanted a summer banger from the start. It was then a case of building a nice little story arc into the lyrics. From having to wake up at ‘stupid o’clock’ for the flight, to being in the club with all your buddies. The words needed to sit at the forefront of the song, but we needed some super hooky musical hooks. We loved stuff like The Streets ‘Fit But You Know It’ and Blur's ‘Girls & Boys’ as benchmarks.
LBB> How did the collaboration with Ninja Tune work? What was the process?
Nick & Lee> We knew from the off that we didn’t want this to be an ad parody. It had to be a genuinely banging track. So we thought we’d approach Ninja. And when we heard Laura Bettinson’s (aka Lau.ra) music, we knew she’d be perfect. Whomps and donks.
LBB> What can you tell us about Skipton Alfie?
Nick & Lee> Alfie is just a young tea-loving Yorkshire lad. Who knows that when he goes on his hols with his amigos, the first thing he packs is his Yorkshire Tea. And his passport, of course. We wrote a whole bio on who he was. He’s got a B grade A-level in computer science. Works at a data-crunching company in Leeds and still lives with mum and dad. But he’s got his sister's room now as she’s moved in with her boyfriend Ashley.
LBB> What informed the look of the video?
Nick & Lee> We wanted the video to feel like Alfie had put this together himself. Mostly shot in his bedroom but with the production values of high-end music videos too. The graphics were our homage to 1986 ‘Top of the Pops’.
Fred> The style is a big mix of references. We wanted to nod to some classic music video tropes like wide lenses, but also thought that a young Yorkshire lad might have fantasies that look like a vid for Aitch or Slowthai. The titles were inspired by ‘80s ‘Top of the Pops’ titling and we decided to go all out – this wasn’t one where we were aiming for subtlety. I love them.
LBB> What are the most memorable moments from the process?
Nick & Lee> Presenting the demo to the client in the pub after a few. On a laptop with a big pair of headphones. Definitely the way to go for meetings.
Fred> To be honest, the whole process was joyful because everyone on our crew loved the creative and really got the joke. So we had a great time making it. Letting the boys improvise in front of a big green screen and giving them cues like: “You’re on a boat!” “You’ve fallen in the sea!” “You don’t know how to put up a deckchair!” “You’re off your face at Pikes and it’s 6am!” That was special. Except they didn’t know what Pikes was. Because they’re all 18.
LBB> Do you have a favourite shot or scene in the video?
Fred> I love that first sequence leading all the way through into the initial chorus, because there are so many details there to see if you hit pause - the posters on his wall, the wording on the passport. I pre-vis’d all of this section and it fit together exactly like I intended, so there was loads of room to add Easter Eggs. Either that, or the lads twerking against the teapot.
