YEO VALLEY APPOINTS AGENCY TO SIX-FIGURE BRIEF

Following a three-way competitive pitch process that began in May, Tin Man Communications has been appointed to represent the dairy business Yeo Valley Organic.

As part of the six-figure brief, Tin Man will develop a series of creative consumer campaigns promoting the Somerset-based food brand as ’delicious’, ‘healthy’ and ‘good for the planet’. The work will highlight the “brand’s rebellious spirit and eccentric style”, the agency said.

The account will be led by Natalie Neave, partner at Tin Man.

Rebecca Hehir, head of communications at Yeo Valley Organic, explained: “From the first meeting we could tell that the Tin Man team really ‘got’ us as a brand and understood what we’re looking for from an agency. Delicious is at the heart of everything we do and the pitch team were able to really demonstrate how they’d bring the tastes, textures and provenance of our product portfolio to life in their ideas. We’re so excited to have them on board and are looking forward to working together.”

Mandy Sharp, chief executive and founder of Tin Man Communications, added: “We knew chemistry with the Yeo Valley team was strong after we rapped (yes rapped) in the pitch to bring an idea to life and they didn’t walk out the room! Joking aside, this is a dream brand to work on and we’ve got a really exciting programme planned over the course of the next year, which we can’t wait to deliver.”

Established in 1994, Yeo Valley is a family-owned organic dairy business. Yeo Valley Organic is one of the biggest grocery brands in the UK, selling its products to over 10 million consumers each year.

The incumbent agency was London-based Wild Card and its sister comms firm South West, which were appointed by Yeo Valley in 2020. PRWeek contacted Wild Card for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

At the recent PRWeek Awards, Tin Man won the Best Integrated Campaign Award, in collaboration with advertising agency Lucky Generals, for its ‘Be Yourself... Celebrating Individuality through Uniforms’ campaign for airline Virgin Atlantic.

In addition to Virgin Atlantic, Tin Man’s client roster includes brands such as Vodafone, London Luton Airport, Unilever, Mondelez, Barclays, Gumtree and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

In October, pet food brand Royal Canin, part of Mars Petcare, hired Tin Man to oversee consumer PR, and social and retail marketing.