A COMFORTING CONSTANT

Angharad Goode, Mintel Research Analyst, said: “Tea is a comforting constant for British consumers. After facing such an emotionally draining time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with more uncertain times ahead amidst the growing pressures on household incomes, the image of tea as a little emotional pick-me-up is ever more relevant for brands to tap into.”

“The cost-of-living crisis will increase the appeal of this wellbeing boosting perception as consumers seek out emotional support during stressful times. While cost-saving efforts are on the rise, tea’s positive image and consumers turning to evenings in over out-of-home leisure, should go some way to drive demand for tea.”

A New Direction

Which leads us to our next point and the reason we’re discussing tea right now, in the first place. Have you seen it yet? The relatable yoof-speak Yorkshire Tea advert? It’s about how one young lad — who honestly doesn’t look a day over 18 — just can’t be without his tea, especially it seems when he’s flying to Ibiza (budget airline, cabin baggage only, obvs) with the “amigos”. It’s funny how the annual trip to this Balearic island is one aspirational rite of passage for the young folk that seems to have endured. Wicked.

In it, against visuals — and fashion for that matter — that recall the days of acid house, our tealoving Gen Z-er sings a lengthy number about how he’d rather leave behind everything he actually needs for said holiday, in order to pack

10kg of Yorkshire tea bags. Getting wasted out on the town in Beetha? Nah. “Sambucca: shot? Tequila: shot? Rather have a Yorkshire Tea in a teapot!” And instead of getting plastered, to chants of “down it, down it”, the lads shout “let’s get lightly caffeinated”.

A Notable Departure

Apart from the obvious conclusion that someone at Yorkshire Tea has definitely seen this Mintel research, it’s an interesting departure from the brand’s long established, let’s say more mature campaigns, where Patrick Stewart conducted rousing leaving speeches to middle-aged office workers. The fact that Yorkshire Tea is taking an interest in, and marketing directly to this demographic means that something in the market has fundamentally changed.

Is tea now cool? Is tea coming back into its own for being comforting in times of strife? And in this world of spiralling costs, is it now becoming aspirational for its very affordability? Its relevance to a younger audience as a trusty, familiar and beloved alternative to booze seems to be what Yorkshire Tea is both trying to convey, and is tapping into.

But its status as something no less cool than an alcoholic drink... is that right? Is that how unfavourably younger people now view alcohol, and how highly they now see tea? That’s likely the deep wish of tea brands, who have been struggling for something new to say, to a new audience for some time. Have they suddenly found it?

The Mintel data of course points to a slightly older age group, but it also points to a fundamental shift in perceptions. It will be interesting to see if other ‘traditional’ tea brands follow suit and similarly launch outthere campaigns that market the most staid of drinks in most consumer’s repertoire, in an entirely new and unexpected way.

WHY IS GOLF BEING USED TO MARKET DRINKS ALL OF A SUDDEN?

Move aside hip hop. Stand down movie stars and Hollywood A-listers. Apparently the next culture and aspirational brand world being used to draw the trendy, the monied and to an extent, the youth, to a drinks brand is golf. Yes, golf. Though the sport has a long history and a staunchly loyal fanbase, it’s not something that could ever be accused of being even remotely cool. So why are a number of brands now using the sport to market their brands?

Tweed trousers. Long socks. Car parks full of Jaguar F-Types and XEs. Polite clapping. Tucked in, overly crisp polo shirts, sexless slacks, and those annoying bright white visors. Whatever comes to mind when you think of golf, none of it is remotely cool. We’re sure it’s, like, a really fun game to play and everything. But cool? Nah. Never. Sorry.

And yet, here we find ourselves, watching a number of drinks brands use the world of golf to tap into youth culture. Yes, you read that right. Don’t believe us? Standby.

Heard of Casa Azul? The tequila soda RTD launched first in August 2022, but more recently in March 2023, it added Casa Azul Organic Tequila to the range. Now, it has just announced a partnership with US Women’s Open Champion, Michelle Wie West. If you’re not well versed in the sport — and if you are, we’re sorry — the Asian American pro has won five LPGA titles, including the 2014 US Women's Open. Recently retired from the sport, she’s joined with Casa Azul to “introduce Casa Azul to a wider audience”.

The very standard statement from founder Lance Collins, on the partnership said: "Michelle represents the best of golf today and her exceptional talent, dedication, and global influence perfectly aligns with our brand's values and vision for the future."

A Cultural Transformation

Next up, it’s funnily enough, another tequila brand. “Golf is undergoing a cultural transformation” according to a press release from Tequila Avión. But in a slightly confusing switch-up, it has partnered with professional basketball player Nick Young and former football wide receiver Victor Cruz, on a golf-centric campaign. It has launched a Caddie's Caddy

Kits, which includes golf course essentials “along with signature cocktails inspired by the famous golf enthusiasts”, featuring its Avión Reserva 44 Extra Añejo and Reserva Cristalino. Pitched at a millennial and above crowd, the packs are aimed at Father’s Day gifting.

However, the brand is still tapping into what it says is a new street-cred attached to golf, and is pushing to make itself a part of the game’s new traditions. To let the press release tell it: “Tequila Avión, an award-winning tequila that continues to redefine standards of quality and taste, is cementing its role within today's golf traditions with an elevated offering for golf lovers.”

Occupying New Space

So, what the heck is it all about? Where is this new cool-factor, or street cred coming from? It’s notable that both brands have chosen partners that are far from the middle-class, or well-to-do older white male stereotype that for many years, the game has actively enforced. They’ll be those that deny it, but with exclusionary policies long in place across many of the most elite clubs, serving to gatekeep the game, it has traditionally and deliberately been the reserve of the few, not the many. It was only last year — LAST BLOODY YEAR — that championship course Muirfield allowed women to join its hitherto male-only Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Or to put it in a less stuck-up way, it only allowed women to join the club in 2022. Slow clap.

But according to that bastion of painfully cutting-edge coolness, Hypebeast, we’re all allowed to like golf now. It’s a shame that it’s mood board for its assertion that ‘Golf Excites a New Generation of Enthusiasts With StreetwearMinded Fashion Brands’ is soooooo…how should we put this…sausage-heavy, but you know, one step at a time.

A Gen Z Revolution

It espouses that: “The sport of golf is experiencing an evolution never seen before, especially amongst newer players and curious Gen Z enthusiasts. Names like Top Golf and Five Iron Golf have made the game more fun and accessible for casual players who want to play alongside friends and other beginners –think of arcade and bowling atmospheres but with golf.” Cool, cool. It points to a Netflix series, Full Swing, that shows Phoenix Open PGA Tour, a tournament unlike any other, for its “millennial fans, young players and non-stop party environment”.

And where the money and anyone that’s just about pre their first grey hair goes, the streetwear brands cynically follow. Again quoting a slightly hopeful Hypebeast: “These newer, more exciting versions of how golf is played is where the sport is heading and its reputation is shifting with the times in terms of inclusivity, accessibility and even its fashion identity.”

New streetwear-minded golf wear brands are injecting both youth and coolness, it says. Alongside this, the leaning-in of brands like Off-White and Louis Vuitton to golf wear-inspired garments has not gone unnoticed. Both brands have been edging their way closer to hip-hop, urban cool and frankly, black culture for some years now. But this fusion of golf-inspired attire and streetwear is perhaps best encapsulated by Tyler the Creator. The rapper turned designer is known for his pretty fusion of streetwear and classic golfing garb with neat cardigans, pleated slacks, loafers and tank tops. He even has his own brand, Golf Le Fleur.

Radical Exclusion

There is something radical about ethnically diverse youth tapping into this staid, buttoned-up world, and occupying spaces that they haven’t hitherto been frankly either welcomed into or able to access. It’s a bold statement that reminds us of Ciroc’s recent campaign for Ciroc Honey Melon, which saw it reimagine that other bastion of WASP culture in the US, the Country Club.

Sean "Diddy" Combs placed the brand within “the new breed of country club”. Walking through the grounds of a club, bottle in hand, he proclaims it’s a match with champagne, while dressed in “money green” and urging viewers “let’s keep dreaming bigger”. Here within lies a bigger statement about the generational wealth country clubs, and golf clubs for that matter, have been bastions of.

According to the campaign’s press release: “The limited-edition flavor will launch with the ‘No Reservations Needed’ campaign, featuring visuals that portray a reimagined country club experience explored through the lens of a diverse group of young adults that challenge the concept of class and exclusivity in a modern world where everyone is invited.”

Everyone Is Invited

It’s only in recent times, as some of the institutional barriers come down, and greater opportunity is afforded to more people, that many ethnic minorities are becoming able to build their generational wealth, and take up space in institutions that they were, and in some cases still are, actively kept from. Inhabiting them, and making them their own is the ultimate in aspirational lifestyle imagery as it demonstrates a massive power shift.

So is golf aspirational? Is it aspirational to a new, young, cool, energised and trendy audience? Yes. But for much more complex reasons than it simply looks good. The emergence of partnerships between tequila-brands — not what come to mind when you think of the game — and ethnically diverse sports stars is a sign that things are changing.

Golf’s instantly recognisable visual-style is already being used by fashion brands as a statement on who does and doesn’t belong in an elite world. Expect this visual world to be something an increasing number of drinks brands will attempt to tap into.

...TO COOL, COMPOSTABLE CREDIBILITY?

Time was that unless your home coffee machine was bean-to-cup, you’d be scoffed at. Though infinitely more accessible, compact and convenient for most people’s homes, pods were seen as being lesser quality, not to mention bad for the environment. However, in recent years there’s been an image overhaul of the pod market, with eco options, high-end producers and now, celebrities too. So, are pods finally cool?

Walking past what used to be the Nespresso store in St Pancras station the other day, the pale pink hoarding covering renovations had a message for passers-by. It read “We’re recycling the former Nespresso store into a new and improved one that’s better for the planet”. Grind’s cheeky pod advertising has been slowly spreading across London, with slogans such as “Doesn’t come with ready-made latte art, but we’re working on it” for some time.

Its mail order and subscription coffee business may have been born of Grind’s physical café business, but now things have come full circle. Such is the success of its pods for home coffee machines, that they now have their own store; a standalone emporium with a window filled with its upturned compostable pods, which – to really hammer home that they’re the first in the UK to make homecompostable coffee pods – are being used as plant pots. It even has the world’s first composting live stream. Who knew composting would one day be cool?

There’s no doubt that brands such as Grind have helped to finally bring the cool factor, a fresh take, and FINALLY some innovation to a category that sorely needed it. Whereas pioneers Nespresso introduced consumers to the concept, first launching in the 1980s to bring consumers baristaquality at home, there hasn’t been much innovation in pods since. In fact Nespresso’s USP was what was at the time a premium aluminium pod, and seemingly endless coffee varietals. But with every supermarket and indeed coffee shop launching a me-too brand, it hasn’t had the edge for some time. Also, George Clooney is great, sure, but those that regard him as a heartthrob generally remember the days of dial-up internet, so…. there’s that. We’re not scoffing; we remember those days too.