Big Tea’s bold OOH campaign

It's properly rare to see a very early-stage, independent brand come straight out of the gate with copy that's big, brave and in-your-face.

But that's exactly what Big Tea did. And we 💛 it.

On the surface, it's bold and it's attention-grabbing. It's funny. It's very aware of who its target audience is (and isn't). It flirts with a taboo topic.​

All things that make copy sticky and effective. Smart.

And yet, the real genius of it comes from the fact that it doesn't fall into that early Brewdog trap of edgy just for the sake of being edgy.

Because while "ethical 3 gram bag" might be a cheeky nod to some less than legal past times, but it's also a very clever way to draw attention to two of their USPs: their ethics and their bigger-than-average tea bags.

​Studies show that ads are more memorable when the humor is directly related to the message.

In other words, a good, on-message joke grabs their attention and puts them in a more receptive-to-buy state.

But the humour also helps encode your key messages in their brain, too.

So when customers think "ethical tea" or "a tea that lines up with my values", Big Tea are going to be top of mind.

It's really clever stuff.

And a great example of an early brand using clever copy to punch above their weight and grab some eyeballs.

So next time you need some big, attention-grab-y copy ask yourself: is there an unexpected or funny way to get this information across? Have you found the most interesting way to say it, or does it feel a bit obvious? Is there a version of your product claim that could also make someone laugh? Or raise an eyebrow? Or make them feel like it was written specifically for them?

Or, go even further and write stuff that's waaay too rude or risky or bold. Stuff that'll never see light of day. And then dial it back until it feels just right. (This is something we do all the time. Removing that need to write something publishable works wonders for creativity and coming up with new ideas. Then you just need to edit them into shape and make them less off-brand.)