When beer gardens up and down the country are packed to the brim, the latest series of Love Island is going full throttle, and some men are using any opportunity to walk around with their tops off, it can only mean one thing. Summer is well and truly here.

Originally a US phenomenon, the song of the summer is now an integral part of the season as a whole. The unofficial designation is typically given to an earworm that becomes so ubiquitous as a summer anthem that many end up getting sick of hearing it.

Alongside bids from Dua Lipa’s Barbie anthem Dance the Night and the TikTok-led reboot of Miguel’s noughties hit Sure Thing, an unlikely contender has thrown its hat in the ring this year: Yorkshire Tea.

Written and produced by long-time agency partner Lucky Generals along with Ninja Tune (the record label behind everyone from Bonobo to Peggy Gou), Pack Yer Bags sees the brand attempt its first ‘proper’ summer banger.

The track itself is filled with brew-themed one-liners (“Sambuca shot. Tequila shot. Rather have a Yorkshire Tea in a teapot”), while the accompanying music video subverts all the tropes of a lad’s holiday to demonstrate the lengths that people will go to in the name of having proper brew when they’re abroad.

“We’ve all been there; parched in Pathos, mouth like a sundried flip-flop, with an inferior hotel teabag mocking you from next to the mini kettle,” say Lucky Generals’ creative directors, Nick Bird and Lee Smith. “We’re hoping that Pack Yer Bags helps put an end to that awful predicament and becomes a mantra that every holidaymaker takes with them wherever they go this summer.”

Yorkshire Tea is no stranger to using humour in its advertising; previous campaigns have featured a social distancing teapot during the pandemic and actor Patrick Stewart delivering the work leaving speech of a lifetime. As brand purpose’s dominance appears to be waning, Pack Yer Bags also nods to the welcome return of weird ads.

Credits:
Creative Agency: Lucky Generals
Director: Fred Rowson
Production Company: Blink
Editor: Samuel Marr, Stitch
Post-production: Selected Works
Colourist: Hannibal Lang
Sound: No8