Choosing The Challenge: Meet The CMO Who Brought Monkey Back

Elle Barker has little tolerance for idleness - and she certainly doesn't accept the status quo without challenge.

That gutsy conviction led her to revive PG Tips’ long-standing but recently retired mascot, Monkey, less than a year into her role as CMO.

The humorous campaign comes 24 years after Monkey first appeared on screen and features Ivo Graham as the voice of Monkey, alongside Emily Atack in the role of Monkey's wife.

“When I started, I said, ‘He has to come back.’ Because the brand needed that kind of cheeky, iconic character to really bring it back to life,” Barker says with a beam. “It felt like the right moment, and it’s been amazing to see how well people have embraced him again".

For a brand that had taken a hit prior to Barker's arrival, the impact is clear: System1 data points to a rise in both short-term sales and renewed long-term growth potential, affirming Barker’s shrewd instinct.

It was a colleague from a previous life who first spotted that Barker was made for the bolder stuff.

Following a degree in psychology, she was working as a data analyst for the government when her desk-mate pulled her aside.

"She said 'You're creative, what are you doing here? You should do marketing or something'. And I thought marketing? Marketing?," says Barker. "I thought about it, went away and did a bit of research, and I thought actually that could work. So I did. I did a masters degree in marketing. And that was it - I was hooked."

In a career that spans roles across beauty and FMCG brands including Coca-Cola, L'Oreal, Gu Desserts and Boots' Number 7 brand, Barker has always rejected the easy route and pushed for bold moves - like removing plastic from Walgreens Boots Alliance's gifting business in time for Christmas, despite opposition.

"Moving categories has allowed me to really challenge myself and the brands I've gone in to work on. It's allowed me to be able to say maybe this will work and it's not something we've thought about," Barker says.

"It's become my hallmark to ask 'Why not?' Why couldn't we give this a go?'.

No Monkeying Around: Four Questions, One Brief

When Barker was looking for an agency partner to help her revitalisation plans for PG Tips, she was hunting for an agency that could cut the fluff and share her bold, fun approach.

"What kills me is long briefs. Genuinely. Sometimes I see briefs that are eight or nine pages long, and someone says, 'It's a short brief' - and I’m like, no, it's not, it’s so long I’m bored," she explains.

"The brief we shared with NCA was literally just four questions. That was it. Then there was a separate page covering scope and deliverables - like, we’re going to need a TV ad, we’ll need a brand book, and so on. But the brief itself? Four questions. I basically wanted to know: would you bring back Monkey? How would you set up the team? What do you think of the current work? And how would you evolve it?"

After a long day of high calibre pitches, Barker and her marketing controller got into the cab and were set on their decision.

"We just looked at each other and said, ‘Well, we’re going with them, right?’ And that was it. We both just knew. Every question had been answered. Every possibility considered. It was an absolute slam dunk," says Barker.

The return of the monkey: Cutting through the dull

Optimistic about the future of PG Tips, Barker sees a lot of opportunity in the tea market to attract young people - especially due to the rise of matcha, and, as she puts it, the potential for tea to be seen as the "original zero-calorie drink"

But she's also clear about the need to harness British humour to retain loyal tea drinkers, including older consumers - something she feels the brand had lost.

The social strategy she is implementing at PG Tips is focused on adding to the every day conversation, and the idea of tea as a moment that sparks connection - be it a knowing look, a chat about the weather, a cry or indeed a laugh.

"I'm big on the power of optimism, the power of humour. There's strong evidence that funny, riskier campaigns are more memorable - and they stick with people, not just because of the ad itself, but because of how it made them feel. I want to convey that positivity," she adds.

At the same time, Barker is keenly aware of the practical limitations that come with using Monkey - namely, that he’s a physical puppet, which means puppeteers need to be scheduled in advance.

"That makes it quite hard to be reactive and jump on something that's trending or be part of the conversation. It's too onerous, if we want to use Monkey," she says.

"The future of Monkey has to include AI, I think he has to move into the 21st Century when it comes to that, because to be part of the conversation, to be relevant, you've got to be on it," Barker adds.

She certainly never lets fear get the better of her, whether it's rewriting the playbook or utilising a new tool.

"I just always wanted to be remembered, but for the right reasons," she summarises.

The World Of Marketing, according to Elle Barker

What do you love most about being a marketer?

The ability to truly influence a business without having to be a boring business person.

There are lots of marketers who can maintain a well-established, growing brand, but I find that quite boring, because all it’s about is replicating what your predecessors did.

What I find really exciting about the roles I've taken on is that I've often worked with brands facing challenges - ones that weren't growing or that had experienced setbacks. The thrill comes from making bold moves, taking big pivots, and embracing risk. There's so much dullness out there.

There's really strong evidence to say that funny, riskier campaigns are better and they certainly stick with people, not just with the campaign itself, but the ability to make them feel.

I think there are a lot of marketers out there playing it safe - just sitting back, hoping that a couple of percent growth will be enough. But the market is becoming increasingly challenging, and consumers are more demanding than ever. It's evolving at such a pace now. Honestly, when I compare it to when I first started, it's almost unrecognisable. I can barely recognise the roles that exist today.

To survive, you have to be willing to stand up and be counted. There's a lot of dullness out there that could really do with a good shake-up.

And what frustrates you most about being a marketer?

One of the things I find frustrating about my job is balancing the dream with the demands of the business. What I want to do and what I can do aren't always the same. Sometimes you can convince the business to pursue the dream, and sometimes it's more of a three-to-five-year journey.

That's the part I struggle with. I like to do everything now - I don't like to wait. So I've had to teach myself a bit of patience. I've had to learn to say, "It's okay that we're making just this one change, because the next two changes I want to make will come." But sometimes I want to make changes one, two, and three all in the same week.

Still, patience - in this case - really can be a virtue.

Do you think boardrooms are becoming better at listening to marketers?

I do think it very much depends on the company and where they are in their life cycle. Seeing marketing as the value-generating team, rather than a cost centre, is a fundamental shift. Businesses with high potential need to embrace marketing. It's not just the expensive department with agencies, snazzy videos and a bit of glamour. It's the part of the business that genuinely adds value to the consumer. It's what makes the product - whether it's tea, washing machines or paper clips - more valuable, more saleable, more interesting, and able to command a higher price.

That, really, is the essence of marketing: getting consumers to choose your paper clip over the competitor's. And that's all down to marketing.

Having support for that is everything. For me, the most important thing has been having a finance team that understands marketing is a value generator, not just a cost centre. That’s made the biggest difference.

If you want to see results tomorrow, run a promotion. But if you keep relying on promotions, don't expect your brand to be in growth five years from now - it's simply not enough. There has to be a balance between short-term tactical activities and long-term brand building.

And for that to work, the boardroom needs to hold its nerve and maintain consistency.

What do you look for in an agency partner?

What makes us such a great match with NCA is the way the team works structurally. There isn’t a hierarchy-based dynamic, and it’s not a case of having an account manager who filters everything. Yes, we have an account manager, but I speak just as much to the creatives and the strategy team as I do to the account team. And I think that’s what’s made the difference – everyone has skin in the game. Everyone feels part of it.

In other agency relationships, the creatives would pop up for the presentation – and then you’d never see them again. And if you did see them again, it might be a completely different set of people, which doesn’t allow you to build that mutual understanding or rhythm.

Now, with Dan, Steve, and the team, they just know – straight away – whether something’s landed or not. And what’s great is that the more we’ve worked together, the more we’ve started to unlock that tone of voice – the sense of "That’s a PG thing" and "That’s not a PG thing."

So now when we come into meetings, the key people who are doing the work are also in the room. That means we’re not getting into a loop of: ‘Oh, the client didn’t like it.’ – ‘Well, why didn’t they like it?’ Instead, we can have that conversation live, in real time.

We’re cutting out all the middle noise and having an honest conversation – with the strategist, the creatives, the account team, production, everyone. And I think that’s what’s really helped us move at speed.

Is there a lesson that has stuck with you from your career?

While I was working at Coca-Cola, one piece of advice I got was not to be that annoying person shouting in the corner while everyone else is thinking, ‘Oh, go away.'

Instead, you have to join the conversation - listen to what people are saying and genuinely engage. That lesson has stayed with me. It was true then, and it’s just as relevant now. Honestly, it’s a principle we’ve tried to live by: be part of the conversation.

Secondly, I think if I were advising people in marketing – whether they're thinking of switching industries or hiring talent – I'd advise them to stop thinking they always need to recruit from within. Recruiting from outside the category is essential because it brings such a fresh perspective.

As long as someone has the fundamentals of marketing – they know how to write a brief, how to read the data, how to plan – whether they've worked on washing machines, beauty, or coffee, it really doesn't matter. In fact, bringing someone in who hasn't worked in your industry can be a huge asset. They're not going to say, 'Oh no, we don't do that in beauty,' or "That wouldn’t work in coffee." Well, maybe it could work – it’s just that no one's ever really tried, because everyone’s stuck in this echo chamber of people who’ve been in the same space for ten years.

You don’t get challenged that way.

And a moment you're particularly proud of?

I think one of the things I’m most proud of - from a delivery point of view - is what we achieved at Boots. When I worked on the Walgreens Boots Alliance gifting business, we turned everything plastic-free. That, for me, was a heart-filling step change. I took out all the single-use plastic across all Boots and Walgreens own-label gifting that Christmas.

It was such a fundamental achievement - especially because everyone told me I couldn’t do it. So I couldn’t have been happier, around August or September before Christmas, to say: "I bloody did it". I walked back into the boardroom and said: "I’ve done it - and it looks amazing".

That Christmas, no one was going to be saying: "Oh my God, look at all this crap - all this plastic - what do I even do with it?" Because it was all recyclable. No single-use plastic. And that, for me, was a heart-filling moment.

Is there a particular piece of creativity you’ve seen where you thought, ‘I really wish I’d been part of that’?

One piece of work I absolutely love is 'Too Many Dicks' by e.l.f Cosmetics. They did an amazing job of exploring the fact that there are more men called Richard in American boardrooms than there are women. The whole campaign was about calling out the issue of having too many dicks in the boardroom - literally.

I absolutely loved it because it touched on a fundamental truth. It did so with self-humour, boldness, risk-taking and provocation - but it was so on point that every woman looked at it and said, “Yeah.”

No one was saying, “Oh, but what about those lovely Richards in the boardroom.” Everyone just thought, “Oh God.” It was such an amazing piece of cultural commentary. I thought it was absolutely fantastic. Honestly, if I could have created something like that, I would have loved to.