Most Creative Marketers: Dom Dwight

“Creativity is not just for creatives,” says Dwight, “it’s not a special subject reserved for art and design.” And this is an important point, since half of Betty’s & Taylors’ 1,500-strong headcount work in the firm’s factory. Dwight thinks creativity can live everywhere. “If an engineer looks at a tea manufacturing line and thinks ‘I can solve this problem’, being able to come up with an original solution, that's creativity. It’s using imagination to find a way forward: imagining your way out of trouble, and possibly back in.”

Thinking differently has been a hallmark of Dwight’s career. Having turned up to an early job interview with a slideshow about what unique attributes he could offer, he showed a big image of the interior of Homer Simpson's head, with a monkey banging symbols inside. A cartoon-lover, Dwight says he’s used that image many times since as a way of visualising his mind. The Simpsons, and Matt Groening, have provided creative inspiration to Dwight over the years. “It’s so individual, but it's been so commercially successful. Show me another TV show that's run for that long, with that level of quality-comedy writing.”

He describes marketing as “a balancing act of looking at data, but trusting your gut”, and although Dwight acknowledges the canon of marketing theory, “if everyone followed it and didn’t deviate, it would be a very boring world,” he says, with little deviation or effectiveness. He prescribes “a sprinkling of mischief, to make things more interesting.”

Yorkshire Tea is all about doing things properly, preserving traditions. “The mischief in me makes me want to sort of poke at the boundaries and check which traditions need to be preserved and which traditions are past their best and can be challenged.”

Emboldened by an evangelical group of consumers on social media, Dwight says he got a feel for what would be welcomed. And it’s this approach that led to the sell-out success of variants like Taylor’s Coffee Bags, Yorkshire Tea’s Jam & Toast Brew, and of course, the famous tea itself. First launched 1977, it was crowned as Britain’s best-selling brew in 2019, with 28 percent share of market value.

Over the years, Dwight has learned to trust his instincts, but has found this challenging in terms of product development, where the work doesn’t only have to cut through on TV, “it's got to be picked up off the shelf and someone's got part with their cash for it. You'll never get to a place where you've got 100 percent evidence, you have to take a leap.”

Technical brilliance, without ego

Alongside him for the climb for the past eight years have been Goodstuff and Lucky Generals, both of which he credits with technical brilliance, without ego. These, he says, are agencies where there’s trust and rapport, a genuine commitment to “proper human relationships” and much better work as a result.

Chains of command and hierarchy, Dwight says, are the most frustrating creativity blockers, making collaboration slow and difficult. “With other agencies, I’ve had the feeling that I can’t get past the account person, but what I really want to do is speak directly to the planner. I really love it when those boundaries don't matter, and people can just talk to each other.”

Lucky Generals’ creative director Danny Brooke-Taylor has “no airs and graces”, despite his pedigree, Dwight explains, and is happy to step aside and let younger members of the team have their moment to shine. For example, Lizzie Moore and George Allen, a creative duo who’ve been helping establish a tone of voice for the Taylor's of Harrogate coffee brand for the past three years. “From a client perspective, I wouldn't necessarily meet or hear directly from a young creative duo because their work will be presented to me by a creative director, or an account person. I love the fact that Lucky Generals have opened up and let us hear directly from that pair. And I've been able to speak directly back to them.”

A southerner who came to Yorkshire for university (Leeds) and stayed, Dwight derives solace from kayaking along the River Aire. “To get out into the open air and see a big wide vista: it’s a way to reset your brain.” And although the world has been a difficult, toxic place for the past couple of years, there are glimmers of light for the future of diversity, inclusion and sustainability, he says. “Things are happening. And I find that exciting.”