OUGD503- Quintessential British Moments (3)

The YCN Greenalls brief needs to have a quintessential British moment (or moments) within its 'creative'. The long history of Gin and its relationship with the UK provides many connotations- with the G&T often referred to as 'the nations favourite drink' by the mass media and bar culture. Gin has the possibility of being portrayed as regal and imperialistic, or humble and for the people stemming from this history- both connotations have a stories and visual connotations associated, the breath is really endless.

When many people think of 'quintessential British moments' we have many aspects to explore, both referring to English past times, British iconography and 'thats so British' aspects dominating society through the British attitude/sensibility.

<Mindmap of quintessential British moments>


Considering all of the above, we can see tone of voice is an aspect that needs to be highly considered, as British irony could always be projected through typography/copy (rather than a strict visual parody).

The 2016 Britishness Audit, commissioned by Tetley, involved an analysis of the British Social Attitudes survey by 'NatCen Social Research' and a poll of 2,000 people by OnePoll.
The survey explored the most common British traits, these are not moments nor events- but will allow us to explore the 'inviting British personality'.

1. Wearing summer clothing at the first sight of sun. > Anticipation of warm weather (desire)

2. Apologising automatically

3. Ability to talk at length about the weather

4. Making a cup of tea in response to a crisis > Could do with Gin?


5. Finding queue-jumping the ultimate crime

6. Forming a queue for pretty much anything


7. The typical British 'stiff upper lip' > Playful take on traditionalism

8. Grumbling throughout a meal, but not telling staff so as not to cause a fuss > Have Gin? everything is okay!

9. Making sarcastic/dry jokes

10. Having a beer gin at the airport even though it's before 8am > British tradition- shows most Brits love to drink (anytime, anywhere) and feel like they're free (we constant want a mini holiday, even for a few hours in a Beer Garden).

In contemporary culture @SoVeryBritish (Very British Problems) are a very popular twitter group, creating many streams of copycat profiles across multiple platforms, including Facebook and Instragam. In turn, these things become memes and ingrain further into popular culture and even in our day to day references- all stemming from the influence of this brand presence. @SoVeryBritish have since got merchandise, T-shirts and socks for events such as Mothers Day, showing there is a common culture with these references.

Posts from Very British Problems indicating the dry, sceptical nature levitating over British culture. They too mention the desire for sunshine, as well indicating us Brits say "Sorry" constantly. 

Very British problems also mention alcohol as a British past time- an important sub-topic to consider related to this brief. Their posts and references from others indicate the desire to drink and indulge in 'unwinding' vibes- taking a little trip away from our normal lives almost.

However, Quintessential British moments are often event based- a picnic at the park, street parties and iconography related to monarchy are all immediate responses to this demand. Events such as The Queens Jubilee or May Day are historically quintessential British events, representing a more traditionalist attitude. In some ways, the monarchy encouraged this British drinking sensibility by giving us bank holidays for their events- essentially a day to unwind and party.

A slightly more informal study conducted by ICE (Imperial Corporate Events stats co), highlights the events we as a society consider to be British are small events (or experiences) for us to enjoy personally- rather than something large and brash like a street party. Their study positioned Food and drink highly I'm the rankings, suggesting looking into an event based moment may be an outdated tactic.

1. Bacon Sandwiches. 2. The Royal Family
3. Roast dinners. 4. Cups of tea
5. Football. 6. The weather
7. Fry ups. 8. Wimbledon
9. Afternoon Tea. 10. The Lake District
11. Traditional pubs. 12. Crumpets
13. Pimms. 14. English summers
15. Rain Rain Rain!  16. Cricket
17. Fish and Chips. 18. The seaside
19. Polo. 20. Did we mention the rain?