EP 109: The Tweet That Broke Yorkshire Tea with Dom Dwight
5/5/202652 min
Dom Dwight joins Embracing Marketing Mistakes to share the reality of building a challenger brand that people genuinely care about.
Across 18 years at Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, Dom helped turn Yorkshire Tea into one of the UK’s most loved brands by backing creative risk, trusting people and stripping out layers of sign-off. In this episode, he talks candidly about the resistance that comes with brave marketing decisions, the value of long-term agency relationships and why safe ideas often create the biggest risk.
The conversation also goes deep on social media mistakes, political pile-ons and the moment a single tweet spiralled into days of backlash, memes and headlines. This is an honest look at autonomy, humour and accountability when a brand finds itself in the spotlight.
Dom Dwight spent nearly two decades shaping Yorkshire Tea’s brand voice and advertising, starting as a creative copywriter and later leading its early move into social media. He played a central role in the brand’s long-running, award-winning work with Lucky Generals and is now working independently, helping ambitious brands build culture-led marketing that resonates with real people.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsChris Norton· Host0:00
Would you love to be one of the UK's number one challenger brands? Well, this week, we speak to somebody who was behind one of the biggest challenger brands for 20 years.
Dom Dwight· Guest0:10
So I was working in magazine journalism, like local, and then I got a job at Bettys and Taylors.
Chris Norton· Host0:15
We've got Dom Dwight from Taylors of Harrogate, AKA Yorkshire Tea.
Dom Dwight· Guest0:20
That's how I kind of got Yorkshire Tea started on social. That's back in 2008.
Chris Norton· Host0:24
One of the brands that was fairly well known to becoming one of the biggest tea brands in the world.
Will Ockenden· Co-host0:29
I mean, we're talking about the ads now. I mean, Sarah Lancashire, Sean Bean, Patrick Stewart, the Kaiser Chiefs.
Chris Norton· Host0:34
And this week, we asked Dom all the questions about how a challenger brand grows, some of the problems that he went to overcome them, and how to get round those little difficult social media moments.
Dom Dwight· Guest0:46
Rishi Sunak posted a picture of himself with a big bag of Yorkshire Tea.
Chris Norton· Host0:50
And he shares a brilliant, brilliant time that the Prime Minister popped in for a cup of tea, and it all went a little bit Pete Tong on social media.
Dom Dwight· Guest0:58
Then Prime Minister David Cameron came to our factory.
Chris Norton· Host1:02
So, as always, sit back, relax, and let's listen to how you can enjoy a cup of tea properly without slurping. Enjoy. [upbeat music] Dom Dwight, welcome to the show.
Dom Dwight· Guest1:21
Thank you for having me.
Chris Norton· Host1:22
So you've got a fascinating career. You've worked in journalism, and then you've worked at a particular tea brand for more than 18 years. And so