Time for tea to establish a new brand positioning.(Statistical Data Included)

Tea must appeal to youth to bring life to a declining market.

Tea, the genteel English brew, might not spring to mind as a ruthlessly competitive market sector. However, two big agency rethinks in as many weeks suggest that competition among the UK's major brands is reaching boiling point.

Last week came the news that Tetley is reviewing its advertising out of D'Arcy, its incumbent for more than 20 years, prompting talk that its famous cartoon tea folk are to be thrown out with the dregs.

This followed the news that Mother had resigned its Typhoo account, citing creative differences. Fallon will take over from Mother's controversial "Two thumbs fresh" message.

While Tetley is tight-lipped about its creative strategy, its decision to review points to big changes. One catalyst may be its recent take-over by Indian giant Tata, although a major reason for the acquisition was the perceived strength of Tetley's marketing power. The deal made Tata the second-largest tea manufacturer in the world.

When D'Arcy won the account in 1979, as D'Arcy-MacManus Masius, it set about helping Tetley change the face of the tea market. The agency introduced campaigns for the revolutionary tea bag, fronted by comic characters Gaffer, Sidney and Maurice, to name a few of the tea folk.

Over the years, the characters moved from their original casting as factory control workers to take on real-life situations. With the developing endline "That's better, that's Tetley", they concentrated on building loyalty through consumers' interest in the exploits of the white-coated tea-lovers.