Yorkshire gears up for Tour launch

Yorkshire Building Society is bigging up its sponsorship of the Tour de France Grand Départ – taking place in what locals call “God’s Own County” for the first time – with a summer-long marketing campaign devised by start-up agency Soul.
The iconic cycling event will open in Yorkshire on July 5 and 6, before heading to Cambridge and London on July 7, and Yorkshire Building Society is the only UK mutual supporting the first three stages of the race.
The creative is designed to showcase the Yorkshire countryside which the riders will travel through, with one execution (top left) carrying the strapline “The most beautiful racetrack in the world”, followed by a double-page reveal of local scenery (below right). Other executions use “Franglais” phrases, including “Roast Boeuf and Yorkshire Pudding” and “Bed and Le Petit Dejeuner”, to promote the sponsorship.
Soul – launched by Mike Cullis, Ben Rachel and Shaun Moran in November 2012 – first started working with the building society in February this year, devising a campaign to promote the company’s 5% deposit mortgage product range.
Yorkshire Building Society customer acquisition manager Anna Higgins said: “Soul have become our go to agency for creative activity so appointing it for this campaign was an obvious choice.
“They’ve developed a concept, which encapsulates our immense pride and the county’s excitement about this global event, which will bring the world’s eyes to the UK and to Yorkshire in particular.
“We’re excited to see the campaign evolve throughout the summer.”
Soul creative director Moran added: “The campaign communicates not only how proud Yorkshire Building Society are to sponsor the Tour de France Grand Départ but how proud they are of Yorkshire.”
Soul’s other clients include Superdrug, Seat, House of Fraser, SSE and Cosmos Holidays.