New Qantas ad campaign praised by media and marketing experts

The new Qantas advertising campaign featuring a young Aboriginal boy singing “I Still Call Australia Home” won praise from the panel at Mumbrella Question Time.    The ad – by Singleton Ogilvy Mather – opens with the boy singing in an indigenous language before switching to the English version of the Peter Allen tune.  

Dejan Rasic, ECD of Colman Rasic Carrasco, said while the campaign  might not break new ground, it deserved praise for its focus on indigenous Australia. He said: “It seems the same as the previous stuff they’ve done, but this time it includes Aboriginal Australia which is a good thing so good on ’em.”

And Mark Buckman, chief marketing officer of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said it was commendable that Qantas had “a long-standing strategy that they’re sticking to and executing”. One Green Bean MD Kat Thomas added: “Qantas has been quite strategic in the way they’ve leveraged the PR. I’ve seen it on Sunrise, I’ve seen it on Channel Ten News, I’ve read about it in the papers, and we’re discussing it here. It’s got PR-ability and I’d like to see more of that.”

However, OMD CEO Mark Coad questioned whether the campaign – which has come in for some criticism – would appeal across the board. He said: “I really enjoy travelling Qantas because, when you step on the plane, you already half feel you’re at home, but I’m not sure how it’s translated into an ad. It’s beautifully shot, but it doesn’t seem to have that international framing.”

August 27th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

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Comments


  1. Rochelle
    27 Aug 09
    5:54 pm

    2. This ad gave me a lump in the throat – loved it. I don’t consider myself to be especially patriotic but I reckon a Qantas ad will do it everytime. Sure, it’s not a huge departure from what they’ve done in the past but it seems they’re sticking with their tried-and-tested marketing strategy. And when you’re one of the few full-service airlines still managing to turn a profit at the moment, why wouldn’t you?

    Also agree with the comment that stepping on a Qantas plane makes you feel like you’re at home already. A sure sign they’re doing something right.

  2. Michael
    27 Aug 09
    7:24 pm

    3. I think the new advert is a strong of genius building on the previous campaign. It says that Qantas is a stable product in difficult times. It also tells the world we are an evolving society and we have recognised finally the local people.

    Can I please have the name of the indigenous language the lead boy sings in? – I feel inadequate when I tell people to watch and I don’t know the name of the language! I should know. The little boys name would also be great – he is somebody to watch.

  3. Red rat
    27 Aug 09
    9:16 pm

    4. Well, I don’t think too many marketers are going to be criticising Qantas advertising in a public forum. So, I wouldn’t take a few polite comments on a forum as a ringing endorsement.

  4. Sol Baptiste
    27 Aug 09
    10:41 pm

    5. I think that the ad is veray good and it shows the black persons in Austrlailia in a good way. I think that the black people saying that austrlia is there home is a little bit funny seeing that it was their home for a long time but now its not. i think a better ad would have been for peoples who are not australian calling AuS tralia home. Like the moaning poms, the aggro greeks, the drunk irish, the cool kiwis and the moody south africanites. i think th elast people you expect to call australias home would has been alot better than someone you expect would

  5. mark m
    28 Aug 09
    6:10 am

    6. Of course the media celebrate,free travel,the would spruk anything paid for

  6. Duncan
    28 Aug 09
    7:19 am

    7. Michael, the 13-year-old chorister Tyus Arndt is singing in a dialect of Kala Lagaw Ya, one of the languages of the Torres Strait Islands.

  7. Chris
    28 Aug 09
    8:47 am

    8. Are the last couple of comments in an indigenous language as well?

  8. Shirley
    28 Aug 09
    1:50 pm

    9. I was disappointed he didn’t look … more aboriginal, if you get my drift. He seemed very anglicaised. Someone like the little boy in “Australia” would have been brilliant, and a truer representation of aboriginal people.

    I know we get back to the ‘are red-heads really Australian’ sort of argument with this line of thinking, but my first impression was that that one aspect was a little disappointing.

    Having said that, I was very moved and delighted that a young aboriginal was singing in a native tongue, so good on Qantas for that.

  9. tweebs
    28 Aug 09
    2:36 pm

    10. Not sure what ad everyone else has been watching, but the one I’ve seen is total dog.

    Rather than the genuine, insightful work that could’ve emerged from the ‘I still call Australia home’ thought, they ended up with overblown corporate drivel that in no way connects with anything real about Australians. The cynical addition of an Aboriginal kid is an insult.

  10. Malbino
    28 Aug 09
    2:47 pm

    11. It’s same same to me, beautifully shot ,they own that song and that says Qantas.
    Does it make me want to fly them no.

    But yesterday a friend was catching a plane from Syd/melb and she forgot her mobile phone…
    The three different Qantas people I spoke to were all 100% helpful and helped get the phone to her even though the doors had been shut.

    I was so impressed I’ll be flying with them.

    Its not about a pretty song and PC kids. Its about delivering on your values to customers.[to me anyway]

  11. John Grono
    28 Aug 09
    4:22 pm

    12. Include an aboriginal child and he’s not aboriginal enough. Don’t include an aboriginal and you’re ignorng our indigenous history. Who was it who said “you can’t please all the people all the time”? Personally, I liked it.

  12. John Grono
    28 Aug 09
    4:29 pm

    13. oops … that should be “don’t include an aboriginal child”.

  13. Anon
    28 Aug 09
    4:57 pm

    14. One word to sum this ad up in…… Yawn

    Hmm is that even a word?

  14. John Grono
    28 Aug 09
    5:11 pm

    15. Anon … yawn IS a word … hmm technically isn’t, but common parlance is making it one. Glad to be of assistance.

  15. Lauren
    28 Aug 09
    6:13 pm

    16. I watched the special on the making of the commercial last Saturday night (on 7 I think) and they said the boy came from Thursday Island.

  16. Lee
    30 Aug 09
    7:14 pm

    17. Typically beautifully shot as you would expect from Qantas…but if they were looking to capture indigenous Australia…not quite there.
    However the scenery is breathtaking (But thats Australia)..kids look good…but kind of same same for me personally.

  17. Giles Martin
    30 Aug 09
    8:45 pm

    18. I suppose you could say that The Beatles Double White and Abbey Road were “same same”, or that Pet Sounds and Smile are “same same”.

  18. val
    11 Sep 09
    1:59 pm

    19. Where can I get the aboriginal lyrics to I still call Australia Home

  19. kootsy
    11 Sep 09
    2:44 pm

    20. To Shirley and the other uneducated people who commented. As Duncan on the 28 August wrote the young boy is a Torres Strait Islander and not Aboriginal – there are two Indigenous cultures in this country and both as important as the other.

    Also what are Aboriginal and Torres Strait people supposed to look like?
    Should I be as uneducated and simple minded to believe that all non Indigenous people are supposed to look like Prince Charles and the Queen?

    Take a step back and think about what you are about to write, do and say when it comes to the Indigenous people – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – of this country. We do not need any more stereotypical ideologies from people; 220 plus years of it is plenty!

    By the way the commercial does make me feel a little bit more proud of being a Torres Strait Islander.