MLA ditches politics and puts food back in the storyline for ‘Too easy’ Spring campaign
Meat and Livestock Australia has moved away from politics in the latest iteration of its annual Spring campaign, opting instead for a more modest message about the simplicity of preparing lamb.
MLA has also dropped its “You never lamb alone” slogan, replacing it with what it describes as an evolution of the line to “share the lamb”.
The work – intended to put food “central to the campaign storyline” – features one ad suggesting lamb is so simple to cook, it can be done while enjoying a massage, and another combining cooking with relaxing in a hot tub.
The “too easy” campaign is MLA’s first under domestic marketing manager Graeme Yardy, who started in the role at the beginning of the year. Yardy was previously marketing lead for Horticulture Innovation Australia.
It was created by The Monkeys creative agency, which has handled the MLA’s lamb work for the last four years.
Yardy replaced Andrew Howie who led MLA into some of the most talked about – and controversial – marketing campaigns of the decade.
The most recent Spring Lamb campaign featured a series of religious deities enjoying a back yard barbecue together. The portrayal of Lord Ganesha as a meat eater caused offence among Hindus. It was initially cleared by the Ad Standards Board, which later made a virtually unprecedented reversal of its own decision and banned the ad.
The previous year’s Spring Ad – fronted by TV presenter Luke Jacobz and focusing on the diversity of Australians – was almost as controversial, and won a series of awards. It was named TV ad of the year in the Mumbrella Awards and won People’s Choice Awards in the Multicultural Marketing Awards.
The new “Too easy” campaign was directed by Matt Kamen from Goodoil Films.
Yardy said in a press release that he preferred to put meat at the centre of the story.
He said: “We want to remind Australians that it’s easy to bring people together over lamb, no matter the occasion. This campaign celebrates the classic Australian ‘too easy’ culture and builds on lamb’s core positioning of unity and inclusivity.
“Australian Lamb is such a versatile meat, with many cuts, and works with many flavours, we wanted to make sure the food was central to the campaign storyline.”
The TV ads will be backed with radio, outdoor and digital ads planned by UM, with a supporting PR strategy led by One Green Bean.
The campaign is one of two major pushes by the MLA, with its other timed around Australia Day. This campaign has also been controversial in recent years with last year’s focusing on growing debate over the choice of date.
Credits:
- MLA – Chief Marketing and Communications Officer – Lisa Sharp
- MLA – Domestic Marketing Manager – Graeme Yardy
- MLA – Brand Manager – Anna Sharp
- MLA – Acting Brand Manager – Kelly Spence
- Creative Agency – The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive
- Group Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder: Scott Nowell
- Executive Creative Director: Vince Lagana
- Creative Director: Scott Dettrick
- Senior Copywriter: Benn Sutton
- Art Director: Alastair Flack
- Head of Planning: Michael Hogg
- Managing Director: Matt Michael
- Group Content Director: Ciaran Miller-Stubbs
- Senior Content Manager: Victoria Zourkas
- Content Executive: Will Davies
- Head of Production: Thea Carone
- Senior Broadcast Producer: Kaija Wall
- Producer: Katie Bassett
- Production Company- Goodoil Films
- Director: Matt Kamen
- Producer: Helen Morahan
- Executive Producer: Juliet Bishop
- D.O.P: Shelley Farthing-Dawe
- Editor: Dave Whittaker @ ARC Edit
- Post Production – The Editors
- Production Design: Arabella Lockhart
- Sound: Song Zu
- Media Agency – UM
- Senior Client Director : Tim Rogers
- Senior Partnerships Manager: Jenny Lam
- Partnerships Manager: Anna Cox
- Senior Connections Designer: Jonny Day
- Partnerships Trader: Yasmin Sherif
- PR Agency – One Green Bean
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I wish them well, and I can see why they would want to get away from the controversy surrounding the previous ads.
My opinion is that the previous ads were an honest attempt to say something different, something rich and real, with a sense of fun and a hint of seriousness. I liked and preferred them.
These “too easy” ads, are just that, too easy. They lack a sense of reality, and they are also self deceiving, in so much that there are greens and other tracklements that simply appear as part of the meal.
Nobody can do two things at once, or one thing whilst doing nothing. Nearly all meats will cook either without attention, or with very little. It is the prep and the tracklements that take the effort.
P.S. probably why men barbecue and the women do the rest, including the washing up 🙂
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