New MLA campaign has ‘Un-Australian’ Aussies unite over lamb BBQ
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has today premiered its high-anticipated annual summer lamb campaign. In it, it pokes fun at the overuse of the term ‘Un-Australian’ in an effort to bring Australians together to share lamb.
Created by The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, the latest campaign is spearheaded by a three-minute long-form film featuring a heavy dose of satire and an obligatory appearance from ‘Lambassador’, Sam Kekovich.
Directed by Yianni Warnock from MOFA, the film imagines an alternative reality in which people who are called out as Un-Australian are banished to an infinite cultural exile known as Un-Australia.
The lifeless desert of Un-Australia becomes host to Aussies who have committed offences such as switching off the test cricket, eating a meat pie with a knife and fork, or not knowing the second verse to Khe Sanh.
Kekovich makes a cameo as an apparition standing alongside a sizzling lamb BBQ, signaling that things have gone to far.
Graeme Yardy, domestic market manager at MLA said, “The use of “Un-Australian” has got out of control, everything from putting onions on your sausage sizzle to having a wedding on Grand Final day is on the chopping block. Chances are you’ll be viewed as “Un-Australian” by someone! What makes Australia great is that we celebrate our differences. Lamb is famous for bringing Aussies together, so what better way to cut through this division and help us come together over these collective differences than with a good lamb BBQ.”
Scott Dettrick, creative director at The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song added, “We’re in an uncertain time where people are struggling to define what it means to be Australian but, ironically, some find it very easy to define what is Un-Australian. Our campaign explores how we can rethink what it really means to be a modern Australian and, with the help of a Lamb BBQ, come back together as a nation.”
The full-length ad premiered today, during the tea break on Day Two of the Australia vs South Africa Test Cricket, via a partnership with the Seven Network. The campaign will also see the spot rollout across free-to-air and subscription TV nationally.
Media agency UM will push the campaign out across digital, social media and retail OOH channels, while One Green Bean will drive reach across earned media and owned social. The campaign will also be supported through key retail and foodservice partners.
While less political than previous MLA ads, the new work continues the body’s trend of making light of Australia political and social divisions. In 2019, the Australian lamb campaign argued for uniting Australia and New Zealand off the back of the liberal leadership spill, while 2018’s film poked fun at Australia’s left and right political divisions in a musical number. The following two campaigns revolved around the impacts of Covid-19, with border closures the punchline of the 2021 spot and 2022 spot imagining Australians discovering the world outside fortress Australia once restrictions lifted.
Credits
Client – Meat & Livestock Australia
General Manager – Marketing and Insights: Nathan Low
Domestic Market Manager: Graeme Yardy
Brand Manager: Derek Lau
Creative Agency – The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song
Group CEO and Co-Founder: Mark Green
Managing Director: Matt Michael
Group Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder: Scott Nowell
Chief Creative Officer: Tara Ford
Creative Director: Scott Dettrick
Head of Innovation: Beth O’Brien
Creative team: Emmalie Narathipakorn and Seamus McAlary
Head of Production: Penny Brown
Production Coordinator: Emily Coleman
Business Strategy Director: Kit Lansdell
Head of Business Management: Topher Jones
Group Business Director: Andy Holmes
Senior Business Manager: Mitchell Bevan
Production Company: MOFA
Director: Yianni Warnock
Executive Producer: Claire Thompson
DOP: Lachlan Milne
Production Design: Sam Lukins
Casting: Citizen Jane
Edit House: Arc Edit
Editor: Phoebe Taylor
Post Executive Producer: Daniel Fry
VFX: Arc – Patrick Campbell, Ian Lewis, Richard Lambert, Chris Betteridge
Colourist: Trish Cahill
Music & Sound: MassiveMusic
Composer: Haydn Walker
Sound Designer: Simon Kane
Producer: Katrina Aquilia
Media Agency – UM
Matt Furlong – Head of Strategy, Sydney
Peter Stewart – Group Director
Laura Ellis – Senior Client Director
Amy Cummings – Senior Creative Connections Director
Callum Wells – Planning Director
Tom Carlon – Trading Director
Michelle Andrews – Senior Planning Manager
Cayley McArthur – Strategist
PR Agency – One Green Bean
Executive Director – Lauren Bailey
Head of Content – Laura Byrne
Business Director – Kirsty McGorty
Account Director – Molly Dodwell
Senior Project Manager – Amy McCann
Senior Account Manager – Natasha Esson
Project Manager – Ruby McCann
Project Executive – Indiah Clarke
Got a tip?
topics
Accenture Song
lamb
Meat and Livestock Australia
MLA
One Green Bean
Sam Kekovic
The Monkeys
UM
Why would MLA have any interest in promoting vegetarian or pescatarian options? This isn’t an Australia Day ad. It’s a lamb ad.
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Time for a complete rethink. No question the MLA ad had been a big moment for the indrustry around Australia Day exact year but the biggest failing, especially in the last 5-6 years is that no regular punter has ever thought about ‘lamb bringing people together’. What’s un-Australian is not accepting the huge amount of meat eaters that are happy to cut down their meat consumption and those that are vegetarian and pescatarian. Yawn.
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Bingo!
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