WA creatives encourage young Aussies to ‘Groom-A-Boomer’ in last-ditch ‘Yes’ effort
Less than a week until the Voice to Parliament referendum, a number of Western Australian creatives have shown their support for the ‘Yes’ campaign with a self-funded initiative, ‘Groom-A-Boomer’.
The brain child of Berlin Creative’s Richard Berney and John Linton, Nani Creative’s Kevin Wilson and Leigh Wood, and Davood Tabeshfar, the campaign cheekily aims to encourage young Australians to speak with those in their families who belong to the ‘boomer’ generation.
Research shows that around three in four ‘boomers’ (those born between 1946 and 1964) will vote ‘No’ in the upcoming referendum, while their children and grandchildren are far more likely to vote ‘Yes’.
The spot was directed by Tony Rogers, and hopes to take some of the tension out of the debate, and show people it is okay to talk to family members on either side of the vote.
Rogers said: “Only 25% of Aussies aged over 55 are expected to vote ‘Yes’ for the Voice.
“If we can change the minds of the baby boomers, we can make a big difference to the outcome,” he continued. “Those boomers might not listen to big campaigns, but perhaps they will listen to their children.”
John Linton, managing partner, strategy, at Berlin, said the campaign approach was born from his own experiences with his Dad.
“Dad and I have some fundamental disagreements about the referendum, but we started to find some common ground when I talked in terms of how much a ‘Yes’ meant to me and the future I wanted his grandchildren to grow up in.
“He acknowledged (with his typical dark humour) that he’d be ‘dead soon anyway’ and he hoped that I got the result and the world I was looking for,” he said.
Berlin’s Richard Berney, executive creative director, added that the agency wanted to contribute to the campaign in a way that broke down stigmas.
“Whether you’re a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’, we just want to encourage people to talk more,” he said.
“This topic’s gotten too hot to touch, and it is such an interesting and important moment for us! So we thought we better have a laugh, release some tension, and then people might be able to relax and have a proper yarn.”
The campaign is on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter).
Credits:
Creative
Creative director: Richard Berney (Berlin)
Creatives: Davood Tabeshfar, Kevin Wilson and Leigh Wood (Nani Creative)
Strategy director: John Linton (Berlin)
PR: Shaun Devitt
Social strategy: Alex Paioff (MITP)
Production
Director – Tony Rogers
Cinematographer – Jesse Gohier-Fleet
Camera assistant – Jules
Sound recordist – Ahmad Sayed
Art department – Rob Draper
Production – Rory Fleming
Editor and post production – Richard Berney (Berlin)
Special thanks to Tim Parrington
Actors
Beau Stegman, Wendy Little, Tim Mager, Alicia Jeffries, John Edwards, Faye Callaghan and Udara David
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
baby boomers
Berlin
groom-a-boomer
John Linton
Richard Berney
the Voice to Parliament
Tony Rodgers
Yes campaign
As a born and bred 70+ year old Aussie Boomer and former TV Media man, I can 110% guarantee this campaign will FAIL!
The Voice ‘Yes’ campaign is gone for all money!
Read my lips: “The results on Saturday night will be……”
NO = 65%
YES = 30%
INF = 5%
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