How Australian Lamb built an iconic advertising franchise
Sam Walters, general manager, consulting at Cubery, argues that Australian Lamb produces the only advertising series that successfully engages the national psyche, year after year.
This year's lamb ad leans on Australian nostalgia to deliver its message
Before Christmas, I was in a room with senior leaders from a broad mix of Australian agencies. The conversation drifted to a deceptively simple question: Why doesn’t any brand truly own Christmas advertising in Australia?
There was some debate. Plenty of strong campaigns. Plenty of seasonal spend. But eventually we landed on a different conclusion.
Australia may not have a brand that owns Christmas, but it does have a brand that owns a national advertising moment. And it’s not debatable. It’s Australian Lamb.
Each January, Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) lamb campaign lands not just as another ad, but as an event. It’s discussed in agencies, dissected by marketing teams, and watched closely offshore as one of the few pieces of Australian advertising with genuine global anticipation.
I’ve often wondered why the animal liberationists, the PETA people don’t do an anti-meat ad to coincide with the MLA’s work. Would certainly put a sword amongst the cutlets.
@Mary
There is such a campaign running right now, though it doesn’t have the media spend power of the MLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKhl-FUpp8E
From a professional POV I don’t think this years ad quite hits the mark as well as many of its predecessors but….. from a purely personal POV – the moment that chop is jammed into the chaps nose the thought of eating anything – let alone delicious Aussie lamb – just evaporates.