I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (Down Under Edition)
The 2024 edition of the Australian Lamb ad is one of the cleverest solutions to an age-old problem that I’ve seen in a long time.
The ad was created by The Monkeys, an Australian ad agency that’s part of Accenture Song, and co-directed by Aimée-Lee Xu Hsien and Trent O’Donnell — a Millennial and Gen X-er, respectively. Which is significant if you’ve watched the ad, so if you’re reading this and you haven’t seen it, please do so now.
The Australian lamb ads have been running since 2005, when Meat and Livestock Australia convened to address an issue of perception: how do you make lamb relevant, even cool, thereby increasing consumption? The answer: annual marketing campaigns with an ad each year ahead of one of the country’s biggest lamb consumption days, January 26, Australia Day. In doing so, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) started a new tradition, with the release of each new ad eagerly anticipated.
For instance: the 2023 ad plays on a reviled Australian trend, calling someone or something “un-Australian,” that had spun out of control. In tackling the trend, the ad revisits the idea of national identity, imagining a world in which those deemed to be un-Australian (for doing harmless things like eating a meat pie with a knife and fork) are vanish-banished to the outback. Of course, nearly everything in Australia being un-Australian, half the country is soon living in exile, drawn together by the promise of a lamb barbecue.
In the 2024 ad, “The Generation Gap,” lamb is the great uniter. It begins with different generations (i.e. Z, X, Millennials, Boomers) living on separate land masses, hurling insults at one another (“Just remember, we’re the ones that invented your precious World Wide Web!”). Suddenly, a grill with cooking lamb awakens memories in each generation. The land masses draw nearer, and the generations realize they have more in common than they thought (“I’m addicted to my phone, as well,” one boomer yells across the chasm).
Why this approach? As it turns out, data. MLA looked at an issue (the perception of lamb), and with the Monkeys, found YouGov research that indicated that 93% of Australians felt that spending time with other generations had a positive impact, while 47% said that an outdoor barbecue was their favorite meal to share with friends. That led to “Generation Gap,” a literalized Venn diagram that’s gone viral and racked up hundreds of thousands of views. The campaign may wind up convincing more than Aussies that it’s time to eat more lamb.
The ads demonstrate a key aspect of any marketing campaign: the importance of recognizing a need, question, or problem, and building your campaign around that. Only when the problem is clear can you begin the process of arriving at a solution. For MLA, this clarity led to a series of innovative, humorous ads that draw on issues and qualities all Aussies can relate to — a true common denominator.
For anyone wondering: yes, that’s a key to storytelling as well. The recognition factor. The moment you clock even a small a part of yourself in a campaign, it has succeeded. You realize, hey, that person looks, talks, feels familiar — and they’re eating lamb. Maybe I’m someone who needs to eat lamb, as well. Now translate that to your own campaigns. How are YOU achieving that spark of recognition? How are you convincing your customers that your product is something they need in their lives?
