Unless you’re one of the 1% of Aussies who complain year after year about this or that in MLA’s annual Australia Day commercial (Mark McGowan, this is probably your year), you love The Monkeys’ provocative lamb humour. And this year’s edition will reward your love all the more after two years of not much to smile at. It pokes fun at Australia’s locked door policy during Covid, imagining that we’d forgotten that a world exists outside “fortress Australia” and worse, the world had forgotten that we exist.
The Monkeys have even brought Lambassador, Sam Kekovich, back into the foreground for this year’s story – as the architect for a full-scale national lamb rollout, a scheme that enlists Aussies around the country to spark up BBQs, sending out a huge cutlet shaped smoke signal to the rest of the world.
Elon Musk, conspiracy theorists, Victorians and the French get a gentle ribbing in the TVC that celebrates the return of international travel with characteristic Monkeys lamb humour.
Graeme Yardy, Domestic Market Manager at MLA, stated, “Each year the Share the Lamb brand gives us a great opportunity to show how the unmistakeable flavour and aroma of Lamb brings Aussies together, even through the toughest of times. In 2020, we were all about breaking down state borders, but this year we’re ready to finally open back up to the rest of the world, and what better way to issue the invite than with tasty Australian Lamb.”
The Monkeys creative director, Scott Dettrick, added, “It’s been another truly bizarre year in Australia where it feels like everything and nothing has happened simultaneously. We’ve been exploring our own backyard and generally being introspective but as 2022 begins we are finally turning our attention towards reconnecting with the rest of the world. We’ve worked long and hard to put Australia on the map and we don’t want to become ‘the lost country of the pacific’. What better way to reunite with the rest of the world than luring everyone over to ours for a Lamb barbie.”
Credits:
Client: Meat & Livestock Australia
General Manager – Marketing and Insights: Nathan Low
Domestic Market Manager: Graeme Yardy Campaign Consultant: David Rebetzke
Brand Manager: Anna Sharp
Assistant Brand Manager: Krystina Batt
Creative Agency: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive
Group CEO & Co-Founder: Mark Green
Managing Director: Matt Michael
Group Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder: Scott Nowell
Chief Creative Officer: Tara Ford
Creative Director: Scott Dettrick
Creatives: Emmalie Narathipakorn & Seamus McAlary
Head of Production: Penny Brown
Senior Producer: Katie Bassett
OOH Producer: Alex Watson
Senior Business Director: Fizzy Keeble
Senior Business Manager: Mitchell Bevan
Design Lead: James Halliday
Production Company: Rabbit Content
Director: Al Morrow
Executive Producer: Lucas Jenner
Associate Executive Producer: Marcus Butler
DOP: James L Brown
Production Design: Elisa Baker
Casting: Peta Einberg
Edit House: The Editors
Editors: Mark Burnett & Grace O’Connell
VFX: White Chocolate
Colourist: Matt Fezz
Music & Sound by Song Zu
Composer: Haydn Walker
Sound Designer: Simon Kane
Producer: Katrina Aquilia
Media Agency: UM
PR Agency: One Green Bean
