Ah, poor Charles. He waited almost the whole of his life to be king. Then shortly after he did, and just before he does his fist kingly tour of Aus, we Aussies have reignited our wondering about why he is our king.
But then, the Bureau of Everything (BoE), has does such as wonderful job of fuelling that wondering. Sorry, Charles.
The campaign, for the Australian Republican Movement, encourages Australians to wave goodbye to royal reign. The PR led campaign parodies farewell tour spectaculars that Aussies love – complete with tour merch, bill posters, promos and kitsch commemorative tea towels.
Given that we Aussies tend to engage more with cultural movements than political ones, the campaign is structured to stir conversation with a bit of cheek while still giving us a platform to educate and reflect on the irrelevance of having a British monarch as our Head of State.
Co-chair of the Australian Republican Movement, Esther Anatolitis, stated, “While shows like Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour are always welcomed by Australian ticket-buyers, today’s Australian democracy is not a show: we elect our representatives on merit. It’s time to Wave Goodbye to Royal Reign on what we’re calling Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour.
“Australians all over the continent tell us they’re keen to see a warm, positive conversation about the future of the monarchy in Australia, seeing this visit as the last tour of a king and queen of Australia. It’s time for Australia to say ‘thanks, but we’ve got it from here’.”
“The jet setting, the security, the flash hotels, paparazzi, limos and photo ops have more parallels with ageing rock stars than a working Australian Head of State,” added Cam Blackley, creative founder of Bureau of Everything.
“We felt that leaning hard into the idea of a nostalgic farewell tour is a suitably kitsch way to lower the curtain on the outdated concept of the Monarchy as our highest national representative.”
Em Taylor, strategy founder of BoE, commented, “An Australian Head of State is a no-brainer, which is why most of the country supports a change. That doesn’t mean we want to engage in a political debate about it though, so we threw a bunch of brilliant creative minds at finding a less expected way to grab attention and reopen the conversation.”
Australian Republican Movement co-chair Nathan Hansford, noted, “Our research shows 92% of Australians are either supporters of a republic or are open to it. Only 8% of the country are rusted-on supporters of the monarchy. When it comes to Royal Visits, 78% of Australians believe that the Royal Family – not Australian taxpayers – should foot the bill for travel to Australia. While Aussies are struggling with cost of living, this week we will host our billionaire British monarch and we will be slugged with the bill for their once-in-a-decade holiday Down Under.”
As well as giving the king the royal wave off, Aussies are also invited to sign the farewell card and leave a message at republic.org.au to show their support for a new Australian era.
The PR and social campaign has been doing the rounds of all major Australian media outlets and hit the headlines in the Times, Mirror, The Independent, Guardian and BBC in the UK in the last 24 hours.
Get your unofficial tour merch here.
Leave a few words on the farewell card here.
Credits:
Client: Australian Republican Movement
Creative Agency: Bureau of Everything
Design Director: Michael Kleinman
Music Director: Jason Leigh
Executive Producer: Cathy Rechichi
Edit & Vision: Gary Jacques @FallingUpwards
Sound: Mosaic Music & Sound
Composer: Adam Moses
Snr Audio Engineer: Bill Doig
Campaign Partner: The Pool Collective
