Good old Uncle Toby’s oats are facing some stiff competition right now. The heart health message of old no longer resonates with an Australian population intent on saving the world from cows’ farts and slavishly following the next diet fad, whatever that might be.

Ogilvy Sydney has slipped Uncle Toby’s oats back into Australia’s food conversation in a clever way. It isn’t promoting oats as vegan powerfood (although they are). It isn’t talking about oats’ nutritional values (every other cereal is doing that). It isn’t reminding Australia of the good old days when life was simpler (that’s far too obvious). It’s doing none of these things directly. Ogilvy and Uncle Toby’s are staging an Oatervention, encouraging Aussies to “wake up to themselves” “For Goodness Sake” by calling out the fads, fakes and fails of 2020-21.

Uncle Toby’s oats have become the anti-fad trend.

The campaign was developed in response to Nestlé and Cereal Partners Worldwide engaging Ogilvy to bring a new voice to the Aussie brand and attract a new generation of oat lovers.  

Cereal Partners Worldwide Australia head of marketing, Michelle Katz, stated, “Uncle Tobys is one of Australia’s most loved and trusted brands. Our heritage puts us in a unique position to give Aussies a bit of a wake-up call to remind them of what’s really important. ‘For Goodness Sake!’ perfectly captures the wholesomeness Aussies already know and love about Uncle Tobys, with a cheeky new tone and confidence.”

The campaign kicked off on Sunday, April 12, with TV spots that use comedian, Dave Thornton’s, larrikin sense of humour, directed by New Zealand’s Steve Saussey with Eight Productions. It will extend to OOH, a NOVA radio partnership, social, and shorter commercials that span Uncle Tobys’ entire portfolio of products.

Forward Agency is extending the conversation across earned media and earned social, revealing some of Australia’s most distracting and unfulfilling habits. Along with Dave Thornton, other legendary Australians, Hayden Quinn, Em Rusciano and Cam Merchant, will join the wake-up call and share their own Oatervention confessions.

And May, Uncle Tobys will launch an online activation that will allow Australians to discover what unfulfilling habits they need to “wake the fake up” from and see how their behaviours compare to rest of the population.

Ogilvy creative director, Andrew Hankin, commented, “There’s never been a better time to hit the reset button in life (and as a brand) and shift our focus to wholesome goodness. Being able to do this and give something like oats more personality has been an exciting challenge.”

Credits:

Client: Nestlé – Cereal Partners Worldwide
Head of Marketing: Michelle Katz 
Marketing Manager: Cheree Andrews 
Senior Brand Manager: Linda Nguyen

Creative Agency: Ogilvy Sydney
Creative Director: Andrew Hankin 
Copywriter: Lucas Fowler
Art Director: Jack Burton
Chief Strategy Officer: Toby Harrison 
Strategy Director: Heather Sheen 
Strategy Director: Rachel Pool
General Manager: Nathan Quailey 
Group Account Director: Damien Pashby 
Senior Account Director: Matt Richards 
Account Manager: Natalia Fallas 
Executive Producer: Rob Spencer 
Producer: Tom Scarcella 

Production: Ogilvy
Director: Steve Saussey 
Producer: Lib Kelly

Sound: Song Zu

Media: UM

PR: FORWARD Agency
Founder & Managing Director: Fergus Kibble 
Account Director: Siobhan Veddovi-McCaughan 
Senior Account Executive: Lizzie Agar
Account Executive: Analisse Mammone