It wouldn’t be Australia Day without the MLA lamb commercial to talk about. As usual, The Monkeys have chosen a trending topic to start that conversation. This year, though, it will be hard for the whingers to find anything to complain about, but also hard for fans to find anything to gush about. It’s a bit bland. The topic is screen use. Everyone seems to agree that our screen obsession needs to be curbed. It’s not radical to say so and MLA isn’t the first brand to do so. That’s partly what’s good and bad about the ad. The rest is in its lack of tension.
The 90-second attempt at a “tech thriller”, Lambalytica, sets out to remind tech-obsessed Australia that there’s a great thing called real life connection and, of course, at the climax of the story, Aussies are brought together by the real life lure of lamb.
Vince Lagana, executive creative director at The Monkeys, explained, “The ongoing conversations surrounding social media platforms and privacy have made us even more aware of the influence our devices have on us daily. We wanted to flip that on its head in true lamb fashion. So in this campaign, Lambalytica taps into the very devices that keep us apart to bring Aussies together for the ultimate social feed – a lamb barbie.”
Graeme Yardy, domestic market manager at MLA, added, “As a brand, Australian Lamb is famous for unity. In this digital age, we wanted to use the power of lamb to disrupt social media, peel people away from their screens and get them together over a tasty lamb meal.”
The spot, which was directed by Plaza Films’ Paul Middleditch, made its on air debut on Monday, January 27, on FTA and Foxtel and the campaign will run on digital, social media and radio. One green bean will manage earned media and owned social. UM will coordinate radio media partner, SCA, who will support the campaign across multiple channels, encouraging Aussies to get together and cook some tasty Lamb. The partnership with SCA and Hit Network’s Carrie and Tommy will include an epic event which reunites people over Aussie Lamb.
Credits
Creative Agency: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive
Group Chief Creative Officer & Co-Founder: Scott Nowell
Executive Creative Director: Vince Lagana
Creative Director: Scott Dettrick
Creative Team: Danny Pattison & Barnaby Packham
Head of Planning: Michael Hogg
Group Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder: Mark Green
Managing Director: Matt Michael
Group Content Director: Ciaran Miller-Stubbs
Content Director: Victoria Zourkas
Content Manager: Will Davies
National Head of Production & Senior Producer: Romanca Mundrea
Producer: Cathryn Cooper
Production Company: Plaza Films
Director: Paul Middleditch
Producer & Executive Producer: Peter Masterton
Cinematographer: Daniel Ardilley
Editor: Stu Morley @ The Editors
Colourist: Ben Eagleton
Post Production & VFX: Fin Design
Sound Post Production: Song Zu
Sound Designer: Simon Kane
Music: Ramesh Sathiah
Executive Producer: Katrina Aquilia
Music: Level Two Music
Song: Run to Paradise – Choir Boys
Post & VFX: Fin Design & Effects
Head of Visual Effects & Executive Producer: Alastair Stephen
VFX Supervisors: Mikey Brown & Mikey Smith
Producer: Isabelle Howarth
Media Agency: UM
PR Agency: one green bean
Client: MLA
Chief Marketing Officer: Lisa Sharp
Domestic Market Manager: Graeme Yardy
Brand Manager: Anna Sharp
