Australia is known as the “lucky country” but do advertisers need to be Australian to be “lucky” in the market – or at least appear to be? “Australia is fiercely Australian,” declares Ben Walsh, M&C Saatchi’s executive creative director. “Whether we’re remembering the Diggers, the Don, or counting our medals at the Olympics, it seems nothing is more important than being Australian.”
When Walsh first arrived in Australia in 1986 from Britain he says he couldn’t believe the level of patriotism in Australian advertising campaigns. “I’m not sure when patriotism becomes nationalism but it was quite unlike anything I saw in the UK,” he says. “There was ‘Aussie this’ and ‘Aussie that’. Green and gold was everywhere, logos with kangaroos abounded.”
In the past few months Australians have been inundated with even more “patriotic” advertising than usual because of the Beijing Olympics. Official sponsors BankWest, McDonald’s, Telstra and Qantas all had Australian-themed advertisements.
Walsh says changes in the ownership of Australian companies has made the “Australian patriotism” in advertising more “subtle” compared to when he first arrived. “BHP wasn’t based in London, Speedo and Arnott’s were still Australian and Qantas was state owned back then,” he says.
But companies and brands that are no longer Australian owned still use their heritage as a bragging element in their ads, along with those truly Australian brands that see it as a natural line to be used.
Dick Smith Foods always use the word “Australian” in its advertising, while Golden Circle occasionally uses it as a way of reinforcing freshness. Milk processor Dairy Farmers regularly highlights its Australian ownership in advertising campaigns for its milk, yoghurt and cheese products, with the common tag line: “Dairy Farmers – Australia’s milk.”
Then there is Bundaberg Rum, which uses the slogan “Our rum, since 1888”, despite being owned by British drink business Diageo. The use of “our” in the slogan was created by Leo Burnett and designed to reinforce its Australian heritage.
“Telstra may be run by an American cartel but they still encourage us to sing ‘I am, you are, we are Australian’,” says Walsh.
He adds: “Toyota have done an amazing job of becoming Australian. Ford and Holden never were, but have always managed to appear to be dinky-di Australian companies.”
He calls it is a defense mechanism by companies believing it will help with sales.
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“We are a very proud country, but it’s in a less obvious way,” he says. “If you look at Dick Smith, he was an Aussie man who used the ‘average’ tag to his advantage. We are patriotic in a non-obvious way, unlike America which is very patriotic outwardly.”
Brown sees the Australian take on patriotism as similar to the British approach.
“Australians don’t feel confident talking about how great they are – we are not very good at selling ourselves.”
He says the Kekovich lamb ads are a good example of Australians being patriotic while, “taking the piss at the same time”. This is because of the importance of the Australian ideal of a fair go, which Brown feels is often built into Australian advertising. “We love the Aussie battler,” he adds.
Telstra is one of the main Australian brands to incorporate “Australian pride” into its advertising and not just during the Olympics. The telco’s latest addition to its “Rabbits” campaign for BigPond is another short story featuring Patrick and his son Daniel at a meeting with Daniel’s teacher. The father and son were first introduced to TV viewers in 2005 and in the recent instalment talk about what Australia Day means to Australians. The teacher tells Patrick his son’s answer to this question is: “Everyone gets a day off to watch cricket.” After a stern look from the teacher the viewers later hear Patrick advising his son: “Next time maybe you should mention the tennis as well.”
Telstra’s spokesman Peter Taylor says its approach to advertising is based on research which highlights that one of the key elements that defines and differentiates Telstra is a sense of being Australian.
“We touch the lives of just about every Australian community, in some way, every day of the year and advertising is just one of the ways we reinforce our unique links,” he says.
But can all this “Australian pride” backfire on advertisers? Not according to Taylor. “This is something we monitor across our broader program of research. We don’t have anything to suggest we’ve got to such a point yet.”
However, Walsh believes there’s a short distance between patriotic and parochial and brands need to be “careful how much they turnit up”.
The Australian brewer has a long history of being proudly Australian and has used this as part of its advertising not only here but overseas as well. “It is that authenticity that has stood the test of time and makes it iconic,” says Sinclair.
He adds that Australian patriotism in advertising is really a reflection of what the advertisers think consumers want in their advertising, a reflection of what it is to be Australian – like VB.
“VB is honest, unpretentious, down-to-earth and laconic. These values fit hand-in-glove with what is to be an Aussie bloke yesterday, today and tomorrow,” Sinclair says.
