You know it makes sense: Kekovich pushes true blue lamb
Meat and Livestock Australia has enlisted the comedic talents of the very politically incorrect Sam Kekovich as part of its traditional marketing push around Australia Day.
In the TV ad launching this weekend, Kekovich urges people to avoid being un-Australian and serve lamb on the national day.
Kekovich—an ex-VFL football player and a regular on ABC TV’s program The Fat—delivers one of his trademark monotone speeches explaining how he is sickened by the creeping tide of un-Australianism “eroding our great traditions, like serving Lamb on Australia Day”. The ad has already drawn criticisms from vegetarians who get a serve from Kekovich in the ad.
Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) has a five year history of targeting the occasion of Australia Day to position Lamb as our national meat.
MLA marketing general manager David Thomason said the latest ad in the ongoing “We Love Our Lamb” marketing campaign aimed to reinforce lamb as a much-loved Australian meal.
Thomason said the annual Australia Day push had played a key role in the MLA’s strategy to increase lamb as a barbecue meat since the successful “We love our lamb” campaign launched in 1999.
“Five years ago when we embarked on ‘We love our lamb’ lamb was rarely used on the barbecue but now it is commonplace,” Thomason said.
Thomason said lamb had grown to be a category valued at $1.7bn compared to 1999 when it was at $1.1bn. Last year it increased in value by $114m.
The new commercial goes to air nationally on Sunday with three versions, a full 90 second monologue, a 60” cut down and 2 x 30” top and tail ads where Kekovich is seemingly interrupted by another ad airing in the middle of his argument.
The media schedule includes this summer’s one day cricket match series, with the full length version also to be shown at the cricket grounds.
The Australia Day campaign will also include posters and wobblers being displayed in butchers and supermarkets around the country feature Sam Kekovich, along with special posters for butchers warning Australians not to get caught eating anything but lamb on Australia Day. The executions show people caught paparazzi-style, being ‘un-Australian’, photographed buying pizza or chicken value meals on Australia Day.
Credits: Agency BMF, executive creative director Warren Brown, art director Dale McGuinness, copywriter Dennis Koutoulogenis, producer Tamyson Power, director Phil Rich, production company Two Feet Films.
