The week of the 30th anniversary of the Caxton Awards is an appropriate time to reflect on some of the good Australian ads that were written by local talent over the years. It’s also time for the industry to highlight our country’s unique and quirky features when producing creative today.
Recently I tore open an envelope and out slid a DVD onto my desk. On it was a suite of six Australian Tourism TVCs sent to me by Film Graphics.
I loved every one of them: the ideas, the writing, the soundtracks and the beautiful, stylish images created by David Denneen, Australia’s answer to Ridley Scott.
At this point, you might be expecting a big, deflating, qualifying ‘But’from me about this campaign. Well, you’re not going to hear it.
Hallelujah! Here were some genuine Aussie ads that didn’t make you cringe. I feel these TVCs capture so much of the essence of Australia’s quirky culture and language: a language full of cheeky understatement, invention and colour.
If I were to name my favourite ad of this series I would choose Les Murray reading his poem, ‘Shorts’ over some exuberant, wonderful images.
I read a few days ago that some folks in the USA, probably Iowa, didn’t quite understand the ads. I’m sure a creatively acceptable single-digit IQ Iowan version with koalas and the Sydney Opera House can be edited just for them. Hey, I thought Steve Irwin already had Iowa covered. Onya Steve.
If you believe, as I do, in the Law of Universal Synchronicity, these ads appeared in the wake of an issue raised at last year’s Caxton Seminar.
The issue was, ‘Are we losing our Australian voice in our advertising?’This was not so much the specific topic with any one of our speakers, but more of a recurring undercurrent causing many a delegate to shift uncomfortably in their seat.
The discomfort somewhat increased when the comparison between the creative standard of Kiwi ads and Australian ads was drawn. Somehow the Kiwis seem to have the creative edge on us, while maintaining their distinct Kiwi-ness in their ads.
A very plausible Kiwi explanation was given for this. The Kiwis say their lines of communication between client and creative are very short, which begets inspired decision-making. The Kiwis know the dollars are short so they must be creative because it’s a very unforgiving market. Concept testing gets a bit of a look in, but it’s not used wholesale as it can be in Australia, according to many creatives. They complain too many great ideas are beaten over the head by focus groups, eyes blazing and full of blood lust.
Now here’s the rub. Where are the great Australian-flavoured campaigns—on TV or in any media?
I’m not even going to be generous and nominate some of the relatively recent beer campaigns which feature bands of boofheads in bars stumbling through some pathetic scripts.
Compare those with some of the great Australian beer TVCs of some decades ago, such as the Fosters campaign (for the UK) featuring Paul Hogan. The writers knew how to write for a talent and sustain the standard through a series of spots.
Then there was the inspired XXXX beer campaign (also for the UK). Both quite different expressions of the task in the same category and market, and both powerfully branded.
Has the chilling penny dropped for you too? The Australian Tourism, Fosters and XXXX campaigns were written, or largely written, by Poms.
I trawled through my memory bank desperately trying to find some examples that could rescue our national creative honour from the pen of the Pom.
I don’t care how many Olympic medals, cricket tours and football matches we’ve won, where are the great world-beating Aussie ad campaigns written by Aussies?
Yes, from yesteryear there has been ‘Up there Cazaley’ for the VFL and ‘I feel like a Tooheys’, also in a sporting context. But they’re from the 1970s.
Now here’s the double rub. Does it take a writer who is not Australian to see the unique value in what we avoid or overlook? You could easily come to that conclusion when you look at the evidence. Are we blind to our own cultural connections in our pursuit of the ‘international style’?
Around the bar at last year’s Caxton’s it was speculated the reasons for us ignoring our own Australian voice in our ads was they wouldn’t get a look in at Cannes or other overseas festivals. Foreign judges wouldn’t understand our irony or quirky ways.
That sounds like a reasonable answer until you note the numbers of culturally unique ads from South America, Japan, India, Western Europe and the USA, that do get the judges’ nod.
There’s a wonderful apocryphal story about the value of listening. Some years ago it was said, Barry Humphries was spotted working as a builder’s labourer on a city building site. He was a successful entertainer so he wasn’t doing it for the money. He was there to listen to the other workers on the site to gather material for his show. He wanted to capture the currency of themes, words and expressions so he could better connect with his audience. I think we can learn a lot from that.
You may be asking yourself this obvious question. Why have an Australian flavour? Where’s the benefit? My answer would be that perhaps we might connect and engage with our audience better if we took the time to listen and observe ourselves. They used to call it understanding the language of the consumer. It just may be our ads could be more effective if we realised that empathy and understanding of who we are, what we feel and value, and what’s ripe forirreverence is explored.
I’m sure Richie Benaud from his Australian Tourism TVC would agree and say, “Marvellous!”
Ray Black is the creative director of Sydney agency John Bevins, and chairman of the Caxton Committee.
