Sam Kekovich is an Aussie legend. His well-loved annual promotion has smashed sales records, and made Lamb on Australia Day what turkey is to Christmas.

In the campaign’s 8th year, the goal was to drive his fame across previously unused media channels, and maximise sales and participation with the brand - even though there was some negative PR, and record lamb prices. With our modest media ($700,000) and PR budgets ($50,000) we needed to maximise our media partnership across traditional media and create a presence for Lamb online and in social media.So Sam took a swing at popular culture, declaring it so unAustralian that he would create ‘chop-ular culture’ and drive himself to be number 1 with his song, ‘Barbie Girl’, a mouth-watering rewrite of the classic Aqua track.

The PR campaign launched by targeting radio stations, major metropolitan news organisations and online news sites with a sneak peak of Sam’s rant on unAustralianism and a preview of the adapted song. Reactive media coverage was used to maintain a media presence following the launch of the campaign and song, there were also a number of media interviews and profile opportunities with Sam Kekovich.

The campaign's duration was 2.5 weeks.

Coverage attained (as of 30th March 2012, with further results to still come through):· Audience reach = 145.9m;· TV mentions = 847 (including syndications);· Print mentions = 160;· Radio mentions = 283 (including syndications);· Online mentions = 167.The value of the media coverage was $5.5m, far surpassing the previous year's $4.4m worth of coverage. This was achieved on a very modest $50,000 PR budget.Australians consumed Lamb in record, numbers with a 31.7% uplift in sales over the campaign period, with retailers reporting a sales increases of up to 10% on last year.