Each year, MLA’s hotly anticipated summer ‘Lamb ad’ has become something of a cultural phenomenon in Australia, akin to a ‘superbowl’ moment.

MLA, (Meat and Livestock Australia) are an industry body representing Australian farmers. With a limited budget for advertising, a provocative and newsworthy idea is key to getting the reach and impact they need every year. ‘The Generation Gap’ 3 minute film is the 10th instalment in a long running campaign encouraging Aussies to ‘Share the lamb’. Coinciding with Australian summer barbeque season, this year the campaign took on the generational divisions in society.

Lamb’s brand essence is unity. As a meat that is often chosen for shared meals, like barbeques or banquets across many cultures and communities, our campaign is based on the idea that lamb brings Australians together. So each year, in an almost ‘State of the Nation’ style of commentary, we playfully examine what cultural, political or social tensions are keeping us apart.

While the Generation Gap is a global phenomenon, there are local nuances that are pertinent for Australian audiences:

For example, Australia’s property market is distorted, and buying their first home is an impossible dream for many young people without the help from “The Bank of Mum and Dad.” Investors, predominantly older, are given tax incentives and discounts while younger Aussies live for years at home in the hope of saving a deposit.

Despite this injustice, there is also a perception of older Australians (boomers) of Gen Z and Y youth as being coddled and entitled, with a ‘what’s in it for me’ mindset.

The older man at the end of the film is Sam Kekovich, he has been our ‘Lambassador’ since 2005. He’s well-known to Aussies over-40, but not to under-40s. We made light of this fact with the joke at the end where someone mistakes him for another older, white male – John Howard, who happens to be our nation’s longest-serving Prime Minister which many young people will not remember.

We open on ‘Boomertown’, Australia to observe a tension growing between Australians of various ages: the generation gap. The film pokes fun at the tropes of each generation, as they bicker back and forth: the more they throw insults and dwell on their differences, the more cracks in the earth open up, creating a literal gap between the various age groups of Australians. Then, a temporary distraction to the chaos: the familiar fragrant waft of a lamb BBQ cooking. Inspired by the shared love of lamb, the warring generations began to confess their similarities, and the chasm begins to close with each comment - Australia once again united over lamb.

Lamb for many shoppers is an infrequent purchase. Our biggest challenge is ingrained shopping behaviours: Australians eat just 7kgs of lamb annually, compared to 50kgs of chicken.

By the end of 2023, Lamb sales had become dangerously reliant on older Australians who grew up with the tradition of a family ‘lamb roast’ dinner. Over-60’s accounted for a third of sales yet are just 23% of the population. While under-35’s accounted for just 16% of sales yet are 44% of Australia’s population.

We needed this generation’s support. Compounding the challenge, under 35’s have decreased spending power, at a time when Aussies were already battling inflation and interest rate hikes. Budgets were under intense scrutiny, with premium food purchases the first to go.

Our brief: Win back all Aussies’ hearts and minds, to drive record sales uplifts over summer. With three objectives:

Make Lamb famous,

Make Lamb more desirable,

Drive volume sales.

Even amongst the lauded Australian Lamb campaigns, ‘The Generation Gap’ smashed its objectives and set new records for MLA.

Unable to rely on national reach with media spend alone, MLA earned fame through views and coverage. In just 6 weeks, the film was viewed 25,184,426 times, appeared in 875 articles including the New York Post, Fast Company and The UK’s Independent, and earnt an OTS of 282,300,000.

Lamb became more desirable: a YouGov survey found 38% of Millennials were more likely to purchase Lamb after seeing the campaign, 36% of Gen X, and almost 1 in 3 Gen Z and Baby Boomers.

We reached record volume sales: 1,417,694 kgs more lamb sold - a staggering 19% volume uplift vs prior year, reaching Lamb’s highest ever volume share of 9.9%, gaining +0.8% share of the category.

In a case of life imitating advertising, more barbeques were being had in Summer 2024.