MEAT and Livestock Australia’s marketing of beef and lamb has been recognised at the annual Effie Awards held in Sydney.
The Operation Boomerang Australia Day campaign was presented with the top award on the night and picked up gold in three categories – Food, Confectionery and Snacks; Short Term Effects; and Most Original Thinking. MLA’s beef marketing also received recognition, with the You’re better on Beef brand campaign awarded a Bronze in the Food, Confectionery and Snacks category.
This year’s Australia Day lamb campaign featured prominent Australian newsreader Lee Lin Chin and a host of Australian icons, on a mission to save Australians abroad from going without a lamb barbecue on Australia Day.
The campaign, which was developed by independent media agency The Monkeys, was awarded the Grand Effie – generated significant coverage, delivering a cumulative audience in excess of 423 million worldwide. The campaign also generated record lamb sales for that period, with a 36.9 per cent sales increase across the two weeks of the campaign.
MLA’s You’re Better on Beef campaign was designed to address barriers to beef consumption, particularly in a climate of worldwide decline in beef consumption driven primarily by the relative price of other proteins and nutrition concerns.
The campaign was about giving Australians permission to eat more beef and reminding them of its benefits. The first phase of the campaign targeted time-poor families, in particular women, and drove home beef’s key nutrition credentials of protein, iron, and zinc by demonstrating that you’re quite literally better on beef.
The Effie Awards – hosted by The Communications Council – are prestigious and unique within the marketing industry as they recognise “ideas that work” in campaigns based on their effectiveness in achieving their goals.
According to MLA post-campaign survey results from the first 12 months were strong, meeting and exceeding its key targets. For example, claimed per week consumption of beef among the target audience (mums) rose 0.2 to 1.75 serves a week. There was also a 20pc reduction in the number of mums who said they were limiting red meat consumption due to health concerns, MLA said.
MLA marketing manager Andrew Howie said the recognition of the effectiveness of these beef and lamb marketing campaigns was particularly positive for MLA’s entire body of marketing work.
“MLA’s marketing activities all share the same strong focus – driving demand for Australian red meat and in turn delivering returns back to farm gate,” Mr Howie said.
“We continue to be informed by the latest consumer insights and data in developing our campaign messages, themes and target audience – and are continually looking for improvements.
“Our domestic market is increasingly competitive, with significant challenges around key purchase drivers such as price and nutrition.
“We will continue to be relentless in our pursuit of effective marketing programs that are guided by consumer data and research and deliver returns to producers and the broader red meat industry.”