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MEAT & Livestock Australia’s ‘Operation Boomerang’ Australia Day lamb campaign has won gold at the prestigious Effie Awards hosted by The Communications Council in Sydney last night.

The unique marketing industry awards recognise ‘ideas that work’ in campaigns based on their effectiveness in achieving goals.

The ‘Operation Boomerang’ Australia Day campaign, developed by independent media agency The Monkeys, was awarded the Grand Effie – the top award on the night – scoring gold awards in three categories – Food, Confectionery & Snacks; Short Term Effects; and Most Original Thinking.

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 generated significant coverage, delivering a cumulative audience in excess of 423 million worldwide. It also generated record lamb sales for that period, with a 36.9 percent sales increase during the two weeks of the campaign.

‘You’re better on beef’ campaign scores bronze

MLA’s beef marketing also received recognition at the Effie Awards, with the ‘You’re better on Beef’ brand campaign awarded a Bronze in the Food, Confectionery & Snacks category.

The ‘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, MLA said.

Post-campaign survey results from the first 12 months were strong, meeting and exceeding its key targets. MLA said claimed per week consumption of beef in 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 Group Marketing Manager Andrew Howie said the recognition of the effectiveness of the 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.

“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,” Mr Howie said.

“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.”

To view MLA’s latest “You’re better on Beef” campaign advertisement click here

To view the ‘Operation Boomerang’ advertisement click here

For an overview of MLA’s domestic marketing activity click here

Source: MLA.