A LAMB marketing campaign that celebrated the diversity of the meat’s appeal has risen from a roasting before the Advertising Standard Board to notch up more than 5 million social media views and win its first industry award.

Meat & Livestock Australia’s spring Never Lamb Alone advertisement recently won the People’s Choice award at the 2016 Multicultural Marketing Awards.

The advertising regulator cleared the campaign of being discriminatory and racist to white people in October and although it cannot be described as MLA’s most successful ad, its long-form version has been viewed 5,656,796 times across outlets such as Facebook and YouTube.

To date the advertisement’s media coverage has totalled 371 pieces, with an opportunity to see total of 166,478,331.

The campaign’s footage was shot in one take by director Paul Middleditch and features appearances from indigenous Australians, including Olympian Cathy Freeman, National Rugby League player Greg Inglis and model Samantha Harris. Other Aussies present include Greek-transgender comedian Jordan Raskopoulos, established television presenter Luke Jacobz, rising Bengali-Australian actor Arka Das and a long list of Australian extras.  Click here to get Sheep Central story links sent to your email inbox.

MLA group marketing manager Andrew Howie said it was important to expand the reach of lamb into new consumer categories.

“As lamb’s traditional consumers evolve and age, it’s important we are continuing expand the reach of lamb by speaking to new consumers and demographics, including younger Australian’s and people from different cultural backgrounds.

“Ultimately, as the face of Australia continues to evolve and change – we need to make red meat relevant to a diverse, modern Australia,” he said.

“This campaign was about talking to a wider audience, and this award from Multicultural NSW shows that we are heading in the right direction.

“Our marketing campaigns are informed by consumer insights and data, as well as learnings from past campaigns and ultimately, our marketing activities are about driving demand for lamb and red meat more broadly – and ultimately delivering returns back to the industry and farm gate.”

Source: MLA.