Aussie Cricket legend Richie Benaud invites fellow Aussie icons to a marvellous lamb BBQ in Australia Day Lamb campaign via The Monkeys
Legendary Australian cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud has enlisted the help of Lambassador Sam Kekovich and a plethora of national icons from through the ages to encourage Aussies to get together over lamb on Australia Day.
In the annual Australia Day lamb commercial, directed by Australian director Tom Noakes – who was a finalist in the Doritos ‘Crash The Super Bowl’ competition last year – Benaud captures the spirit of our national day by doing what we believe every Aussie should be doing on Australia Day; organising a big lamb BBQ and a game of backyard cricket.
The spot, which goes to air on Sunday, opens dramatically on the open seas, with Captain Cook aboard his ship approaching the Australian shore line. His steely focus on the path ahead is interrupted by a phone call from Benaud inviting him to a lamb BBQ at his place on Australia Day. “Cooky” agrees, and asks if fellow explorers Burke and Wills are also on the guest list – they’re keen, despite their death-bed-dire situation in a baking hot desert.
Benaud later looks worried when legendary outlaw Ned Kelly offers to “round up the guys” for the occasion, although this is less worrying than the rumour that Kelly has gone “veggo” (in fact he is just gluten intolerant).
Other iconic Australians invited to Benaud’s barbie include iconic cricketer Don Bradman, media giant Ita Buttrose, and of course Sam Kekovich. However when Billy Birmingham – famous for impersonating Benaud as the 12th Man – gets wind of the lamb feast, he’s bluntly told by Benaud that there’s nothing on.
Says Benaud: “In addition to my love of cricket on Australia Day, I wanted to be involved in another key part of our national day, the iconic lamb campaign. For me, this year’s campaign encapsulates what Australia Day is all about; Australians getting together for a lamb BBQ.”
Adds Michael Edmonds, General Manager Global Marketing at Meat & Livestock Australia: “As a nation we love our lamb, and it’s our belief that you never lamb alone. That goes double on Australia Day. Benaud might not be at the cricket surrounded by his army of fans this year, but he’s still making the most of the day and spending it with this pantheon of notable Australians.”
Lamb fans got their first look at Richie Benaud’s lamb crusade when the 1 minute 40 second edit premiered on Channel Nine’s Today show this morning. In the lead-up to Australia Day, starting this Sunday, 60-second and 30-second versions will be aired on TV, with the longer edit available to view online.
But the campaign doesn’t stop there. At butchers and retailers across the country, shoppers will be given lamb BBQ inspiration with several delicious and succulent lamb recipe suggestions displayed on posters at the till.
Lamb-lovers can also score a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend their Australia Day with Benaud himself. Ten Aussies (and two of their mates) are being given the opportunity to attend a BBQ to meet Benaud. To secure this exclusive invite people simply have to upload an impersonation of Benaud’s lamb BBQ call ‘Top Lamb Chop That!” to the We Love Our Lamb Facebook page.
Advertising Agency – The Monkeys
ECD: Scott Nowell
Managing Director: Matt Michael
Senior Planner: Michael Hogg
Head of Production – Thea Carone
Senior Producer: Jade Rodriguez
Senior Content Manager: Katie Wong-Hee
Director: Tom Noakes
Producer: Belinda Dean
Production company: Photoplay
DoP – James Brown
Post House: FSM
Editor – Stuart Morley
Composer – Damian De Boos-Smith
Sound House – Nylon Studios
Media Agency – UM
PR Agency – One Green Bean
MLA Marketing Manager – Andrew Howie
MLA Brand Manager – Lamb – Magali Nonnenmacher
32 Comments
Hilarious! Great work guys. Particularly love captain cookie
Great to see the MLA work take a step up, the previous Sam K spots were great but it needed refreshing. And its simply a lot of fun to watch this. Richie is on his last legs but the guy is still a legend and he delivers, and its good to see Sam Kekovich still play a supporting role.
Love it! Bloody ripper!
Thanks for cheering me up this AM, so funny! I appreciate the laughs
great to see australia whitewashing its revisionist history again and denying the original owners of the land any acknowledgement.
but i guess aboriginals don’t eat lamb right?
happy invasion day everyone!
This is great work.
Ad comedy is usually so flat.
Punters are gonna love this.
Tough follow up after years of Keka too.
this is terrible. Shoddy direction, over-long and not funny.
funny, funny, funny
I am loving this, hilarious! Great performances and a story well told. It feels epic.
Obviously australia day politics is going to divide so an aboriginal character would have helped that cause, but it’s still an excellent campaign
@Henry
You’re a fucking douchebag henry. Get a haircut you fucktard.
I thought this was going to make me sad in the kind of way Ray Warren breaks my heart when he has to read out promos for the Block or The Voice during the footy. But I had a grin from ear to ear, nice one.
Best thing I’ve seen all year.
…is really great. And I don’t even work at, nor know anyone who works at The Monkeys.
Also, well done getting Richie. Cricket Australia couldn’t even get him to do adz.
Burke and Wills steal the show
Love it. Wish i worked on it. Well done to all.
Congrats all – funny stuff
That’s a happy Australia Day right there.
Sounds like someone yells ‘f***ken’ at 0:05. Love it though.
Great Ads are coming back! Love it. Well done.
Super effort, that. Chop work.
It never grows old! This is old school perfection at its finest. Congrats all.
Great stuff. Congrats to all involved.
@ Henry
I read your comment and I thought.. oh yeah all the other comments are from the agency and the ad is shit..
But then I watched the ad and you’re a total douchebag.
@The Monkeys.. really nice ad. Better than any other Lamb ad. Finally a good piece of film. A contender.
So nice to finally see some positivity on CB.
Great spot, well done guys!
@Henry, I’m with @420blazeit, go and jam yourself
The Monkey’s producing AWESOME work over and over again!
No invite again, Ritchie? Sigh…
Fucking sickk.
Nice job. This and Aldi Christmas shining lights amongst lots of so-so work out there at the minute.
Hilarious, hats off, I love it almost as much as I love lamb on Australia Day.
I love it, because it’s new and different. But I think it could have been a bit tighter in the edit / direction – and had a bit of a tighter finish. It just kind of tapers off.
Don’t take that the wrong way, just how I saw it.
However, all the people complaining about not featuring indigenous Aussies… As a proud owner of three boomerangs and one thong (the flip-flop kind, not the speedo kind) I can honestly tell you that they don’t give a flying f*ck. Indigenous (how offensive is that word!?) people (not aboriginals) aren’t as sensitive as most of you lilly-white apologists, and formally recognise, through me, that most, nay, all ‘indigenous’ peoples never ate lamb or celebrated Australia day.
And ‘invasion day’ is a very recent invention that, as far as my mob is concerned, should translate to ‘the day we all had to start going to work to make enough money to get what was always free for us fellas.’
Do some research and do yourselves a favour – go and talk to an original Aussie.
You’d be surprised how thick our skin is.
You can call me stupid I, will!! If Ned was around these days he would be wearing a pink suit inside wood ford correctional facility courtesy of Campbell thatcher. If Burke and wills would have taken on board the insight and knowledge of the local mob they wouldn’t have perished the way they did. Mr Bradman was bowled by a local mission lad from modern day Cherbourg, mr Eddie Gilbert who despite his skill, prowess was never chosen to represent his country. It comes back to a group of people who played a part in each of these scenario’s that can’t be portrayed in this ad, as it would again add to the paradox of what this day actually stands for Mr Stupid. Maybe they could have shown an aboriginal been offered a lamb chop whilst been slaughtered just as a changi prisoner been offered one? Not real appropriate just as the celebration of this day that is sad for many aboriginal and non aboriginals? And if you don’t know who pemulwuy was, this adds to my argument of a mis fabricated and delusional hero such as mr Ned can raise above a nations psyche as opposed to a warrior, and a revolutionist does not rank or ever spoken about?
Better than anything the Jungle Boys did. Good to see it move away from their one directional approach to humour.
The art direction was fantastic. Edit timings were very sloppy though, could of been a lot tighter.
Still, good commercial.