Results and Effectiveness

Putting lamb on the fashion agenda made it the dish everyone was talking about that season. Just $1.2 million of media spend generated $4.8 million of additional PR value. As for sales, they couldn’t keep lamb on the rack. Australia’s largest retailer sold 280,000 legs of lamb in the first week of the campaign - its best week of lamb sales ever. Despite the price of lamb increasing by 5%, average weekly lamb sales grew by 9% over spring. And Australia had its newest and most unusual magazine title.

Creative Execution

Chop ‘Til you Drop – a cheeky alternative to the leading fashion magazine Shop ‘Til you Drop – was born. Instead of being filled with pictures of clothes it was filled with delicious lamb recipes tailor-made by the highly regarded (and very fashionable) food personality Lyndey Milan. Each recipe had style notes which helped readers tailor the ‘Milan Spring Collection’ to their own taste. In total 100,000 copies were distributed. As fashionistas know, the launch of a magazine should always be accompanied by a fabulous event. We held a very special party to showcase the lamb dishes and provide content for celebrity titles loved by Australian mums. Just like every good magazine, we recognised the value of securing editorial coverage. We showcased our collection to the media. We even created a special fashion show live on Channel Nine for the ‘Milan Spring Collection’ of lamb dishes and their perfect accessories.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Lamb stock is at its peak in spring; lamb sales are not. We set out to create seasonal demand and increase sales of a meat that is more expensive by the kilo than lobster. But no-one particularly cared about lamb during spring. For Australians spring was all about the annual horse-racing carnival. Not the horses so much but the dresses, the hats and the shoes. It was undeniable. In spring the only thing in fashion was fashion. So we set out to transform lamb into spring’s best dressed meat. But as mums often felt excluded from the fashion industry (too glossy, too thin and too expensive) we couldn’t be too serious. We parodied the behaviour of a fashion label and broke the traditional rules of engagement. Instead of getting lost in the high-fashion pages of the glossies we launched our own magazine.