Let’s Barbie returns for Japan’s summer season
19 July 2018
Summer is in full swing in the northern hemisphere and MLA Japan’s annual ‘Lets Barbie’ campaign is back, encouraging consumers to enjoy Australian beef steak at home, outdoors or in restaurants.
This year’s campaign features a television commercial with two rugby families battling it out to get to the supermarket first and buy an Aussie beef steak. The campaign also features digital and social media promotion, magazine, train advertising, outdoor and even the brand mascot ‘Aussie-chan’ appearing on breakfast television.
MLA’s new Let’s Barbie campaign ad
MLA promotes steak consumption in warmer months in Japan because as our largest export market, Japan can play a vital role in taking up the slack in demand for ‘BBQ cuts’ during Australia’s winter. At the same time, the price of US beef steak cuts tends to be higher at this time of year – and availability more limited - due to their domestic ‘grill season’.
Japanese consumer trends are also in Australia’s favour. Japan is in the midst of a ‘meat boom’ with a clear trend towards eating more beef, especially thick-cut steak and larger blocks of beef. Health conscious Japanese consumers are increasingly interested in eating ‘akaminiku’ (lean beef) rather than the traditional highly marbled beef. However, many Japanese consumers are still unaware of how to cook thick cut steak, so the campaign provides recipes and advice on cooking the perfect steak every time, including from well-credentialed nutrition professionals. Japanese retailers have also been educated about the benefits of promoting thicker cut ‘atsugiri’ steak in warmer months.
2018 is the fourth successive year of the ‘Lets Barbie’ promotion in Japan. Previous campaigns have been successful in generating interest in eating Australian beef steak and increasing sales of Aussie beef. The 2017 campaign included pop-up stores in Tokyo and Osaka promoting a new ‘steak in a cup’ concept. The campaign reached over 60m people with sales increasing 5% year on year despite a wet summer.
MLA’s new Let’s Barbie campaign ad plays to thousands daily at Shibuya, Tokyo
More information
Andrew Cox, MLA International Business Manager – Japan and Korea
Email Andrew Cox
