Vege patch commercial wins multicultural marketing award for Woollies
Luke Dunkerley, General Manager, Marketing, Supermarkets and Corporate, Woolworths is presented with his Big Business category Award of the Multicultural Marketing Awards 2009 by Peter Sinn, Manager, National Accounts and Asia Routes, Qantas
Woollies were tonight named winners of the Big Business Category of the prestigious National Multicultural Marketing Awards, conducted for the last 20 years by the Community Relations Commission of NSW, at a dinner hosted by the NSW Minister for Citizenship and Fair Trading, Virginia Judge.
Congratulating Woolworths tonight, the Chair of the Commission, Stepan Kerkyasharian said: "This innovative soft-sell commercial set out to reinforce the idea that Woolworths caters to the diverse range of needs and tastes that are found amongst the millions of customers they serve each and every week.
"The ad-makers carefully used gestures to indicate the nature of the kitchen conversation so that it didn't really matter which language Maria and Stavros were speaking.
"They sought to show believable characters who would appeal to a broad audience, through humour and goodwill, introducing viewers to the ingenious technology for scarring birds off the vege patch.
"This was a simple reflection of life in an Australian city. Older immigrants especially, continue to speak their native language to each other, even if they speak English perfectly well in public.
"The commercial creates a pleasant atmosphere which is quite evocative of Australian life, especially in the inner city suburbs of the big cities.
"Yet, we all know that Greeks are as Aussie as anyone else, even though inside their kitchens they might speak Greek to each other.
"It is hardly surprising that Woollies, as the country biggest grocer, should want to appeal to all of its potential customers, which could explain why they are the nations largest retailer.
"Many Australian business people haven't got that far yet, haven't even started - difficult to believe as that is.
"Just seeing our biggest retailer win this award must have an impact on those who hadn't noticed the dramatic change in the face of Australian shoppers over the past three decades.
"It also cleverly sends a message of inclusion to Australians of non-English speaking background, which, in turn, is good for business", Mr Kerkyasharian said.