WATCH: MLA's new ad to drive Christmas sales

With a record number of sheep being turned off next year, and a 10% increase in cattle going to slaughter, the MLA has launced a new ad to drive red meat sales in the lead up to Christmas.

Featuring long-term lamb spokesman Sam Kekovich and ex-Brisbane Broncos NRL player, Sam Thaiday representing beef, the ad features the pair putting aside their differences in football codes to promote their shared love of red meat.

The promotion comes at a time when read meat consumption has picked up due to recent price falls, with the MLA's NLRS Operations Manager Ripley Atkinson, saying they had seen lamb volume up 17.2% and beef up 7.7%. Data from MLA via NielsenIQ Homescan showed the surge in volumes in the 12 weeks to 5 November was driven by the etail price for lamb falling 13.6% and beef falling 6.4%.

The MLA expected the surge to continue through Christmas.

This latest ad was created separately to the traditional big-budget Australia Day campaign, and would cost in the "100s of thousands" of dollars in terms of media amplification according to Graeme Yardy, the domestic market manager at MLA.

Given the cost of buying ad spots on commercial networks in the lead up to Chrstmas, the commercial was targeted at social media influencers and digital channels.

MLA research had found that the gap between red meat and poultry had shrunk significantly which resulted in it winning volume share in shoppers baskets.