Ad men oughta be congratulated

“John Brown says every town in Australia should have a statue of Mojo because without them there wouldn’t be a tourism industry,” declares Russel Howcroft.

“And it’s actually the reason why I thought the documentary should be made.”

Premiering tonight on ABC How Australia Got its Mojo profiles Alan ‘Mo’ Morris and Allan ‘Jo’ Johnston, the ad men behind some of Australia’s most iconic campaigns and jingles.

You Outta Be Congratulated, C’mon Aussie C’mon, How Do Ya Feel are all amongst their memorable creations along with Paul Hogan putting “another shrimp on the barbie.” In the 70’s and 80’s ‘Mo and Jo’ were the Lennon and McCartney of Australian advertising but few know their story.

“Yes they wrote ads and sold margarine, but what they did is bigger than that,” Howcroft (pictured top left) explains.

“Australia was #70 on the countries Americans wanted to visit. But then ‘Put a Shrimp on the Barbie’ ran -and we became #7 literally overnight.”

The CJZ documentary looks back on commercials of the 1970s and ’80s and features interviews with the likes of Ita Buttrose, Delvene Delaney (top middle) Paul Hogan, John Singleton, Ian Chappell and Allan ‘Jo’ Johnston (pictured top right) who became the ‘Mojo sound.’

“Sadly Alan Morris died not that long ago. Obviously it would have been great to have him in the story. Thank goodness Allan Johnston agreed to participate. I’m not sure we’d have a documentary without him.

“Allan’s almost a folk singer / songwriter first and an ad guy second. I think that’s a big part of of why they were so powerful. The ‘jingle’ word is not really appropriate, I don’t think, for their body of work.”

Howcroft who is currently Chief Creative Officer at PwC never worked at Mojo, but he did once make an approach.

“I travelled to London in 1987 and knocked on the door of the Mojo London office, and said ‘Can I have a job, please?’ and I was rejected!” he laughs.

But he remains an admirer of their place in social history.

“I don’t think there will be anyone who grew up in that era that does not immediately respond to those ads with the next line.

“It’s as strong as your favourite song when you were a teenager.

“You wouldn’t make ads like this now, or cast like this now, but I hope people appreciate it for what it is… a time capsule of social history,” Howcroft suggests.

“I hope it gets used in classrooms where students can compare and contrast Australia of today with Australia which was not that long ago. It’s a pretty fascinating discussion.”

How Australia Got its Mojo 8:30pm tonight on ABC.