Click here to see the photo gallery of The National ABBA Campaign
Back when Panasonic were still known as National and when we were “just slightly ahead of our time”, Australia was in the grip of ABBA fever. It was late 70s, the Swedish super-group dominated the Aussie charts and they were about to take their matching cat outfits on tour.
A little known fact is that National (Panasonic) contributed to the financing of ABBA’s 1977 Australian Tour by commissioning ABBA to perform in a series of TV advertisements which saw them sing a parody of their smash-hit “Fernando” with the lyrics now extolling the virtues of National.
Filmed by advertising agency George Patterson on location in Sweden during the northern summer of 1976 , ABBA were seen using various National products such toasters, vacuum cleaners, record and cassette players, and televisions in a campaign that extended far beyond the original scope to win major advertising awards and even spin out into follow-up print and TV campaigns.
The ABBA campaign raised the profile of National in Australia enormously, plus it now gives us one of the best Flashback Friday opportunities we are ever likely to see!
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