''Gruen'' (previously known as ''The Gruen Transfer'') is an Australian television program focusing on advertising, which debuted on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
on 28 May 2008. The program is hosted by
Wil Anderson
William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster.
Early life
William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...
and produced by
Andrew Denton's production company, Zapruder's Other Films, now part of
CJZ. Anderson is accompanied by a panel of advertising industry experts including
Russel Howcroft (originally of
George Patterson Y&R) and
Todd Sampson (previously of
Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an American advertising executive and the founder of Leo Burnett Company, Inc. He was responsible for creating some of advertising's most well-known characters and campaigns of the 20th cent ...
).
The title refers to the
Gruen transfer, the response to designed disorientation cues in retail environments.
The show's debut episode drew an audience of nearly 1.3 million, the highest debut for an entertainment program in the ABC's history. The concept has been sold to TV production companies in the UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Portugal, South Africa and Spain; however, the program itself seems to be unavailable in those markets and is blocked on YouTube and Apple's iTunes store, with the message "Viewable in Australia only".
''The Gruen Transfer'' was nominated for an
AFI
AFI may refer to:
* ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol
* Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer
* AFI (band), an American rock band
** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...
award for Best Light Entertainment Television Series in 2008.
A spinoff series, ''Gruen Nation'', aired during the
2010 Australian federal election
The 2010 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 August 2010 to elect members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard won a second term against the Op ...
and again for the
2013 Australian federal election
The 2013 Australian federal election to elect the members of the 44th Parliament of Australia took place on 7 September 2013. The centre-right Liberal/National Coalition opposition led by Opposition leader Tony Abbott of the Liberal Party of A ...
. A second spinoff series, ''
Gruen Planet'', took over from the fourth series of ''The Gruen Transfer'' on 28 September 2011, focusing on corporate and government global media strategies and public relations. Another spinoff series entitled ''Gruen Sweat'' examining the branding and marketing of the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
began airing from 25 July 2012. The spinoff series titled ''Gruen'' began airing on 9 September 2015, following the original concept of ''The Gruen Transfer'' series.
Format
Current segments include:
*How Do You Sell?: This segment every week looks at advertising tactics used by advertisers to choose one product over another. Topics covered include beer, underwear, chocolate and banks.
*Endorse Me: Wil Anderson gives the panel the challenge of finding a sponsor for people who are famous for all the wrong reasons. Examples include
Carl Williams and
David Hicks
David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp fro ...
.
*The Pitch: Two advertising companies are given a brief to create an advertisement for an "unsellable" product. Previous examples have included
whale meat
Whale meat, broadly speaking, may include all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and all parts of the animal: muscle (meat), organs (offal), skin (muktuk), and fat ( blubber). There is relatively little demand for whale meat, compared t ...
, tourism in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
, the beleaguered
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Austral ...
political party, and a proposed invasion of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, which provoked a response from the
New Zealand government and several NZ YouTube viewers, although the final episode of Series One provided some balance in the form of a promotion for tourists not to visit Australia. A controversial anti-discrimination ad by Sydney agency The Foundry to promote "fat pride", which depicted people telling racist and homophobic jokes, resulted in the ABC pulling the segment from the 13 May 2009 episode, deeming that it would breach the ABC's editorial guidelines.
*Ad of the Week: This is where Wil and the panel look at an ad and they discuss it and how effective it is.
*What is this Ad for?: Wil shows the beginning of an ad without identifying the product, then asks the panel to guess what it is for.
*What's Wrong With This Ad?: A semi-regular segment where Wil shows an ad, usually submitted by a viewer, then asks the panel what they believe to be wrong about that ad. For example, the ''Philadelphia Cream Cheese'' Heaven campaign emphasises low fat in its product, so a viewer commented that, in the ad, even after dying and going to heaven, you still have to worry about your weight.
*Space Invaders: A semi-regular segment in which a real-life example of a new or unusual space for advertising is discussed. Examples include sheep jackets, children's books and on slums. The panel are then challenged to figure out a worthwhile client for advertisements in that space.
*God I Hate That Ad!: A web exclusive segment introduced in series two where Wil will bring up a particular ad that he, or viewers, dislike and has the panel discuss it, whether it is bad or not, or why it is bad. In the end the panel decide whether it is a bad ad or not.
*What Does it Mean?: A web exclusive segment introduced in series two where Wil and the panel come to a consensus of what message an ad is trying to get across when it is not obvious.
*The Worst Ad of All Time (Gruen Polished Turd), The Worst Product of All Time (Golden Steak Knives), Personal Worst (Brown Logie): A segment where the panel judges an ad or product based on how horrible it is with the "winner" being announced at the end of the series (this excludes the worst product of all time as the winner for it wasn't announced). The "prizes" are satirical allusions to a vulgar colloquialism for the advertising and public relations industries: "turd polishing".
''Gruen Nation''
A
spin-off series called ''Gruen Nation'' was aired during the
2010 federal election campaign. The first episode aired on 28 July 2010 at 9 pm. The series concluded on 18 August 2010. Each 45-minute episode was hosted by Wil Anderson with regular ''Gruen Transfer'' guests Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft and guests
John Hewson
John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election.
Hewson wa ...
, leader of the federal Liberal party 1990–94, Neil Lawrence, "Kevin 07" campaign co-ordinator, and
Annabel Crabb
Annabel Crabb (born 1973) is an Australian political journalist, commentator and television host who is the ABC's chief online political writer. She has worked for Adelaide's '' The Advertiser'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''The Age'', the ...
, journalist and political commentator.
Anderson said "If the ABC is the national broadcaster, then ''Gruen Nation'' is the national bullshit detector."
''Gruen Planet''
A spin-off called ''Gruen Planet'' was announced to replace series 4 of ''The Gruen Transfer'', with a broader landspace. The first episode of the first series premiered on 28 September 2011 with 1.138 million viewers, rating fourth viewed show of the week. The second series began airing on 22 August 2012 following the conclusion of Gruen Sweat.
Segments included:
* The Image Renovators: This segment every week looked at advertising and public relations tactics used.
* The Pitch: Two advertising companies were given a brief to create an advertisement for an "unsellable" product.
* What Would
Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
/
Palmer
Palmer may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land
* Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Palmer (surname), including a list of people and ...
/
Kim Jong-un/
Justin
Justin may refer to: People
* Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin
* Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire
* Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
Do?: This showed the attempts of various public figures to promote themselves.
* Spin Cycle: This showed attempts to score a headline.
* How Do You Sell?: This segment every week looked at advertising tactics used by advertisers to choose one product over another. Topics covered include beer, underwear, chocolate and banks.
''Gruen Sweat''
A third spin-off series, titled ''Gruen Sweat'', aired throughout the
2012 Summer Olympics. The four-episode series premiered on 25 July 2012 to 931,000 viewers.
''Gruen''
A spin-off called ''Gruen'' was announced to replace ''Gruen Planet''. The first episode of the first series premiered on 9 September 2015 with 974,000 viewers, ranking as the fourth-most-viewed show of the week. Despite the revised name, there are only extremely minor changes implemented for ''Gruen''. All episodes are hosted by Wil Anderson and feature Todd Sampson and Russel Howcroft.
Panelists
Panelists have included: Karen Ferry, Christina Aventi, Dee Madigan, Emily Taylor, Pia Chaudhuri, Carolyn Miller, Adam Ferrier, Sunita Gloster, Lauren Zonfrillo, Priya Patel, Annie O'Rourke, Camey O'Keefe, Kirsty Muddle, and others.
Episodes
Series 1 (2008)
Series 2 (2009)
Series 3 (2010)
Series 4 (2011)
The first eight episodes in 2011 were branded ''The Gruen Transfer''; from the ninth episode, they were titled ''Gruen Planet''.
Series 5 (2012)
Series 6 (2013)
Series 7 (2015)
Series 8 (2016)
Series 9 (2017)
Series 10 (2018)
Series 11 (2019)
Series 12 (2020)
Series 13 (2021)
Series 14 (2022)
Critical reception
In 2009, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' felt that ''The Gruen Transfer'' represented "intelligence and substance."
In 2013, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' thought that by ''Gruen Planet'', the show's creators had got the franchise format "down to a fine art".
Awards and nominations
In 2013, the Gruen Sweat special edition of the show won a
Rose d'Or
The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakes ...
for Entertainment.
Ratings
Gruen returned to television in 2016 with 954,000 viewers, and in 2017 with 903,000 viewers, while in 2020 it received 943,000 viewers.
Legacy
The show's panelists have become minor celebrities and experts in their fields. They have been contacted to speak on a variety of marketing-related issues, and in particular Todd Sampson was hired by Qantas for a marketing campaign.
References
External links
*
Production website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruen
Australian non-fiction television series
Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming
Television shows set in New South Wales
2008 Australian television series debuts
2010s Australian television series
English-language television shows
Marketing techniques
Works about retailing
Advertising in Australia