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#VAXTHENATION: Tim Minchin, Jimmy Barnes, Marcia Hines and Amy Shark join Aussie COVID vaccine campaign

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Simon CollinsThe West Australian
Hundreds of top musicians, comedians and performers have banded together for a massive campaign to get Australia vaccinated — fast — so our live entertainment sector can get back to full venues.
Camera IconHundreds of top musicians, comedians and performers have banded together for a massive campaign to get Australia vaccinated — fast — so our live entertainment sector can get back to full venues.

Hundreds of top musicians, comedians and performers have banded together to launch a massive campaign to get Australia vaccinated — fast.

An emotive commercial featuring the slogan #VAXTHENATION will hit prime-time television today backed with an artist-driven social media push plus promotion via radio and outdoor advertising.

The slot features scenes of happy festival and concert crowds accompanied by Brisbane band Powderfinger’s anthem My Happiness, and the call to “Vax now … and stop the interruptions”.

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Spearheaded by the newly established LIVE Alliance, close to 400 artists and organisations are supporting the vaccination rock’n’rollout so the Australian live entertainment sector can get back to full venues.

Artists donating their time range from rocker Jimmy Barnes, country music legend John Williamson and soul singer Marcia Hines to relative newcomers such as Amy Shark, RUFUS DU SOL and Alex the Astronaut.

Another high profile supporter is songwriting icon Paul Kelly, who recently posted a picture to Instagram after getting his second Astra Zeneca shot.

“Please, friends, get vaccinated as soon as you can so we can all get back to work,” he wrote. “Singing at home is just not the same!”

Marcia Hines getting her jab.
Camera IconMarcia Hines getting her jab. Credit: instagram/supplied

Big names from WA, including Tim Minchin, San Cisco, Birds of Tokyo, Spacey Jane, Jebediah frontman Kevin Mitchell and Baby Animals singer Suze DeMarchi, will join their peers in pushing the message to millions of fans through their social media accounts from today.

Minchin said that while there is “a handful of people who will be seduced by conspiracies and misinformation”, most people will follow advice from doctors.

“This is a race,” he added. “A race we are all running, together.”

Birds of Tokyo and Karnivool singer Ian Kenny encouraged fans to book their jabs.

“We can’t go back to being one country until everyone’s had a chance to get vaccinated,” he said.

The campaign is the brainchild of advertising guru and television personality Russel Howcroft, who created the clip with Melbourne-based agencies Mushroom Creative House and Good One Creative.

“Frankly, this campaign is about speed,” he said. “We need people to hurry up.”

The campaign is the brainchild of advertising guru and television personality Russel Howcroft, who created the clip with Melbourne-based agencies Mushroom Creative House and Good One Creative.
Camera IconThe campaign is the brainchild of advertising guru and television personality Russel Howcroft, who created the clip with Melbourne-based agencies Mushroom Creative House and Good One Creative.

A regular panellist on popular ABC TV show Gruen, Howcroft has made commercials for the AFL, Australian Defence Force, Carlton and United Breweries, Lloyds Bank and Reebok.

“What I hope happens by seeing the commercial is that you’re overwhelmed with emotion and, if you’re not vaccinated, you hurry up and get yourself vaccinated.”

The ad man described #VAXTHENATION as a “brilliant collaboration” by the live entertainment industry, from the big companies paying for television time to Powderfinger allowing their song to be used.

In a similar way that recent Qantas commercial Fly Away highlighted the reasons people travel, the spot uses the positive experience of seeing live entertainment as the pay-off for getting vaccinated.

Howcroft adds that the success of the campaign will come from the grassroots-level spread of the message from artists to fans.

“This a retail campaign,” he said. “We are retailing ‘Get vaccinated now … hurry the f… up’.”

The Live Entertainment Industry Forum reported that in the nine months from March 2020 to the end of last year, almost 80,000 jobs in the sector were lost.

After pouring an estimated $36.5 billion into Australia’s economy in 2019, live entertainment’s contribution fell to less than $13b last year as a result of COVID-19.

Some of the musicians supporting #VAXTHENATION also have jobs in the health industry.

When not making indie pop music as Gordi, Sophie Payten has worked as a doctor in COVID wards at Victorian hospitals.

Indie pop artist Gordi is also a doctor.
Camera IconIndie pop artist Gordi is also a doctor. Credit: instagram/supplied

“We have some of the most beautiful music venues in the world here in Australia,” she said. “Right now they’re empty.

“If you’re eligible to be vaccinated, please go get a jab. Then we can get back to filling these beautiful spaces again.”

Camp Cope lead singer Georgia Maq is a qualified nurse who has been administering vaccinations during the pandemic.

“The thing about vaccination is that it’s not about the individual,” she said.

“It’s about protecting your community and those most vulnerable around you.

“There’s a one-way ticket to getting live music back, and it’s vaccination.”

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