How Great Northern’s ‘Outdoors for a Cause’ campaign brewed up a storm of backlash
If the importance of knowing your audience and communicating clearly was ever in question, look to the Great Northern Brewing Company for some confirmation.
Just weeks after Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) launched Great Northern’s ‘Outdoors for a Cause’ campaign, CEO of CUB, Danny Celoni stepped down after intense backlash.
Outdoors for a Cause was an initiative where Great Northern partnered with the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife. This partnership aimed to raise $200,000 to buy land to add to national parks, to support the growth and protection of Aussie flora and fauna.
How did we get here?
Starting at the very beginning, at the end of the 2000’s, CUB was associated strongly with Victoria. Not only is Carlton in the name of Asahi Beverages’ division, its flagship products consisted of Victoria Bitter, Carlton Dry, and Carlton Draught. Very Victorian.
Thinking nationally, the Great Northern Brewery Co. was launched by CUB in 2010, located very far away from Carlton in the town of Yatala, Queensland, aiming to penetrate the stronghold that competitor Lion Nathan had established in Queensland with XXXX Gold and its associated products.
Great Northern, with the tagline of “The Beer From Up Here”, experienced incredible growth since its inception, with strong branding that reflected the enjoyment of the great outdoors. The perfect complementary alcoholic beverage to fishing, camping, hiking, four-wheel driving (4WD), and other activities in the unpredictable Australian landscape was how Great Northern positioned itself as.
It clearly worked. Not only did they unseat XXXX as the top drop in the sunshine state, over time, they outperformed basically every beer product on the market. 2022 and 2023 saw Great Northern take the crown for the top-selling beer in Australia, with 2024 only seeing them just fall behind to CUB’s Carlton Dry.
Being the top-selling beer in Australia, Great Northern had a broad consumer base, but their most important demographic consisted of the people that accurately and truthfully reflected these branding efforts. Think rural Australia, people that take on the tough 4WD trails, spend their time on the boat battling crocs for the perfect catch, head deep into bushland to camp and hunt.
In retrospect, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that a disconnect could emerge between Great Northern’s marketing team and this key consumer group without consistent communication and feedback on the initiatives the brand puts into place.
That’s exactly where the Outdoors for a Cause campaign failed upon its launch in late 2024. City slickers that drink Great Northern solely for the refreshing taste and agreeable price point didn’t care as much as the rural market, and Great Northern certainly didn’t expect the backlash.
What went wrong?
Great Northern didn’t do anywhere near enough due diligence with the rural demographic Immediately after launching Outdoors for a Cause, the passionate hikers, fishers, 4WD drivers, and campsite enjoyers responded by boycotting Great Northern, many calling the brand and its campaign “woke”.
This comes down to the difference between national parks and state parks and forests. Put simply, national parks conserve natural ecosystems, placing restrictions on what visitors can do there as part of this conservation. Basically look, don’t touch. People can visit national parks and appreciate their beauty and biodiversity, but rarely allow people to participate in the range of outdoor activities that Great Northern drinkers enjoy doing.
State parks and forests on the other hand have lower environmental protection. If you’re in a state park or state forest, you can camp, caravan, trail bike, drive a 4WD, fish, hunt, essentially all the outdoor activities that Great Northern aligned itself with.
The problem wasn’t necessarily that those participating in the boycott didn’t want to see national parks expanded. It was more that they saw the Outdoors for a Cause campaign as a direct threat to state parks and forests. Part of the backlash included claims that the $200,000 would go to removing sections of state parks and forests, turning them into national park areas that are not legally viable for people to enjoy with recreational freedom.
Videos were uploaded to social media by long-time Great Northern consumers explaining this, garnering anger and confusion at the campaign. Cans and bottles across the nation were opened, turned upside down and emptied in protest. Great Northern had inadvertently made themselves an enemy of their foundational demographic.
The backflip had to happen. On 29 January 2025, Zac Gelman, Head of Great Northern Marketing released a statement saying:
“Great Northern’s Outdoors for a Cause campaign was yesterday reassessed following feedback from our passionate drinkers. Our donation to the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife will now not be used to buy land to add to national parks. Our donation will instead be used for the preservation of endangered species.
Whether it’s hiking, fishing, 4-wheel driving or just relaxing, Great Northern drinkers use and preserve their precious spots in the great outdoors and we support them.
There has been some speculation on social media that the campaign’s original intention was to raise funds to turn state park land into national parks. For clarity, the campaign’s original purpose was to help transform private land – not state park land – into national parks.”
Then on 3 February 2025, Asahi Beverages announced that CUB CEO Danny Celoni had decided to leave the business to pursue other opportunities at the CEO level.
Could this all have been avoided?
Yes. There are plenty of ifs in this one.
If the campaign had been articulated clearly, that the goal was to transform private land instead of state park land into national parks, the backlash would never have occurred.
If the campaign had focused on expanding state park land from the outset, the backlash would never have occurred.
If Great Northern had put more thought into how the iconic aspects of its brand could be extended through expanding state parks and forests rather than national parks, it would have been a successful campaign.
If more research had gone into finding out what the company’s most authentic and loyal consumers wanted to see in its brand initiatives, it could have created a successful campaign.
Unfortunately, Great Northern did almost everything right in launching a campaign that related to its brand image, but fell short with the finer details - especially how it communicated the campaign’s outcomes.
Fortunately, it definitely seems like the damage can be repaired with a series of intuitive and well-researched campaigns to rebuild trust. If Great Northern didn’t know what its customers wanted before, it certainly does now. One setback creating plenty of opportunities perhaps. Cheers to that.
Freddie Fletcher, Account Executive
freddie@popcom.com.au