Great Northern Brewing Co. launches new Father’s Day campaign via TBWA\Sydney
In the lead up to Father’s Day, Great Northern Brewing Co has launched a new campaign via TBWA\Sydney, that reminds Australians to take a moment to reflect on their favourite memories made in the great outdoors with their fathers.
The campaign features a father and daughter pair, Robert Mason and Carmen Retzlaff, whose relationship was built around a shared love of adventure. Sharing their story, Carmen reflects on how valuable the time spent with her father has been.
The campaign launches with a two-and-a-half minute film directed by Eddy Bell from AIRBAG.
While working on the film, Bell reflected on his own relationship with his father: “My own Dad was sick for nearly a decade, living with a rare disease similar to Motor Neurone Disease. So, I had a lot of time to think about who he was as a man, and what he meant to me. I think there’s a kindness in liberating our fathers from all the expectations we place on them and just allowing them to be human. That’s where I started out in the process of making this film.”
The campaign continues Great Northern Brewing Co’s efforts to use Father’s Day as an event to encourage connection between dads and their adult children. In 2019, Great Northern Brewing Co’s ‘Great ReCamp’ campaign urged Australians to take camping trips for Father’s Day.
Father’s Day has long been a retail event, but with many Australians in lockdown, this year’s film acknowledges time spent together in the great outdoors is a gift everyone can appreciate.
Says Evan Roberts, chief creative officer, TBWA\Sydney: “It’s very easy for people to feel disconnected and isolated right now. We just want people to reach out to those that matter to them this Father’s Day. Tell them you’re thinking about them, that you love them. Sure, we might not be able to see each other, but we can make plans and we all need something to look forward to.”
Great Northern’s Lauren Fildes said lockdowns and restricted travel around the country meant many people hadn’t been able to spend time with loved ones: “We understand how tough it’s been on so many Australians who have been separated from family during the pandemic. So, whether you’re together or apart this Father’s Day, lockdowns permitting, we want people to invite their dad to spend time together outdoors when they can.”
The film will drive Australians to a microsite, The Greatest Gift, which enables users to make a personalised video invitation for their dads to spend some quality time in the great outdoors when they can next be together – powered by Gift Flick.
Says Helen Marsh, CMO and co-founder, Gift Flick: “When Great Northern Brewing Co. approached us about their Father’s Day concept we were thrilled to partner with them. Gift Flick digitally send gifts to friends and loved ones they are unable to see in a short video (a gift story) that features a personalised message, photo or video, so was perfect for a campaign about connection.”
The campaign will be running on national TV, online and social. Further 30, 15 and six-second spots will support the hero film.
Client: Great Northern Brewing Co
Creative: TBWA\Sydney
Production Company: AIRBAG
Director: Eddy Bell
DOP: Alex Serafini
Executive Producer: Megan Ayers
Post Production & Sound Design: BOLT / Ben Zemanek
PR: Sequel PR
Social & Website: CUBHOUSE, GiftFlick
Media: PHD, CUBHOUSE
47 Comments
Nobody will watch this
I thought Clems had Great Northern.
Amazing craft. Beautifully shot.
Never got to the end.
A beautifully shot, meandering, and tortuous route to a tenuous link to beer and a Hallmark holiday.
People don’t watch 2 minute ads.
We’re lucky if they watch 15 seconds.
0:30 seconds in and not only am I bored out of my mind but I’m half expecting a Medibank logo to pop up. Not only is this tonally way off for Great Northern it’s just dull.
Oi dad! Want a beer?
Packshot of a beer in the old man’s hand.
Job done.
I watched all of it as it reminded me of my grandad who I’d love to have a beer with if we ever get out of this lockdown.Can’t guarantee it’ll be a Great Northern ,but then never having tried one, I just might.
…It’ll drive you to drink. Is this the idea?
The reason people aren’t watching 2 minute ads is because we’re not giving them the opportunity to. Agencies and clients are held ransom to media KPIs, and in turn all we’re seeing is 15″ ads.
I think it’s brave putting a 2 minute story out there. Whether or not this one is interesting enough to be a 2 minute spot is up for debate.
Media agency person no doubt. Running numbers about average view through rates in Facebook of a 120 vs a 6 without even seeing or hearing the concept being put forward to make a decision on how long it should be. Putting a blanket statement out there that nobody watches anything more than 15s is the problem with the media side of the industry.
Granted this particular piece of content doesn’t do a job of keeping me engaged. I wouldn’t sit through it, but some branded content I’ll certainly sit through, as will millions of others when we see the best in class. Content is content, if its good people will watch.
Media does ransom with KPI – but in what universe is 2 minute ads to be watched by any % of the population.
Out of 100 people, in an environment where 2 minute ads are playable, even if shared by a friend 1 person will watch it all the way through.
Incredible waste of money.
Brand personality is super important for alcohol, more than most categories. Unless this is the start of a big repositioning around “connection” or celebrating the moments in life that matter (and maybe it is), then it’s surely a waste of money and/or a sign that the underlying brand strategy is in disarray (which would be surprising). And I agree that this isn’t fun enough for beer.
There is no debate, this is a sentimental snore fest.
In 2021 you’d think creatives would have some knowledge of the platforms their creations appear on. Media can buy this ad, and only pay for the 6/16/30sec that is watched. The audience can then always go through and watch the rest themselves. If it’s good enough, some will. But the clients who’ve shelled out big production $$ don’t feel that it was a worthwhile use of the money for only a few hundred/thousand to watch it.
Make 2.46sec ads all you like! But make engaging 6/15/30sec as well, so people will want to continue to watch that 2.46sec.
This is self-indulgent pandering to clients who dream of writing their own Westpac ad.
Utterly off-brand. Want terpene after watching this, not beer.
I would have started with the accidental branding device of the annoying but catchy music track from the previous work.”Oooh oooh weee oooh”. Building a brand property is one of the hardest things in advertising. They have stumbled onto something, but don’t seem to realise it. This spot starts from scratch and could be for anything, then any beer. It’s nice enough as a mood piece, with nice production values, but nice isn’t anything distinctive. Oh, and show me the 30.
Sentimental is spot on. None of the emotional value in this story is earned. It’s just a cinematographers showreel cut to a copywriter’s VO. Bland AF.
This is a really beautiful piece of work. I think what you’re all missing is that online advertising is an opportunity to tell stories – some of them short for people with short attention spans (like all of us in advertising), but some can be long and meandering and heartfelt and even though this wont appeal to everyone, I think it will find an audience and make them feel something like it did for me. Lovely work.
Maybe it’s because I’m locked up in Melbourne, and not able to see my dad Sunday, but this got me teary. Agree that it’s a tenuous link to the brand but maybe part of an overall rebrand? 🤷♀️
Toughen up, sunshine. Clearly lockdown had derailed your advertising judgement. You are being way too generous. It’s an ad for greeting cards at best.
This is beautiful storytelling and craft. It’s makes you feel and think
If you didn’t skip through that 3 min film, then you probably had to work on it.
Sooooooo, Sydney’s supposed lockdown produces another ad under a loophole. Meanwhile we happily spread covid in work environments across the state, seed it to the rest of OZ . No wonder everyone in Vic hates us right now. Selling beer for Father’s Day is not an essential service.
People aren’t going to get to the story when they fall asleep 10 seconds in and tap out. This looks and feels so generic and formulaic, so the “storytelling” is no longer relevant. Long-form is tough, you need a really fresh angle to make it interesting, this, unfortunately, doesn’t get there.
It just shows the agency has no connection or understanding of the brand. So up itself in so many ways.
Lol.
Oh wait, you’re serious.
Mate get off what ever you are on and maybe chill with a cold Great Northern.
Nobody knows what the f&@$ you are talking about!
I have tried Great Northern and it tastes like piss. So I won’t be doing that. Also, am I the only one who noticed that the line was originally ‘The beer from up here’ but suddenly became ‘The beer for up here’ no doubt due to the requirement that advertising be truthful?
Lovely. Landscapes are awe inspiring
As a Queenslander – not my beer
Yeeeewwww nice one Eddy and Al, very nice!
Thank god the beer is better than the campaign.
For a beer that tastes like a used teabag that’s been put in a soda stream, I’d say it’s pretty appropriate.
I mean, yep. i get it. Would love to get outdoors with my old man and have a northy. But FFS, this ad is as boring as a bat shitting in a sandwich and more than half the country can’t even leave their living room, let alone actually see their dad.
And if his last beer was a northo, I’d sue the fucking nursing home.
That is 1min of my life I won’t get back. Couldn’t watch any longer.
Hello Tinkerbell. Lion has a chance if this is the slop Asahi tosses up.
See Flip leaves and CUB stumbles.
What a missed opportunity. Time to bring back Andy?
You must have a boring life. Pretty pictures don’t tell a story. This is total rubbish.
… but it got me in the feels.
As a dad with almost grown and gone daughters, it got me.
(That said, it is too long… would love to see the 30sec.)
And to Confused: This brand is a juggernaut laying waste to most of Lion’s brands… Asahi have nothing to worry about.
So was VB. And 4XG
remember story telling? remember your dad? remember your youth? it stands out because it is more than a 15 second tiktok.
This beer is panther piss.
“if his last beer was a northo, I’d sue the fucking nursing home.”
Lol.
Ahh yes, I remember being blown away by a 30sec E&S kitchens ad last night purely by virtue of the fact it wasn’t a TikTok video. Five stars.
Stay away.
Nice One Eddy! A beautifully shot film, hit me right in the feelings and l love getting to see you flex your storytelling muscles in a campaign taking a risk on something thats not a 15-second Tiktok.
Maybe have a relax you grumpy old codgers? Go back to trying to figure out what Tiktok is and stay out of the comments.