You know you have absolutely nothing to say about your beer when you have to repeatedly manufacture parochial and meaningless surveys to drum up a bit of local media coverage. And that has become a regular event for CUB’s Great Northern Super Crisp Lager .

We’ve had “what men wanted for Valentine’s Day”, “what men preferred to eat with their beer” and “what men thought of when they saw beer”. Last December it was headlines telling us that running out of beer was a Queensland man’s worst nightmare. This last one was based on asking 1000 Queensland men three questions:
1. After which summer outdoor activity would you most like to enjoy a cold beer?
2. Where do you most enjoy drinking beer in summer?
3. What would be the only thing worse than running out of beer on a hot summer day? (The majority answered “there’s nothing worse than running out of beer on a hot summer day”).
Hey presto, you have an angle for a meaningless beer story for a news-starved mainstream media.

You can read – or watch – a Media Watch episode about this type of news story here.

At least in a change of form the release notes that this is actually from CUB. That said, I did receive emails from North Queenslanders during the Byron Bay brouhaha pointing out that Great Northern runs ads in Townsville and Cairns calling itself the ‘beer from up here’, even though it is produced at Yatala, which – Google Maps tells me – is actually just closer to Melbourne than it is to Cairns. It could just as accurately be described as the southern capital’s ‘local drop’ as Cairns. CUB is never one to let truth get in the way of a story. [MK]

MEDIA RELEASE

13 March 2013

Brisbane blokes pick Crocodile Dundee as their ideal drinking buddy

As Brisbane blokes prepare to the mark the start of the footy season with a beer with mates, a new survey has shown Crocodile Dundee to be their ideal drinking buddy.

The crocodile-wrestling, wise-cracking Aussie larrikin topped a Great Northern poll which asked Queensland and Northern New South Wales men which fictional character they would most like to have a beer with.*

Great Northern co-creator and Carlton & United Breweries Queensland General Manager Cameron Levick said it was no surprise Paul Hogan’s famous character topped the list.

“For many Brisbane blokes having a beer is something you do with mates – whether it’s at the pub, club, back deck or TV room,” Mr Levick said.

“According to our survey, the person they’d most like to enjoy a beer with is Mick “Crocodile” Dundee.

“His rugged and quick-witted outdoor persona is something I think Brisbane blokes relate to and makes him the perfect mate to down a beer with.”

Mr Levick said Crocodile Dundee (24%) came out on top of Homer Simpson (19%), James Bond (18%) and Indiana Jones (16%).

The fictional Aussie legend also beat other iconic characters including Darth Vader (7%), Batman (6%) and Santa Claus (5%).

Mr Levick said Great Northern was a beer specifically brewed to celebrate the best of Queensland’s vast and varied great outdoors.

“Great Northern is the perfect brew for a rugged outback hero like Mick Dundee and for any Aussie bloke who enjoys the great outdoors,” he said.

“More and more men are making Great Northern their beer of choice because it’s a great local drop produced in Queensland, by Queenslanders, for Queenslanders.

“Over the last year, it has enjoyed double digit sales growth in key Queensland markets, reflecting its growing popularity among beer lovers.”**

* The Great Northern poll of 1,000 men from Queensland and Northern New South Wales was conducted by Pure Profile and weighted according to
population.

**Source: CUB Enterprise Reporting.