It might sound laughable, but the irreverence of Uber Eats’ petition to rename Australia’s capital city to CanBEERa has got people talking. And this has brought attention to Uber Eats’ recent focus on championing Canberra-based beers offered through their delivery service.

The campaign, led by Special PR, generated widespread media coverage. Awareness was bolstered by a range of mixed media marketing campaigns, including roving boards and a town crier, which were used to carry the petition to Parliament ahead of International Beer Day on 4 August.

The tongue-in-cheek petition never intended to take itself seriously; it simply aimed to garner widespread attention.

“With the catchy Town Crier and the ‘Welcome to CanBEERa’ sign outside Parliament House – it was the perfect backdrop for our petition and to get people outside of Canberra talking about it,” says Alex Bryant, managing director of Special PR in Australia.

Uber Eats’ updated beer selection for Canbeera

Uber Eats is shining the spotlight on local Canberra breweries. Within weeks of the campaign, Uber Eats launched its offering in Canberra to help local bottle shops power their deliveries in the ACT. Uber Eats have also made Canberra-based beers available to order in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

“The nation’s capital has an outsized contribution to award winning domestic beer production and our petition to rename it CanBEERa has brought national attention to these incredible brewers that we hope will translate into national demand for their quality products,” says general manager retail, Uber Eats ANZ, Lucas Groeneveld.

Uber Eats has also made some big strides in liquor delivery, commencing last mile delivery and growing its beer selection by double digits in the last 12 months.

The petition to rename Australia’s capital to CanBEERa was the first campaign by Special PR, Special Australia’s new offering. It continues Uber Eats’ history of always light-hearted campaigns, which often feature celebrities or involve eye-catching advertising.

And as to whether or not the petition will be successful? I wouldn’t hold my breath.

New research by Sefiani has highlighted the importance of a renewed focus on building brand belonging with consumers and employees. 

The study, which investigated understandings and experiences of brand belonging in over 1000 Australian employees and consumers, in addition to 23 senior corporate communicators, found that 46 percent of consumers and 24 percent of employees were more cynical about brands post-COVID.

Brand belonging: the challenge

Communicators now face the challenge of shifting stakeholders’ relationship with brands from transactional to emotional, thereby supporting long-term brand loyalty and belonging. Fostering brand belonging is paramount, with Sefiani’s study finding that 92 percent of employees and 61 percent of consumers agree that feeling a sense of belonging with a brand is important. However, over a third (39 percent) of communicators are unsure if their customers have a sense of brand belonging with their company.

There is also a mismatch between perceived and reported senses of belonging in employees: despite 70 percent of corporate communicators believing their employees have a sense of belonging with the company, almost half reported they were open to moving jobs if presented with the right opportunity.

Fostering expectations

For consumers, who have higher expectations of brands after having turned to them for security and stability during COVID, communicators must deliver personalised and speedy responses. Sefiani’s study found that 45 percent of consumers said brands took too long to respond to issues or trends, with generic communication being the biggest barrier to their belonging.

Communicators must also have a deep, up-to-date understanding of their audience and the socioeconomic conditions affecting them, such as the cost-of-living crisis and job insecurity. This allows businesses to offer fit-for-purpose products tailored to their audience’s personalised needs.

For employees, communicators must facilitate open communication. Transparency of business performance and finances is particularly important for employees, whose livelihoods, already strained by inflated costs of living, rely on these metrics.

Working conditions are also important, with 72 percent of employees believing that the most important factor in belonging was a good relationship with their colleagues and peers.

Implementing research insights

Given the importance of personalised responses for consumers, and their expectation of swift response times, AI presents one opportunity for facilitating brand belonging for consumers. Sefiani’s report noted that AI’s capabilities for predictive analysis, real-time personalisation and hyper-local personalisation were significant draws of the technology. AI is already heavily embedded in marketing, such as in service chat bots.

Social media is another avenue for building brand belonging, with consumer respondents identifying it as their primary channel for meaningfully conversing and sharing feedback with brands. Video content on platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are particularly useful for listening to consumer feedback. 

Listening to feedback is also vital for ensuring a feeling of brand belonging in employees. This communication must be not only transparent but constructive and open. 

Concerningly, however, Sefiani’s report found that only 24 percent of corporate communicators were investing in two-way communication with employees. Two-way communication is especially important in allowing organisations to align their behaviours with the needs and values of their employees, facilitating long-term brand loyalty and belonging.

The full report and its insights can be found here.