• by Teresa Buyikian , December 19, 2024

Steakmas has arrived at Outback Steakhouse, and along with it, the Koala on the Walla. Introduced last holiday season, the Koala is sort of like Elf on a Shelf’s slightly creepy marsupial twin, monitoring (or one could say stalking) customer’s behavior to decide who has been naughty or nice enough to deserve a steak.

A new TV spot by Mischief shows the Koala making note of when people act like “bloody jerks” and are undeserving of steak this year. The viewer sees the Koala peering out an upstairs window at a man with a snow blower in the yard below. Except the man is blowing all the snow from his yard directly into his neighbor’s yard -- so no steak for him this year. Another woman slams the door on Christmas carolers (who happen to sing only the word “steak” repeatedly to the tune of "Deck the Halls), while another man is shown playing tug of war with his dog—using the stuffed Koala and ripping it apart. “Definitely no steak for him,” a voiceover says. The ad promotes specials on "the chain’s new Blooming French Onion Sirloin, Kingsland Pasta and an 18 oz Bone-In Rib Eye. The national TV and social media campaign will run through Jan. 2.

“The Koala on the Walla is like the Elf on the Shelf, if the Elf on the Shelf was an Australian marsupial that decided who’s naughty or nice enough for steak. So I guess pretty different actually,” commented Nathan Bennet, copywriter at Mischief, in an email to Marketing Daily.

This year the brand, along with Mischief, also brought the shifty Koala out of the small screen and into reality, with a human-size marsupial taking the place of mall Santas across America. The Koala at the Malla made appearances in cities like  Concord, North Carolina; Chattanooga; Roswell, Georgia; Orlando and Tampa, with the first 250 visitors at each location taking home the stuffed Outback-branded toy koala along with an Outback gift card. Appearances were promoted via TikTok and Instagram posts. 

The brand also added more limited-edition holiday merchandise to its online store, including Bloomin' ornaments, wrapping paper, holiday sweatshirts and the Koala on the Walla stuffed plush itself.

This year Bloomin Brands, the parent of Outback Steakhouse, closed 41 Outback locations across the country, including stores in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Hawaii and New Hampshire, citing low performance. Per Finance Buzz, the company is placing emphasis for 2025 on driving same-store sales, as well as remodeling older locations. The brand operates over 700 U.S. locations and more than 250 locations worldwide.