BrewDog's new chief marketing officer, John Beasley, says the brewer has "a mountain to climb" as he sets out his plan to return the brand to health.

Beasley's candid framing signals how far the Scottish brewer's reputation has slipped. The brand has lost consumer trust over recent years, the new CMO acknowledges, and winning it back will require sustained work rather than a quick reputational fix.

His appointment marks a fresh marketing chapter for BrewDog, a brand once celebrated as one of the fastest-growing craft beer businesses in the world. In more recent years, the company has found itself better known for controversy than for the campaigning, challenger-style marketing that originally built its audience.

That history matters for Beasley's mandate. Trust, once eroded, takes far longer to rebuild than to lose — a dynamic every incoming marketing leader inherits but few state as bluntly as Beasley does here. By describing the task openly as "a mountain to climb," he is setting expectations both internally and externally that recovery is a long-term project, not a single campaign.

For a brand whose equity was built on bold, provocative marketing, the strategic challenge is twofold. Beasley must repair relationships with consumers who have drifted away from the brand, while also re-establishing credibility with the wider market. The two tasks are connected: a brand that consumers distrust cannot simply advertise its way back to favor.

The appointment of a CMO willing to speak in these terms also says something about BrewDog's current posture. Companies in growth-at-all-costs mode rarely admit to reputational damage. An acknowledgment of that scale suggests the business has moved into a recovery phase, where marketing's role shifts from amplifying attention to rebuilding confidence.

Beasley's plan to return the brand to health will be watched closely across the drinks sector. BrewDog remains one of the most recognizable names in craft beer, with a distribution footprint and retail presence that many rivals envy. Restoring trust with that scale of platform in place is a very different proposition from rebuilding a brand in decline.

The question now is execution. Rebuilding trust demands consistency across product quality, workplace culture, communications and corporate behavior — areas where marketing can lead but cannot act alone. Beasley's willingness to name the problem in public gives him a clear starting point.

For marketers at other consumer brands, BrewDog's situation is a case study in the cost of reputational drift and the patience required to reverse it. Whether Beasley can make the climb — and how quickly — will shape the next phase of one of Britain's most scrutinized consumer brands.