In Romania, winter season doesn’t officially begin until our star singer Paul Ciprian Surugiu, more affectionately known as ‘Fuego’, says so. When Fuego’s most notable song, “Mother, Decorate the Christmas Tree” is heard, winter has officially come. Think of it as Romania’s version of George Michael’s “Last Christmas” or Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You.”

This artist, famous in Romania for his romantic songs, over time became an internet sensation. While Fuego is certainly beloved by the older generation, teens have elevated him to cult status. He is the country’s most memed person and artist; Romania’s very own Chuck Norris: famous to parents and ironically “internet-famous” among teens.

In a desperate attempt to prolong summer, we needed teens to prevent Fuego from singing his signature song. After all, if Fuego doesn’t sing, winter hasn’t yet come and Krushers Mocktails will remain on KFC’s menu.

Once teens entered the site, they were met by a waiting Fuego, Krushers Mocktail in hand, who playfully taunted his audience that he would start decorating the tree and singing his song. In order to delay him, teens chose from over 30 distracting tasks for Fuego to perform by using the search bar, which also happened to recognize teenage slang. The tasks ran as videos, where Fuego would complete Xbox challenges, attempt to master the Japanese skill toy kendama, work on puzzles, etc. Tasks lasted up to a minute with Fuego ramping up the pressure to extend summer between tasks while interacting with his online audience with the same playfulness he brings to his live shows.

An app counted the minutes users spent on the website, which directly translated to increased time for Krushers Mocktails on KFC’s menu. We spread word of the challenge on owned and influencer social media.

The campaign was both a cultural phenomenon and a driver of Krushers Mocktail sales.

Young audiences experienced a thrill from seeing Fuego not as the unfashionable musician of the older generation, but as a true peer-buddy who bridged the generational gap in the spirit of play. Fuego was able to endear himself to a new generation of Romanians while enjoying renewed exposure to wider audiences on popular TV shows and major news sites following the campaign.

In one month, Romanian teens successfully distracted Fuego, earning an extra 168 days of summer for Krushers Mocktails. The campaign had an impressive 74% organic social media reach and 17MM media impressions, including free media exposure on TV, radio, and other outlets – earning 3x the media investment.

Off-season Krushers Mocktails sales accounted for 30% of sales during summer and we proved that, in Romania, summer doesn’t have to end when the season changes.