Country Time is a classic American brand of lemonade but it had been dormant and off the air since the 80’s. During that time, Country Time languished in irrelevance and decline, overtaken by newer, fizzier, pre-made, bottled competitors.

The summer of 2018 was do or die time for the brand. This was not a moment to just deliver a quick promotional boost, this was a moment to boldly restate our relevance. To get people re-engaged, we had to bring latent love for Country Time to the surface and etch a valued role for the brand only we could play.

Strategically, the brand rooted itself in lemonade stands, an American rite of passage.

The brand discovered that due to old, arcane laws, kids were getting busted and fined for running lemonade stands. Knowing that lemonade stands were under attack, the team saw an opportunity to make Country Time relevant. How? By creating affinity - making Country Time a symbol of hope fighting the outrage of lemonade stands being shut down by the law.

So, Country Time took a stand and helped these kids by doing what everyone, from the U.S. President on down, is doing. It got them lawyered up.

Legal-Ade was created to represent kids, for instance, paying their permits and fines if their lemonade stands were shut down because of local legal overreach.

An affront to lemonade stands was an affront to against kids and the American values of good work habits, entrepreneurship and childhood innocence.

Country Time created affinity and relevance by putting itself on the right side of a debate where there was only one side to be on.

The key message: Country Time was taking a stand for kids’ rights to run lemonade stands.

This offered us a unique way into a big volume target of parents with young-ish kids.

The only asset was an online video. This video set up the problem, proving that the laws against lemonade stands were ridiculous, yet true. It then positioned Country Time’s Legal-Ade as the solution. A key visual was created from the video. Both were distributed to the press and reinforced on social media.

The brand created a legal defense fund. Through our website, kids/parents could get their fines and permits paid by Country Time if their lemonade stands were busted.

Because kids getting fined for running lemonade stands was unbelievable, the brand created a video proving it was true, featuring a real kid whose lemonade stand really got shut down. The video also pointed kids who needed help to the Legal-Ade website.

A huge conversation ensued. Different people had different explanations for this legal over reach, from creeping liberal government to, conservative “law and order.” But everyone was united on the side of kids and the brand.

The effort started in early summer when kids get out of school. The conversation then took on a life of its own lasting through autumn.

The campaign, and word of Country Time’s stand, scaled nationally and even internationally.

Country Time saw its biggest sales and share growth in 7 years. With a clear brand role, people now had once again a reason to buy the brand.

The pre-launch goal was 500M impressions. The campaign more than doubled that, reaching almost 1.2 billion impressions. Of that number, 2.3% actively engaged.

Legal-Ade was featured on all 3 national American morning shows and covered in over 225 broadcast news segments.

Sentiment towards the brand was 98% positive. Affinity, which led to purchase.

Legal-Ade turned outrage into action, leading to changes in the law in Colorado, New York, Texas, Minnesota and other states, allowing kids to freely run lemonade stands. This effect is still spreading.

The campaign turned the paid media budget of $150k into over $10 million in earned media, amplifying the media spend 3000%

The brand is continuing the effort for summer 2019.