Legal-Ade was a limited-time activation that included a summer-long legal defense fund for kids who’s lemonade stands got shut down due to old, arcane laws. The campaign not only got current/potential customers to engage and buy Country Time Lemonade. It also got them to advocate for law changes in states across the US.

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.

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 making it 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 for the summer.

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

Country Time isn’t just a lemonade – it’s a lemonade stand lemonade.

While the public may have forgotten about Country Time, it still had a deep affection for lemonade stands. This national tradition embodies the values of hard-work, entrepreneurship, and innocent fun. Ideals people hold strongly.

Lemonade stands was a space Country Time could own. Both contain something all-American, along with a bit of nostalgia. It also made an asset out of Country Time’s powdered form, differentiating it from its pre-made competition. Because who wants to pay a kid to make lemonade that’s already made?

An affront to lemonade stands was an affront to kids and the American values of good work habits, entrepreneurship and childhood innocence. This offered us a unique way into a big volume target of parents with young-ish kids.

Any kid whose lemonade stand ran into legal trouble was invited to contact Legal-Ade for help.

The hub of the campaign was a website where kids could get their fines and permits paid by Country Time if their lemonade stands were busted by the law.

To prove this unbelievable problem was real, the brand created a video featuring a real kid whose lemonade stand really got shut down, proving it was true and directing kids who needed help to the Legal-Ade website.

This started a huge conversation, a conversation the brand fed in a variety of ways like collateral and packaging. Another example: the brand ran a full-page newspaper ad commemorating when Colorado changed its law to be more lemonade stand friendly.

The effort started in early summer to coincide with kids getting out of school, and lasted through early fall.

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 once again had 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 with the brand.

Legal-Ade was covered in over 225 broadcast news segments.

The campaign sparked articles and editorials featured in publications covering business, law, pop- culture, etc.

Sentiment towards the brand was 98% positive. Affinity that 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 our spend 3000%

The foundation of this campaign was built on the insight that lemonade stands hold a special place in American culture. For Americans, lemonade stands are an unofficial rite of passage and kids’ first step into capitalism and entrepreneurship. With lemonade stands, kids learn the value of hard work and how to handle money. Lemonade stand also introduce kids to salesmanship, along with providing some innocent fun. Of course, these values aren’t exclusively American, but they are things that Americans take super personally, as if ingrained in the nation’s self-image.

From there the team deduced that an affront to lemonade stands would be an affront to all these things, creating a debate with only one side to be in. The brand staked that ground and drove the conversation from there.