This story began with a simple ask: Get people to look for Country Time in stores again in the summer high season. Based on Kraft Heinz performance benchmarks, the clients set a goal: Awareness: 500MM earned impressions; 70% positive sentiment.

Country Time – a classic American lemonade brand – had been in decline, losing buyers without replacing them. Taste, health and convenience headwinds had lured them away from the brand towards more interesting, natural, fizzier and pre-made alternatives. With this seemingly irreversible behavior shift, we had declined faster than the category in 2017.

When pressed in brand tracking, consumers recalled knowing Country Time for positive associations with summer and nostalgia with a hint of Americana. The problem was we’d been dark in marketing since the 1980’s so this goodwill was extremely latent.

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.

Our solution came from narrowing our positioning based on how real people were actually using us.

Turns out Country Time isn’t just any powdered lemonade, it’s lemonade stand lemonade. Over time, consumers themselves had made us synonymous with these iconic summer fixtures, but we hadn’t capitalized on this behavior. Here, Country Time’s product form was an asset, giving it an edge over its pre-made competitors.

What’s more, lemonade stands are a cherished American rite of passage that mirror the brand’s distinct values. And they offered us a unique way into a big volume target of parents with young-ish kids.

But, our greatest asset was under threat. We discovered that kids across America were being ticketed or fined for running lemonade stands. Arcane laws (and the wicked people who use them) threatened one of America’s favorite summer pastimes. Kids like Autumn Thomasson. And this happened more often than we think!

The tension we identified opened a motherlode of outrage that got people to rally behind these kids and the brand. Turns out, messing with kids is a cultural no-no everyone wants to fight.

When life gives you lemons, you make Lemonade.

With lemonade stands under attack, we jumped into action, helping these kids by doing what everyone, from the U.S. President on down, was doing. We got them lawyered up.

Legal Ade was created to represent kids, paying permits and fines for kids whose lemonade stands were shut down because of arcane laws. Doing so sparked a huge conversation with Country Time squarely in the center of it.

Country Time became a symbol of hope, for tiny entrepreneurs everywhere to sell lemonade freely. We brought the sweet taste of justice to homes across America. Overnight we went from forgotten dusty brand to revered consumer champion who will fight for your right to make lemonade, without the fear of being shut down by the law.

Country Time saw its biggest sales and share growth in 7 years. A clear brand role once again gave people a reason to buy us.

We more than doubled the pre-launch goal of 500M impressions, reaching almost 1.2 billion impressions. Of that, 2.3% actively engaged with the brand. Sentiment towards the brand was 98% positive driving affinity.

The campaign was covered in over 225 broadcast news segments and turned the paid media budget of $150k into over $10 million in earned media. It sparked editorials in business publications like Bloomberg, was front-page news on the Wall Street Journal, and featured in publications covering business, law, pop-culture, etc.

We 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 brand is continuing the effort for summer 2019.

Lemonade stands hold a unique and a dear place in American culture. For Americans, lemonade stands are a 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 stands 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 and are 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, and indeed an affront to America itself.