Country Time Littlest Bailout
KraftHeinz Company
Issue 56 | September 2020
Agency
Leo Burnett Chicago
Creative Team
Global Chief Creative Officer Liz Taylor VP, Creative Director Pete Lefevbre Creative Director Ryan Stotts Senior Art Director Daniel Jaramillo Senior Copywriter Javier Valle
Production Team
EVP, Head of Production Mike Davidson SVP Producer Bridget Rose Producer Elizabeth Ritten
Other Credits
Chief Strategy Officer Aki Spicer EVP Account Director Mark Burgess EVP Strategy Kevin Lily Account Director Megan Collins Client Kraft Heinz Head of Family Beverages Andrew Deckert Country Time Brand Lead Nandita Vijayaraghavan
Date
July 2020
Background
Country Time is a powdered soft drink made by mixing with water. In other words, perfect for kids to make themselves and sell outside their homes on hot summer days.
A previous campaign had found that outdated laws meant kids had to pay permit fees or be fined in most of the American states. Legal-Ade set out to challenge the legislation.
Idea
Already established as a brand that supports young entrepreneurs, Country Time learned that Covid-19 was causing lemonade stands to close down. To help kids keep their businesses afloat in this difficult economic time, The Littlest Bailout Relief Fund was created.
Any young lemonade stand owner could apply for a bailout check and the lucky winners were rewarded with a little “juice” to help their business flow. The bailouts came in the form of a commemorative cheque and a $100 prepaid card.
Results
Continuing the success of Country Time’s Legal Relief fund, this campaign had over 1.1 billion earned media impressions and over 80% positive sentiment on social media.
To date, 22,000 young business owners have applied for The Littlest Bailout.
Our Thoughts
The comedic idea here is in juxtaposing the language and attitudes of big business with ten-year-olds running lemonade stalls. Back in 2018 it was one of the PR hits of the year, the story going global. Somebody somewhere had the wit to suggest that in this parallel universe, it would make perfect sense for Country Time to continue to represent the interests of the little guy. With so few good news stories around at the moment, this gave people a smile. And that, my friends, is the secret of building a brand. Not just being noticeable but being likeable.