Country Time Littlest Bailout

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A previous campaign had found that outdated laws meant kids had to pay permit fees or be fined in most of the American states.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.