COUNTRY TIME LEMONADE RETURNS TO TV
Published in Reel Chicago, May 2015
Although Kraft’s Country Time Lemonade commercials from Chicago’s VSA Partners contain hardly any dialogue and barely a logo, they achieve significant impact for the brand’s first major marketing effort in 14 years.
Touting the slogan, “Make Time for Country Time,” the series of five spots is part of an integrated campaign that VSA launched with a redesign of Country Time’s website in March and continues with an experiential “Summer Mobile Porch” tour this summer.
The work was developed by VSA’s ECD Bob Winter and strategy director Joe Nio, produced by the LA office of Swedish-based Acne, directed by Acne’s Tobias Granström and edited by Beast’s John Dingfield, who called the footage “absolutely gorgeous.”
The message of each commercial explains little more than how to use Country Time’s new, concentrated liquid form — “Flip, Pour, Stir.” But when combined with scenes of an afternoon by the lake and a soothing acoustic guitar track, it creates a mood that celebrates the brand as both a good old-fashioned refreshment and a trusted member of the family.
“We were trying to capture a feeling of freedom that comes with this moment that we’re calling ‘Country Time,’” explains Winter.
“That moment you experience with your kids when kids are completely free to be kids.”
In addition to trees, caterpillars and tire swings, the concept is enhanced by the brand’s perception in the American marketplace.
“A lot of people credit Country Time with inventing lemonade,” Winter continues. “We’d be crazy not to tap into the power that the brand had.”
VSA combined this quasi-mythical crowd sourced narrative with the drink’s quasi-homemade preparation process to connect with the mothers who represent Country Time’s largest target demographic.
”She had to make it and put her stamp into it and that was a sign of her own love and care,” explains Nio. “There was a ritual — the pitcher, the glasses that go with that pitcher — and she often put lemon slices into the lemonade.”
While exploring variations on an animatic during pre-production, VSA noticed the remarkable “power of the images” in “the absence of the voice” and decided to go with it.
In addition to Country Time, VSA has launched several integrated marketing projects for clients including Mack Trucks and Facebook during its full-service evolution over the past few years. The agency’s proven knack for creating design solutions, which are often meant to last for years, uniquely lends itself to the comparatively short life spans of advertising campaigns.
Nio, who worked at Leo Burnett before joining VSA, credits this expertise for helping to create VSA’s ongoing success.
“We believe, as a design driven branding and marketing agency, that you solve the problem collaboratively with clients from start to finish,” he explains. “Our creatives were with us from the beginning.”
CREDITS
VSA Partners Bob Winter, Partner, Exec Creative Director Joe Nio, Associate Partner, Strategy Director ACNE Exec Producer - Richard Björlin Director - Tobias Granström Beast Chicago Exec Producer - Peter Hullinger Producer - Lauren Roth Editor - John Dingfield Company 3 (Post Production / Color House) Producer - Lauren Roth Colorist - Tyler Roth Method (Online House) Producer - Lauren Roth Online Artist - Ryan Wood