Luzianne Tea: A Refreshing Return to Real-Life Connection

Yesterday, I bought a flip phone.

I’ve spent the last decade building campaigns designed to capture screen-time attention, but — like millions of others — I’m desperate to scroll less.

This summer, the kids in my neighborhood were already one step ahead of me. July felt like 1997: kids racing tricycles, playing capture the flag and biking down the street until streetlights flickered on.

I kid you not, a ten-year-old stopped to pet my golden retriever and sighed, “I’m so tired of scrolling."

He’s not alone.

Sales of “dumbphones,” vinyl records, Polaroid cameras and screen-blocking apps like Brick are surging. Generations raised on infinite feeds are actively retreating from them.

(I've always been into the latest tech.)

Wading through today’s tidal wave of generic AI copy and images, it can feel like all we do some days on social media is ask, “Human or AI?” Personally, I think if a brand can’t be bothered to craft its own story, why should a consumer bother to engage?

As our co-founder Brian Easter puts it: “The backlash is coming. Marketers and advertisers need to be ready. Not just for anti-AI sentiment, but for a world where we all just really want and need to be human. Brands that get that will succeed. Brands that don’t will reap short-term wins and long-term losses.”

My hot marketing take: we’ve pushed so far into the digital world that the next major frontier is spinning back into the physical one.

I was noodling on this nostalgic lens when Luzianne Tea asked us to help launch their gallon jugs of fresh-brewed iced tea. The refrigerated aisle is more competitive than our neighborhood game of capture the flag, and we did not want this launch to become another drop in the saturated bucket of beverage ads.

We wanted to build, tell and bring to life an actual story. A 124-year legacy brand that used to deliver with horse and buggy certainly deserved it. And in a world where so much brand interaction happens on a screen, we wanted to create something more personal. Something that brought people together, tapped into a little nostalgia and reminded them of the fun of connecting just because. After a few caffeine-infused brainstorms, our team thought: “Well… what’d be more fun than pairing a big artist with a tiny porch?”

Drawing inspiration from NPR’s Tiny Desk, “Sweet Tea Sessions” was born: an intimate, front-porch concert hosted at a historic Atlanta home. The idea got even sweeter when Grammy-nominated Alabama soul band St. Paul & The Broken Bones came on board as our headliner.

It was a classic, sweltering May afternoon in Georgia, but the second frontman Paul Janeway’s voice echoed across the lawn, the heat vanished from our minds. Draped in a glittering gold robe, Paul transformed the yard into pure Southern magic while guests kicked back in lawn chairs, sipping ice-cold Luzianne.

In the spirit of nostalgia, we also created something people could enjoy at home, at their own pace. A nine-person film crew captured the performance with studio-grade audio, producing a flagship long-form video for YouTube.

Music is all about the next generation, so we layered on a giving initiative, Gallons for Good. For every 1,000 samples poured on Luzianne’s summer “Sip Easy Tour,” one musical instrument was pledged to Hungry for Music for a school program in need. The band signed the first instrument, a red guitar.

Seventy-four thousand sips later, we presented a fleet of brand-new instruments to band students at Atlanta’s Benjamin Banneker High School, alongside that signed red guitar. 11Alive News was on site to cover the moment, making our little porch concert part of a much bigger story.

People are tired of being marketed at. Give them something to show up for, something they can taste, hear and hold, and they’ll gladly put down their phones. More importantly, they’ll tell someone about it.

Build an authentic moment and the metrics take care of themselves. Because nothing is more refreshing than the real thing. And if buying a flip phone has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes the best way to connect is to disconnect.

Want something sweeter? Be sure to check out the Luzianne Case Study!