The Challenge
Tío Pelón is Costa Rica's most iconic rice brand, a staple in nearly every home for over 75 years. However, we faced a key challenge: in a low-interest, price-driven category, how do you give consumers a compelling reason to choose one bag of rice over another?
The Solution
In Costa Rica, it rains nine months out of the year, making wet phones a common issue. When it happens, people instinctively put their phones in rice—not because it’s scientific, but because it’s cultural. Instead of trying to change this behavior, Tío Pelón, Costa Rica’s most iconic rice brand, decided to embrace it. We introduced the S.O.S. Cellphone Bag: a phone-sized, recyclable rice pack designed to rescue wet phones. This transformed a cultural ritual into a branded act with purpose. And getting one, was as easy as buying a bag of your usual rice.
