The Coca-Cola Company is tapping into cultural curiosity and influencer storytelling to launch Fanta Strawberry in Canada.

The campaign, “World-Tested-Ready-For-Canada,” leverages Canada’s “famously late-to-the-party reputation.” The brand partnered with a group of influencers who first tasted a version of Fanta Strawberry in countries around the world that have been offering the drink for years (since 1962, in some cases), including the U.S., the U.K., Mexico, Morocco, Japan and the Philippines.

WPP’s Open X, led by VML Vancouver and Montreal, took care of creative, influencer management and PR, while Publicis led media.

Jacques Blanchet, director of integrated marketing for Coca-Cola Canada, tells strategy that the creative reframes Fanta Strawberry’s global popularity as an elaborate, decades-long beta test.

“The launch of Fanta Strawberry reflects the brand’s ongoing strategy to expand its footprint with flavour-first offerings,” Blanchet says. “At Coca-Cola, we want to connect with our customers through cultural moments. With a campaign like ‘World-Tested-Ready-For-Canada,’ we wanted to give people a reason to give in to their wants and needs for an exciting new (in Canada) product, as well as fuel conversation and cultural curiosity by tapping into humour, nostalgia and authentic influencer storytelling that encouraged people to share their own Fanta experiences.”

The campaign hinged on influencer partners who each received a tongue-in-cheek “thank you” package from the fictional “Office of the Fanta World-Tested-Ready-For-Canada Program” that recognized their role in “perfecting” the drink for Canada.

Since launching last week, fans have been sharing their own Fanta Strawberry experiences. Fanta has responded with personalized brand responses.

Blanchet says the campaign led the brand to creators with genuine experiences to share who were “each able to tell a unique story and create engaging content. It was a fun mix of genuine experiences ultimately serving an outrageous gag.”

By providing real accounts of Fanta Strawberry being “test around the world,” the influencers enabled Coca-Cola to tell its story using authentic anecdotes and testimonials, he adds.

“Their natural reactions to our unboxing brought a playful, genuine energy that matched Fanta’s tongue-in-cheek tone,” Blanchet says. “They sparked an organic word-of-mouth movement by asking their fans if they had tried Fanta Strawberry abroad. As followers shared their own stories, Fanta joined the conversation with personalized thank yous to everyone that was part of their ‘global beta test.'”

The campaign is running in English and French and will be in market until late September.