At the end of September, Nathan Apodaca's car broke down while he was driving to his shift at the local potato factory.
This wasn't the first hurdle Apodaca had faced in 2020. The Idaho local was living in a caravan and at the time he was constantly dealing water and electricity outages.
When his car broke down, Apodaca, also known as @420Doggface208 on TikTok, took it in his stride. He pulled out his longboard and continued his journey to work.
During his ride, he recorded a 22-second TikTok video of himself, skateboarding down the road, lip-syncing to Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams', while sipping on a bottle of Ocean Spray Cran-Raspberry Juice.
The video immediately went viral and the #OceanSprayChallenge was born.
The original video has since amassed over 66 million views on TikTok.
What Apodaca could never have known, while he was casually recording the video, was that he was about to tap into the zeitgeist. His video was exactly what we needed after months of varying degrees of lockdown and rising levels of uncertainty and anxiety.
The 37-year-old also couldn't have known he was about to be at the centre of one of the most successful viral marketing campaigns of the decade.
On October 5, just a little over a week after the video began gaining traction, Fleetwood Mac frontman Mick Fleetwood joined TikTok and posted his own version, complete with the Ocean Spray bottle.
At 73, Mick Fleetwood is not your average TikTok user. He wouldn't have come across the video organically and while we can't say for sure what happened behind the scenes, it's feasible that TikTok's people got in touch with Fleetwood's people and they came up with a plan to keep the viral moment going.
On October 7, Ocean Spray gifted Apodaca a brand new car.
The seemingly wholesome move, however, came with a catch. The car was filled with bottles of Ocean Spray, ensuring their product was front and centre of any coverage of the moment.
And the colour of the car? A cranberry red.
On October 14, Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks joined TikTok and posted her own version of the video.
In the video, Nicks sits in on a piano stool, tieing up the laces on her skates
Sitting beside her skates? A bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice.
Again, Stevie Nicks is unlikely to have made this video on her own volition. There would have talks behind the scenes, negotiations, possibly money changing hands.
In the weeks that have followed millions of other people, including Australian celebrities, have posted their own version of the #OceanSprayChallenge.
A month on from when it was originally posted, Apodaca's video is still the most talked about viral video in the world.
Ocean Spray, a brand which for a long time has been seen as a nifty treatment for urinary tract infections, is suddenly everywhere. It's now a brand synonymous with freedom. No traditional marketing or advertising campaign could garner these kind of results.
Fleetwood Mac, a band that most Generation Z-er's would not have heard of a month ago is back at the top of the charts. 'Dreams' is the anthem of 2020.
Millions of people who weren't on TikTok are now aware of its most viral video and the pop culture moment it created.
And Apodaca now has a brand new car and a line of merchandise.
What started out as earnest video has turned into the most successful, and possibly the most profitable, marketing campaign of 2020.
And we've all been a part of it.
Listen to the latest episode of The Spill, Mamamia's daily pop culture podcast.
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