Coca-Cola makes mobile push for Fanta
Making a racket on mobile
Coca-Cola Europe will target tech-savvy consumers mostly in their 20s with two new mobile applications created to push its Fanta soft drink.
The applications will launch across Europe starting late January, supported by print and online ads, on-pack promotions, point-of-sale material, viral marketing and public relations. One application is called Fanta Virtual Tennis and the other is the Fanta Stealth Sound System.
“This is literally about bringing more play into people´s lives,” said Prinz M. Pinakatt, interactive marketing manager at Coca-Cola Europe. “At the core of Fanta is playful imagination and this is a perfect reflection of that.” The Fanta Virtual Tennis application, from mobile marketing firm The Hyperfactory´s New York and Auckland, New Zealand offices, is claimed as the world´s first 3D augmented reality tennis
Players take their position on either side of a printed game board available for download at http://www.fanta.eu. Fanta
Fanta banter
Once in position, the 3D augmented technology recognizes the game board and lets players see what looks like a full-size tennis court on their mobile-phone screens.
Players can use their mobile devices as tennis racquets to hit a virtual ball whose movement is determined by the angle and position of the phone.
Fanta Virtual Tennis offers a two-player mode and a single-player practice mode where the player hits the ball off a wall.
The game was tested earlier this year in New York´s Times Square.
The game can be downloaded from the mobile site at http://m.fanta.eu.
Consumers using the Nokia N82, N95, N95-3NAM, N95-8GB, 6120 Classic, 6121 Classic, N81 and N81 8GB handsets can play the game. “We believe that in the next six months about 25 percent of our target audience will be able to play that game,” Mr. Pinakatt said. Ogilvy Advertising, London, designed the second application.
The Fanta Stealth Sound System uses high-pitched frequencies that are audible only to young consumers who can hear them better than people over the age of 20.
The application is based on the technology supporting the Mosquito Teen Repellant invented by Howard Stapleton. It is meant for young people to communicate with each other without adults hearing.
Those who download the application – currently available at http://m.fanta.eu – will hear sound tags such as wolf whistles, warnings and pssts. There are also tags for words and phrases popular with youth, such as “cool,” “uncool” and “let´s get out of here.”
In essence, Fanta is giving those who download a coded language of their own. Created in Germany almost 60 years ago, Fanta is now one of the top five brands in Coca-Cola Europe´s portfolio. It is an orange soft drink.
Coca-Cola first used mobile to promote Fanta in Germany five years back with logos and ringtones. A WAP portal followed. The new mobile applications are the most ambitious mobile push for Fanta, especially the tennis app.
“We clearly want to convey the idea of playful imagination and bring about more playfulness in your life,” Mr. Pinakatt said. “Normal life can be quite boring and this game can make it more playful.
“In this case, it´s not that we´ve plugged in a CRM [component],” he said. “Right now it´s a tennis game. We might come up with a basketball game, a football game so that local markets can use.”