Mobile Marketing Association Coverage
New York City - Coca-Cola's Sprite brand will launch a WAP-based mobile community service in the United States this month aimed specifically at teenagers, the company announced today.
The service, called The Yard, will allow users to create a network of friends who can share photos and messages, as well as get content like mobile phone wallpapers, games and video mobisodes content. The design of the application and the content is specifically aimed at teenagers because they are a key market for Sprite, according to Mark Greatrex, senior vice president for marketing communications for Coca-Cola.
The Yard launched June 1 in China, where Sprite is the leading sparkling beverage brand, and will launch June 22 in the United States. China and the United States are the leading markets for Sprite. Greatrex said the company plans to launch the service in other countries next year.
Teenagers are a particularly difficult segment to reach with a marketing campaign, Greatrex said, so Coca-Cola decided to reach them where they are - on their mobile phones. There could be some advertising to try to get youths to join The Yard, but much of the campaign will use shortcodes and PINs found on the caps of Sprite bottles. Some 10 billion Sprite bottles are sold annually.
Coca-Cola is working with all the U.S. carriers, but all that any user needs is a WAP-enabled phone and a data plan. Teenagers can text the word Yard to the shortcode 59666 to get a WAP link to the site. They then set up their tag name and password and invite others to join their network.
The Yard is only available on phones, although Greatrex said Sprite may add a Web component in the future. If the program is successful, it may extend to other Coca-Cola brands. Denis Sison, Sprite's global brand director, also said the company is working with online communities like Facebook and may integrate those services in the mobile offering in the future.
Greatrex announced the program at the Mobile Marketing Association's meeting in New York City.