Coca-Cola: Mobile integral to 360-degree marketing strategy

By Dan Butcher

December 24, 2009

Sprite lets the ZOOZbeat drop

The Coca-Cola Co. has launched an application to promote its Sprite brand, emphasizing that mobile has become an integral part of its 360-degree marketing strategy.

Sprite has teamed with Zooz Mobile Inc., developers of a mobile music studio application, to launch Zoozbeat Sprite, the first iPhone application to be offered through Sprite’s ongoing Under the Cap promotion. When consumers enter Sprite cap codes via text message, they receive mobile rewards, including the new Sprite-branded, music-focused Zoozbeat application.

“If you’re a smart marketer today, you have to be looking at all the different ways you can communicate with people—traditional, in-store, out-of-home, online and mobile,” said Susan Stribling, Atlanta-based spokeswoman for Coca-Cola North America. “You have to be tapping into all of the resources you have available.

“Since the Sprite brand is focused on youth, we want to focus on mobile in particular, and this is the first big Under the Cap program we’ve launched in the U.S., which we’re looking to grow moving forward,” she said.

“If you’re not taking that 360-degree approach today, then you’re not marketing effectively.”

Alex Christie is one of the artists featured within the app

The Coca-Cola Co. is the world's largest beverage company, with nearly 500 sparkling and still brands. The company's portfolio includes Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid and Georgia Coffee.

Zooz Mobile is the developer of Zoozbeat, a music recreation and remix studio. Zoozbeat has been downloaded more than 1 million times since launching in the Apple App Store in November 2008.

Sprite recently signed on as the application’s sponsor.

The ZOOZbeat Sprite app is intended to engage young multicultural consumers

Sprite targets music-lovers with iPhones
Zoozbeat Sprite transforms iPhones into mobile music studios, letting users create their own tracks with downloadable beats and samples from music producers and artists such as Dallas Austin.

Zoozbeat Sprite works by shaking, tilting or tapping the iPhone screen to create and combine rhythmic and melodic tracks that can be uploaded to the Web for listening and sharing in mp3 format with friends.

Users can unlock additional beats within the application by twisting the cap off any Sprite or Sprite Zero bottle and texting in the keyword ZOOZ followed by the code under the cap.

Sprite will then provide consumers with a Zoozbeat Sprite code that can use be used to unlock more beats.

Additional artists being featured on the Zoozbeat Sprite application include hip-hop producer Khayree, Alex Christie, SY Scott, Novel, Sheed, Laron Brant and Spree Wilson.

The target demographic for the iPhone application is the same as overall target demographic for Sprite—multicultural youth ages 13-24.

“First and foremost it’s music, and music is something that’s very appealing to young people,” Ms. Stribling said. “This is something that’s completely on the go and accessible via their mobile phone, and young people have their iPhones attached to their wrist, so an app was a natural fit for that consumer.”

Coca-Cola will run mobile advertising across the mobile Web sites and within other iPhone applications to promote Zoozbeat Sprite.

For this campaign, Coca-Cola is primarily working with mobile ad network Millennial Media.

Coca-Cola launched the iPhone application as an enhancement to the larger Under the Cap program Sprite has been running.

Consumers participating in the program can opt in to receive SMS alerts and other messages from Sprite.

The Under the Cap program is promoted on packaging for the Sprite brand, encouraging consumers to text in to receive various rewards.

“We offer incentives to people who participate in the campaign using mobile technology,” Ms. Stribling said. “We didn’t have anything along the lines of what Zooz offers, an app focused on music and interactivity.

“We’re using the app to keep people engaged,” she said. “We will continue to add rewards to the pool, and this app is something new and fresh that people participating in the under-the-cap initiative can download.”

Comments on "Coca-Cola: Mobile integral to 360-degree marketing strategy"

1. stewart severino says:

   December 24, 2009 at 9:12am

   Using every channel does not mean you are marketing effectively. A lot of agencies and clients lose sight of 'who' their target market is AND what mediums they use the most to consume content. Dont just throw ideas and technologies out there because its '360', use the appropriate mediums because it makes sense for your audience. Great article but I dont want those clients and agency folks to see this article and say 'ooo, ahh', 'thats what we should be doing'. A lot of 'follow the leader' mentality is dangerous.