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Coca-Cola street teams drive 140,000-plus mobile bar code scans

Coca-Cola Co. used a street team to get consumers to interact with mobile bar code-enabled out-of-home posters and signage to drive engagement and trial of Coke Zero.

Coca-Cola was interested in the opportunity to align their brand identity with SpyderLynk?s SnapTags with the goal of redefining sampling, disrupting the status quo and proving what is possible using mobile technology. The brand had measured the time of consumer engagement for previous sampling campaigns at 10 seconds, but this year the SnapTag was able to help increase that to more than 1 minute and 30 seconds.

?Coke Zero took advantage of the SnapTag?s ability to enable any kind of engagement,? said Nicole Skogg, cofounder/CEO of SpyderLynk, Denver. ?Consumers snap and send SnapTags, no application download is required, so Coke Zero was able to reach a really wide range of consumers with both standard and smartphones.

?This enabled the brand to create a dialog with consumers, increase brand awareness and engagement, opt in consumers to an ongoing relationship, as well as growth in social media buzz,? she said.

SpyderLynk describes its SnapTags as an application-free, branded alternative to a 2D mobile bar code. It is a patent-pending technology.

Consumers use camera phones to snap and send a photo of the SnapTag to a designated short code or email address. The SnapTag response is returned to the consumer via a text or multimedia message.

Response messages back to consumers enable entry into promotions, the distribution of videos, mobile commerce and the initiation of a mobile relationship.

Coke Zero is it
Coca-Cola ran five different SnapTag campaigns featuring street teams during its tour that encompassed 500-plus events.

Each SnapTag activated a campaign-specific response via SMS or MMS.

Coke Zero?s instant-win campaign asked consumers to take a photo of a SnapTag on the spot and submit it to a short code to see if they have won.

Calls-to-action included ?4, 3, 2, 1?you could be a winner,? ?Are you in on Zero?? and ?Are you a winner? Snap a pic to see.?

For a Coke Zero scavenger hunt, multiple SnapTags were placed on signage throughout an event such as Burning Man.

One call-to-action was ?Zero in on a clue. Snap a pic for more info. Find all five SnapTags for your chance to win.?

Coke Zero?s SnapTag initiatives also included a teaser campaign, a viral campaign and a branded campaign.

Consumers that texted in received text messages in response such as ?Coke Zero has spoken, you win! Reply Z to see what?s possible with Coke Zero.? Others received picture messages.

From February through September, the five Coke Zero SnapTag campaigns drove 140,000 snaps or scans and reached a 12 percent activation rate.

Another primary objective of the campaign was creating buzz about the Coke Zero brand across social media.

Since the SnapTag campaigns launched, Coke Zero?s Twitter followers have grown by 153 percent, while its Facebook followers have grown 42 percent.

SnapTag, crackle, pop
A key element of the campaigns was Coca-Cola using street teams to talk up the SnapTag at events.

The signage communicated to the consumer to snap a picture and send it to the short code in order to participate.

?Since there isn?t an application download required, consumers found the SnapTags easy to engage and the programs fun to participate in,? Ms. Skogg said.

?This was important because it met the Coke Zero objective of engaging consumers and ended up creating an opportunity to convert SnapTag program participants to liking the brand on Facebook and following them on Twitter,? she said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Marketer

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