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Coca-Cola?s Fuze fuses mobile calling, selfies, video in summer blitz

The Coca-Cola Company?s Fuze Iced Tea brand is rolling out a mobile blitz for its summer campaign, including a microsite where users can create selfies, send friends a phone call featuring pop culture icon Mr. T and download a variety of alarm and text tones.

Fuze is gearing up to introduce consumers to its new line of bold flavor drinks, and is tapping actor and former professional wrestler Mr. T to front the campaign on traditional and digital advertising formats. Mobile users will be able to access a slew of videos on its microsite, and are encouraged to upload photos with the new beverages with specific hashtags to have the brand add some special effect imagery.

?The core consumer for FUZE Iced Tea is largely millennial and it is critical for us to have a consistent relevant presence in the mobile space,? said a spokesman for Coca-Cola. ?Millennials are clearly the driving force behind mobile?s growth, with three quarters of FUZE consumers engaging via a mobile device.?

Mobile-optimized content
The summer campaign is very much targeted at consumers on mobile, which may speak to Fuze Iced Tea?s desire to emotionally resonate with a younger demographic.

The content centers on a new video starring Mr. T as a monarch butterfly who speaks to a woman drinking from a bottle of Fuze Iced Tea and reinforces the beverage?s bold taste. Individuals will be able to view this 30-second spot on the mobile-optimized microsite, FuzeBev.com.

Additional material will be rolled out to the site, including the ability to place an image of oneself in a headlock with Mr. T and take a ?Self-T? in front of a backdrop of flavor-charged backgrounds.

Fans who want to go above and beyond selfies may send their friends or family a phone call in which Mr. T will discuss the person?s most admirable traits in a light-hearted manner.

Fuze?s parent company Coca-Cola is no stranger to leveraging complementary phone calls in its marketing campaigns.

Prior to this year?s Mother?s Day, Coca-Cola uncapped mobile to help consumers reach their mothers worldwide by showcasing an interactive video about the relationship between parent and child, and offering viewers a free three-minute phone call to their mothers anywhere in the world upon completion of the video (see story).

Additionally, consumers can download various alarm tones and text tones from the site, with classic Mr. T phrases such as ?Your phone?s ringing, fool!? and ?Don?t press snooze, grab a Fuze!?

This offers a unique spin to the traditional summer campaigns for beverages, which typically feature television spots and a hashtag for social media posts. Fuze Iced Tea is bringing Mr. T directly to consumers and ensuring participants have a memorable experience that offers a lasting impression on their smartphones.

?The inspiration is really the brand itself, FUZE Iced Tea, which is all about being bold, unexpected and flavor-charged,? Coca-Cola?s spokesman said. ?And that?s exactly what Mr. T brings to the table.

?He is the perfect partner to help us raise awareness of the great taste FUZE offers and he embodies all the right characteristics of the brand. We wanted to create fun, unique content that our target would find entertaining with a well-known pop culture icon who has a clear connection with ?tea? ? Mr. T was clearly the right choice for us.?

Social media angle
While Fuze does offer two designated hashtags alongside the campaign, the brand is offering users an extra incentive to post images of their drinks.

Consumers who post using the #fuzify and #flavorchargedtea hashtags will see some flavor added to their original posts via colorful visual effects. This provides for a great cross-posting and sharing opportunity, ensuring that Fuze?s artwork is seen by even more people.

However, the beverage marketer must secure its technology doing the artwork touches in a way that does not allow for any mishaps.

In February, Coca-Cola was forced to suspend a campaign in which it responded to negative Tweets with the hashtag #MakeItHappy and turned posts into cheerful images after accidentally Tweeting out several sentences from Adolf Hitler?s Mein Kampf (see story).

Fuze Iced Tea?s butterfly-themed campaign with Mr. T will likely excite many younger fans and reach an even wider variety of consumers due to its mobile hook.

?We think FUZE consumers will be highly engaged with the iconic Mr. T and the unexpected bold entertainment value of the content,? the spokesman said. ?Not only will fans be able to enjoy the refreshingly bold taste of FUZE iced tea, but they will be able to share the experience directly with their friends.

?Leveraging Interactive Voice Response (IVR) via mobile enables us to take our consumer engagement to the next level. Mr. T?s iconic voice is perfect for this type of interactivity ? we?re able to bring his humorous presence to life in an entertaining way with real-time technology that is both accessible and easy to use for a broad range of consumers.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York