PepsiCo is driving awareness and participation in its ?Pepsi: The Game?  program via a mobile video campaign in India.

Pepsi chose 3rd Space?s platform of ad-supported video-on-demand portals to reach the end consumer in a market already hungry for mobile video downloads. Pepsi claims that it has always been at the forefront of creating innovative experiences and using mobile was the next logical step to reach its target audience. 

?3rd Space?s platform allows brands and advertisers to reach a consumer demographic through the very personal medium of mobile,? said Martyn Lock, chief operating officer at 3rdSpace, London. 

?Brands like the fact that they can place their campaigns into the pockets of their target consumers in a new and innovative way without detracting from the experience with unwanted banner ads, pop-ups and SMS campaigns seen in the past,? he said.

3rd Space delivers mobile services to carriers, brand advertisers and content owners.   

Mobile video popular in India
Statistics confirm that India has emerged as the second-biggest consumer of mobile Internet after the United States, according to data from 15,000 mobile Web sites monitored by Google. 

Vinay Goel, Google?s India product head, said the number of mobile Internet users has grown nearly five times in the last five years and the number of new data connections added globally this year will be higher on mobile than on the PC. 

Pepsi: The Game is an advertising campaign that asks consumers to determine the outcome of its star character Youngistaani Ranbir. 

The campaign consists of a series of advertisements combining television and mobile. 

The mobile spots are pre-roll video ads that appear on 3rd Space?s VOD platform, which is provided to wireless carriers in India. 

The ads ask consumers to provide answers to challenges set by the evil Game Master played by the original Khalnayak Sanjay Dutt, who challenges the hero to try and get the Pepsi from his lair.

As the audience gets the lead character closer to his Pepsi, those who provide correct answers will get fun prizes and have an additional opportunity to win a cash prize. 

3rd Space offers options to target by time, day and, more importantly, device.

Using the 3rd Space VOD service, mobile users navigate to the portal where videos are categorized into genres such as Health and Fitness, Children?s Cartoons, Cookery and Bollywood. 

The user can view or search content and download the video. 

3rd Space hand-picks all of the content and makes sure it is delivered to the device in a timely manner at the highest possible quality for that device, optimizing the customer experience and engagement.

?Produced on a scale of a Bollywood blockbuster with magical sets, edgy action-sequences and 'wow' special effects, The Game takes the concept of consumer engagement to a different level,? Mr. Lock said.

?There is a very strong demand for ad-funded content and the mobile user is fully prepared to engage with pre-roll video advertising when they interact with mobile operator portals delivered by 3rd Space,? he said.