Users join the Sprite community by texting a code that returns a link to the mobile site.

Users join the Sprite community by texting a code that returns a link to the mobile site.


SMS, Bluetooth, WAP, connecting the consumer in an engaging fashion to the brand that has allowed marketers to take a calculated and measured risk in emerging media. The next major growth area will be mobile internet such as Coke has done with Sprite. Bringing me to my point; most all digital signage will benefit from the application of mobile communication and allow for solid metrics on an added bonus feature....and can even help to push the industy forward as a whole if done with caution and education to the general public consumer.

Sprite Launches Mobile Social Net
June 06, 2007
By Brian Morrissey


NEW YORK Coca-Cola continued its aggressive forays into digital media with the launch of a mobile social network aimed at teens and young adults.

Called The Sprite Yard, the mobile community application allows users to set up a profile, send messages and photos to friends, and download content like visual ring tones and animated mobisodes. The Sprite Yard launched in China earlier this month and will go live in the U.S. on June 22. Those two markets represent over half of Sprite's sales, a Coke executive said.

Users join the community by texting a code ("YARD" in the U.S. market) that returns a link to the mobile site.

In a press conference at the Mobile Marketing Forum, Coke executives painted The Sprite Yard as a long-term commitment from the company and a sign of its shift from one-way messaging in traditional media to community-based bonding in digital channels.

"We're looking at an opportunity to move from impressions to consumer connections," said Mark Greatrex, svp, marketing communications and insights at Coke. "We think we're on the cusp of transforming the marketing model."

Coke last July remade Coke.com as a YouTube-like community. After initially disavowing the Diet Coke-Mentos viral video sensation, the company has fully embraced it, running subsequent contests on Coke.com and YouTube, and even bringing its creators, Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, to its headquarters. Greatrex called it a "wonderful viral marketing phenomenon."



Full Story from Ad Week