News that Coca-Cola Co. is launching a new mobile social network called “Sprite Yard” is all over the intertubes. Information Week, Online Media Daily, RCR Wireless News and Adweek are all running with it.
According to RCR Wireless News:
Coca-Cola Co. is moving aggressively onto the mobile marketing playground with a kind of mobile MySpace centered on the company’s Sprite brand.
The soft drink titan plans to launch a worldwide community allowing users to create profiles and exchange photos and messages, executive Mark Greatrex said during the keynote address at the Mobile Marketing Forum in New York. The free downloadable application, dubbed “Sprite Yard,” will be available via a short code and also offer wallpapers, games and video clips.
The effort launched in China last week and is set to launch in the United States beginning June 22. To access the application, U.S. consumers can text “YARD” to 59666 and receive a reply with a WAP link to access the Sprite Yard for the fist time.
“Sprite will be our pioneer in the fast-moving world of mobile marketing,” Greatrex told the audience. “We believe Sprite Yard is the most comprehensive mobile marketing effort on the planet.”
Adweek reports that Aegis Group digital agencies Molecular and Marvelous are behind the effort.
This marketing operation is typically the one to which Chinese people will answer, especially the youth, & could be therefore forseen as a huge success if the price stays affordable. KFC already made something similar some months ago in the Mainland. What I have no clue is why the Sprite brand was chosen and not Coca-cola itself.