Fanta plays with great mobile applications

Fanta (Coca-Cola Company) is about to launch a very innovative campaign on mobile across Europe at the end of January. Alongside the classic goodies (wallpapers, ringtones …), and a game, the wap site will offer original applications too.

The most amazing one must be its virtual tennis. It is the world’s first 3D augmented reality tennis game, in which two phones connect via bluetooth before playing a game of tennis, using a “court” printed from http://www.fanta.eu/. Players can then use their mobile devices as tennis racquets to hit a virtual ball whose movement is determined by the angle and position of the phone.

The HyperFactory has also used augmented reality to bring 3D Fanta crew on users’ mobiles. See Here.
An other application, the Fanta Stealth Sound System, devised by Ogilvy Advertising, uses high-pitched frequencies, only audible to the under 20s.
It includes wolf-whistles, warnings, pssts and sound tags for phrases like “cool”, “uncool”, and “let’s get out of here”.

A clever use of mobile and teenagers codes for sure. Just as Lynx (Axe) has been brilliantly doing this year with its multiple awarded “Get in There” mobile tools (See more details here).
The Fanta applications will be supported by print and online ads, on-pack promotions, point-of-sale material, viral marketing and PR. It is true this exciting marketing instruments desserve exposure. But will it be enough to guarantee Fanta’s success?
Not sure if you consider the potential frustration of all the teenagers that won’t be able to make them run.
Indeed, what a shame the Fanta applications have been developped for some Nokia handsets only.
Without taking into account the iPhone exception, today the ability to run mobile campaigns on all devices is a key factor to success. It is even mandatory if you want to contact a large audience. Sure you can target white collars via Blackberry, or equivalent terminals. But when you aim to engage the under 20s, 8 Nokia handsets might not be enough …
Via