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Coke Zero plunges deeper into mobile activations targeting college sports fans

Following Coke Zero?s success earlier this year with a mobile-enabled interactive campaign dubbed ?drinkable,? the brand is taking another sip and bringing it back in a bigger way ? including several key engagements via the Shazam application ? for college football season. 

In the spring, Coca-Cola enabled mobile users to interact with television ads for Coke Zero as a bottle poured the beverage first on the bigger screen before migrated to the screen in consumers? hands and then transformed  into a coupon, with the effort tied to the NCAA Men?s Final Four. The new effort showcases the brand?s sponsorship of the ESPN College GameDay pre-game show and adds new mobile engagements such as a drinkable football jersey, a mobile challenge game and social content that can be activated via the Shazam app. 

?Our 'drinkable' activation with Shazam during NCAA was extremely successful, and we expect this to be the case for college football as well,? said Emily Johnson, a Coke Zero spokeswoman. 

?In its second iteration, the 'You Don?t Know Zero ?Til You?ve Tried It' campaign is coming to college football with a fully integrated marketing campaign tied to a national platform, the most popular pre-game show on television ? ESPN?s College GameDay,? she said. ?We are greatly expanding on the 'drinkable' elements of the campaign, giving our consumers even more avenues to try Coke Zero.

?College football fans today watch the game on multiple screens ? TV, social media, etc. ? so it?s crucial to seamlessly intertwine our broadcast and digital content.?
 
Drinkable advertising
The ?You Don?t Know Zero ?Til You?ve Tried It? campaign is built around reaching college football fans across multiple screens and giving them a chance to sample Coke Zero. 

The original ?drinkable? ad first shown during the NCAA Men?s Final Four will launch the campaign?s extension into football. 

New are several TV spots featuring well-known football announcers that will also have a second-screen activation via the Shazam app, with viewers able to open the app to redeem a mobile coupon for a free bottle of Coke Zero as the screen shows the beverage being poured on the big screen. 


Another key element of the campaign is a 26-by-36 foot billboard that dispenses Coke Zero at a free sampling station after running it through a giant contour bottle and 4,500 feet of straw tubing. 

Mobile extensions
Football fans on campus can also try Coke Zero through additional ?drinkable? elements. 
A Drink Me! drinkable jersey featuring home team colors will be provided to select students. The logo on the shirts can sync with the Shazam app. Those who Shazam the logo will get a free bottle of Coke Zero. 

The Coke Zero Sip-Off Drinkable Challenge enables fans from opposing teams to compete to finish a virtual Coke Zero first. The microphone in their smartphone becomes a straw, and the Coke Zero on their screen disappears with each ?sip? they take. 

Winners will get a free bottle of Coke Zero and other prizes.


Social activation
There will also be a social activation, with Coke Zero sharing social content from ESPN College GameDay from the fans sitting at Section Zero, a Coke Zero-sponsored premium seating section. 

The social content will give fans online another chance to use their Shazam app to receive a free bottle of soda. Consumers can follow on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #sectionzero. 

Coke Zero's drinkable advertising campaign was developed in partnership with Ogilvy & Mather New York. 
This is the third year that Coke Zero has been sponsor of ESPN?s College GameDay.

?Coke Zero?s multi screen effort is a great example of an interactive experience,? said Kate Atty, director of marketing at Persio. ?They succeeded in taking a mass marketing approach and distilling it down to the individual level in one campaign and were able to learn how consumers engage on various media. 

?The campaign would be additionally effective if they were able to continue the engagement via opting participants in to a larger list of mobile or email subscribers to receive future offers, or provide feedback on the product,? she said. 

?Additionally, this campaign is a big opportunity to track attribution using unique coupons. Doing so, the brand could learn whether the screen experience translated into sales at specific locations and modify their marketing approach to be more tailored to each customer?s personal preferences.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York