Coca-Cola recently revealed at ad:tech that it is piloting a program with Google Wallet where consumers can use their mobile device to pay for a drink at 200 of its vending machines across the United States. The trial is aimed at consumers who don’t have cash on them but want to buy a coke. Inevitably, they will however have a mobile device with them at all times which can be used as an alternative form of payment.
Wendy Clark, senior vice president of integrated marketing communications and capabilities at The Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta said that “œThe combination of mobile commerce and location technology moves our business from the point of sale to the point of thirst. If we know where you are and that you are thirsty we can move you to the nearest outlet to quench that thirst.”
This experiment was motivated by the changing landscape of consumer engagement and the importance of interacting with connected consumers in order to spread content and create value.
In addition to Coca-Cola‘s mobile efforts in the United States, the company has been increasing its presence internationally as well, with a voice transformer app that Coca-Cola’s Fanta rolled out in Europe that lets users play pranks on their friends. The conversation could then be posted on Facebook and reflected Fanta’s fun and playful image.
Coca-Cola also rolled out Chok, a mobile phone application, in Hong Kong the objective of which was to encourage users to collect bottle caps from the Coca-Cola TV commercial they were watching. Users would download the Chok app and when they saw a bottle cap fly out of the television screen at them during the commercial, they could ‘catch it’ with their mobile phone and shake it to win various prizes and rewards.
The app hit No. 1 in the charts after the launch.
“œIf we do our job well and we give our fans share-worthy content, then they become the salesforce,“ says Wendy Clark.
source: mmresources
