‘Sprite Yard’ now part of mobile marketing playground

NEW YORK-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.
Coca-Cola hopes to offer the application in “many more countries” next year, Greatrex said.
“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.”