Twentieth Century Fox has enlisted a number of brands to promote James Cameron s upcoming sci-fi film Avatar.” As reported in Ad Age, among them is Coca-Cola promoting its Coke Zero brand by running the film’s web site and executing an augmented reality campaign. The web site is focused on drawing viewers into the otherworldly universe of the film, one where humans wage a war against an alien species and can occupy alien clones bodies to fight them from within. The Coke Zero web site has minimal branding, and is instead focused on extending the film’s universe through videos, back story and other assets from the movie. One tactic in the AR component of the campaign asks viewers to purchase Coke Zero products tied into the film, such as an Avatar-branded Coke Zero can, and hold them up to their webcam to unlock film assets. Coca-Cola is planning to run TV spots for the cross-promotion describing the AR component of the campaign.
Ad Age says the campaign may do as much to raise awareness of AR enabled marketing as for the film itself. Other major brands partnered to help promote “Avatar” include McDonald s, Panasonic, LG and Mattel. McDonald s is also running extensive tie-ins and running an Avatar-branded site geared to kids. Read more at Ad Age.
