Coca Cola Sprite Yard – Social Network or Exploitation?

Sprite?Is it just me? Or is there something seriously “wrong” with this?

Forget Facebook, Everyone is Meeting in the Yard
Forget Myspace and Facebook. That’s old news. Now, there is Sprite’s exclusive network called the Sprite Yard.As a new way of connecting with customers, Coca-Cola expects the Sprite Yard to set new benchmarks for consumer brand engagement through the use of a mobile platform. Within the Sprite Yard, users can create a tag name, a profile, send “shouts” to friends and even post “scribbles” to a discussion board.

Measurement metrics have been built in so Coca-Cola can track, in real-time, which features consumers are using most to the direct impact on beverage sales. It enables Coca-Cola to react very quickly to what their market wants.

What made them “go mobile” with the Sprite Yard? They saw the opportunity to leverage mobile’s potential for viral distribution and to react to the consumers’ desire for constant connectivity.

With so many people actively online, organizations want to create their own groups and communities to ask their customers directly what they think, feel and want so that companies can make better corporate decisions.

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Now, I worry here that I’m being mean spirited. And I worry that by pointing out the obvious, I’ll hurt the people behind it. And heck. I live in a glass house, as a public relations practitioner who is exploring social media and whose firm may also make mistakes.

But having said that, this just screams wrong, wrong, wrong!

What jumps out at me?

  • Right off the top, hyperbole. “Forget Facebook?” The fastest growing social networking space that has turned itself into a platform? Come on! Good communication must be based in reality. Why not just tell me to forget Rocket Richard. Forget Hank Aaron. Forget Joe Namath. Cause, heck, Fred Money-to-Burn has come along and promises that he’ll be bigger than them all. That’s just bald hype. Walk the talk before you make the claim.
  • “Coca-Cola expects the Sprite Yard to set new benchmarks for consumer brand engagement through the use of a mobile platform.” Whoah. Those are high, high, high expectations that have just been set. Let’s check back in three months from now and see whether I’ll have to eat my hat (or drink my Coca Cola.) Never ever tell them that you’re going to hit the ball over the fence on your first pitch. (Unless your name is Babe Ruth. And, oops. It didn’t work out too well for him either…)
  • “Measurement metrics have been built in so Coca-Cola can track, in real-time, which features consumers are using most to the direct impact on beverage sales.” Let me get this straight. You’ve compared yourself to social networks that let me connect with my friends. But the great benefit of this network is that Coca Cola will be able to measure, in real time (no overnight delays for us folks) which features sell the most soda. Wow! I want to participate -not (to quote a phrase as hackneyed as this campaign.)

Bottom line. The foundation of social media is the spirit of generosity. Is Coca Cola being generous here? Or has someone been just a little too candid about how we are all just data points in Coca Cola’s marketing analysis machine?

Is this what social media and social software are leading to? is this the new normal? Or is there another way?

  • http://www.altyrianview.com John Mims

    I live in the glass house next door, but…

    The Sprite Yard is going to have to have something really compelling to drive customers to a “corporate” social site. Given the choice between Facebook & MySpace which have no direct corporate ties (at least none that appear in the name) and the Sprite Yard, I think people are going to stick with the “safe” social media experience.

    In this case, Coke might have been better served (pardon the pun) to find a way to work with an existing site.

  • http://globalneighbourhoods.net shel israel

    Thankjs for this Joe. I think you are right on the money. The emergent issue is starting to be open communities vs. closed. Their are organizations and companies who are creating the illusion of a community when in fact what they are trying to do is create a prison yard where everyone is captive and the thing they have created is designed to serve their purposes, not the interests of the community.

  • http://trafcomnews.com Donna Papacosta

    Sheesh. Thanks for flagging this, Joe. Talk about hyperbole!

  • http://www.theuseradvocategroup.com Michael Baynger

    An interesting choice of words ‘Sprite Yard’ – it brings to mind the term ‘Big Yard’ which I believe is the name for the common space behind houses in Jamaican towns. I’ve always been interested in this social space since someone told me (over 20 years ago) that it is this cauldron of language innovation that led to dub and rap art forms. It’s a place for authentic, creative interaction.

    FYI, I offered to share this bit of trivia with people through a comment on VisionCritical’s post. Unfortunately, over 24 hours later, the number of comments displayed is still zero. Not exactly rapid, interactive dialog.

    I did of course also ask for a point of clarification – i.e. what is their strategy for achieving these ambitious results (i.e. replacing FaceBook, etc)? And how is it possible to plan or predict such spontaneous success?

    I’d love to know.

  • http://www.canuckflack.com Colin McKay

    I always like to imagine the meeting (or meetings) where this idea was pitched – and then count the number of times some misinformed or misguided marketer or PR misled their clients about the possible success of the project.

    Unfortunately, we’re going to have to work countless examples of the commercial application of social networking principles until we find an equilibrium between idealistic and commerical applications.

    And even then we’ll still get pounded over the head with mistakes: after all, the most targetted commercial mail is still a pitch for a low-interest credit card.