COKE ZERO / TRON LIVECYCLE

Coke Zero has developed a GPS-based mobile game called LiveCycle, released in anticipation of the release of Disney's Tron: Legacy through Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.

After downloading the free app to an iPhone or Android phone, players move around to create their Light Path, building a wall for oppontents to crash into, and avoiding the Light Paths of rivals. Movement is tracked while players stake out their area, gaining points and unlocking achievements. However, if they travel too fast (in a car, rather than on foot, for example) their energy is zapped and they will have to wait until it's replenished. Options to challenge friends through Facebook Connect will follow.

Contagious spoke to Dave Schiff and Alex Burnard VP/GCDs at Crispin about the campaign:

How much fun is it to build a campaign around a property as hotly anticipated as Tron?

DS / In the beginning it's more scary than fun. It's Tron. How are you supposed to make anything related to the property that's as cool as the property itself? Maybe that's why we landed on a game. You could make the slickest banner or poster or TV spot in history, and you'd still just have an inert reflection of the movie. 

So we started with the raw materials of the property - Lightcycle battles are definitely part of Tron's DNA - and used them to build a completely unprecedented gaming experience. Something that won't just reflect the movie, but might actually help blow it up. And blow up the connection that people have with Coke Zero in the process.

Once we knew we had something cool enough to stand up to the movie, things got fun.  There's nothing quite like the sight of an ungainly programmer or creative running around in concentric squares, screaming at people who aren't there. And that's one of the craziest things about this game.  It's not just the experience unfolding on your smartphone screen that's entertaining. It's watching what happens in the real world as well.

How do you see location developing as a marketing property?

AB / To date, nearly 95% of the marketing executions that involve location-based technology are built on existing platforms. Foursquare deals etc. So in many ways, the location based marketing boom hasn't really started yet. .

However, those platforms are having a huge impact. They are really bridging the gulf between marketing and sales. What we do see coming from an agency standpoint is going to be the added requirement to close the deal. It won't be enough to just brand a product when an experience can be created that can lead a person to a store and then engineer a transaction.