• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 27, 2012

Switching to big brands, Coca-Cola takes center stage to explain how it teamed up with 7-Eleven to create in-store programs reach millennials with via mobile devices. The beverage giant’s Anders Pers starts by cracking open a Coke to prove he actually eats his own dog food, so to speak. He brings a gust of cold air to balmy Florida by showing slids and discussing Coke’s “Arctic Home” campaign with the World Wildlife Fund to help save the polar bear.

Coke approached 7-Eleven about extending “Arctic Home’ to convenience store chain. Molly Garris, mobile lead at Arc Worldwide, which worked with Coke on the effort, explains that to reach and engage millennials presented a tough brief. Mobile was chosen as a key component of the campaign Arc came up with the called “Snowball Effect.”

The downloadable iPhone app allowed people to win points toward winning prizes by challenging friends to virtual snowball fights, entering codes on specially-marked, peel-away stickers on Coke packaging and Slurpee and Big Gulp cups, or by checking in at any of 7-Eleven’s 6,400 U.S. stores. The underlying idea was to get people to play, buy and share.