• by Shankar Gupta , March 23, 2005

MSN will today debut an online campaign for Coca-Cola North America's Sprite, dubbed "The Scenario," featuring "Miles Thirst," an action figure-esque pitchman who made his first appearance during the 2004 NBA All-Star Game.

The campaign consists of a Web page, hosted on MSN's music site, that features playlists from 10 DJs and allows users to download the tracks. Because the site is in part aimed at children below the age of 18, the songs available for download on the Scenario are the cleaner "radio edits," an MSN spokesperson said.

The site also has polls, previews of the work of featured artists, and downloadable MSN messenger add-ons like the "conversationator," which allows users to play clips of Miles Thirst's voice, and downloadable emoticons and images. Another feature of the site is Thirst Radio, and an Internet radio station that can be listened to even when the user navigates away from the promotional Web site.

The character "Miles Thirst" has previously appeared in 3 television spots and four exclusively online spots ranging in length from 30-to-60 seconds.

The campaign, which was created by Starcom MediaVest, is exclusively online with no supporting traditional components, and is aimed at tech-savvy, music-aware 12- to-24-year-olds. Coke's director of entertainment marketing, Geoff Cottrill, said the company hoped to connect Sprite to the music-loving community, and integrate the brand with consumers' online lives. "This service is about access to the music and the community aspect," said Cottrill. "This is the deepest integration our brand has had on the Web."

Cottrill said that this online campaign was exclusive to MSN. He declined to address any future campaigns that Coke might do with MSN.

According to Cottrill, the Scenario page will run until at least the end of this calendar year.

MSN describes this campaign as "branded entertainment." It is the first project for their newly revamped Branded Entertainment and Experience Team, which was formerly known as the Custom Solutions Team. The team is to take on an expanded charter within MSN, aimed at helping marketers reach MSN members through the network's video, music, and entertainment portals, as well as MSN's instant messenger service. Along with the rename, the team is getting its staff size doubled, and receiving an increased budget.

Other current initiatives for the team include a joint promotion for Gillette and FoxSports, American Express ads on the MSN Music portal, and a promotion for Nissan's luxury brand, the Infiniti.

In addition to the Sprite deal, the team is soon expected to reveal details of a branded entertainment deal with Volkswagen. Gayle Troberman, the director of the team, declined to comment on what that campaign might entail.