I’ve been reading Michael Blanding’s The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind The World’s Favorite Soft Drink, having snagged it at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale couple of weeks ago and it gave a unique insight to the history of Coca-Cola. I was impressed at how the Coca-Cola Company pioneered new methods of advertising and one of the little nuggets of trivia was that Fanta is related to Coca-Cola!

I used to drink Fanta as a kid. This German soda was the direct result of embargoes placed on Germany during World War 2 which made it difficult to import Coca-Cola syrups from the U.S to the German Coca-Cola company (Coca-Cola GmbH). And thus Fanta was created! Which also explains why the brand new Fanta iOS app on the iTunes App Store, Fanta Fruit Slam, is published by The Coca-Cola Company. Check out the press release for the details:

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The new Fanta Fruit Slam game, designed and developed by Fishlabs Entertainment and available globally on the brand’s Facebook page and as a free download on the Apple App Store, is a fight to the fruity finish. Dodgeball meets food fight in the 3-D experience, which immerses teens in Fanta’s rich and colorful world. As different kinds of fruit fall from the sky, players must pick up, throw and dodge fruit on their way to a flavorful victory.

“We’ve been focused on the brand vision to create more play over the past five years, and now we are taking this message beyond TVCs and other traditional forms of advertising into the digital and virtual space where we can interact directly with consumers,” said Matthias Blume, Global Brand Director, Fanta. “We want to communicate the value of play, which has a positive impact on teens’ development but is often unfairly seen as a frivolous waste of time.”

The object of the game, which stars the beloved characters and flavors from the global Fanta “Play” campaign, is to “slam” your opponent with as much fruit as possible, draining their power meter before they drain yours. Each fruit and character has its unique strengths and weaknesses, and players can “Power Up” with more points by drinking a virtual Fanta during the game. A multi-player mode lets users invite friends to play against them via Facebook, and publish high scores, trophies and game-related content to their social newsfeeds.

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“The beauty of Fanta Fruit Slam is that it can be played for just a few minutes at a time,” added Blume, who said Fanta has quadrupled its Facebook fan base in 2012, to more than 5.6 million likes. “It’s a ‘snackable’ game that provides light entertainment and immerses consumers in the Fanta brand without being intrusive.”

Users can also play cross-platform. This means that teens riding the bus home from school can play against each other on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, or face off against a friend playing at home on Facebook. “One of the most exciting things about the Fanta Fruit Slam game is its ability to be easily activated in markets,” said Heather Chappell, Global Content Excellence. “We’ve already created the game in 12 different languages on both Facebook and the App Store so all our Fanta fans around the world can play with each other and their friends.”

Check out the app right over here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fanta-fruit-slam-food-fight/id553974231?mt=8