Fanta combines its playful ethos and the graphic novel approach in the new global campaign, “Play Fanta,” launching across 190 markets.

The promotion revolves around the “Saving the Source” graphic story about a team of young and brave teens set to return the spirit of “play” to their town, which once lost it somehow. Currently, Fanta is the second Coca-Cola’s largest brand outside the U.S., so the new campaign is designed for a global reach.

The campaign by Ogilvy & Mather is highly interactive and invites the target audience—teenagers—to join the movement in each of the installments. The key element of the promotion is the “Saving the Source” nine-chapter narration, which was created by the Hollywood scriptwriting studio The Alchemists. The “orange” and “bubbly” story features highly recognizable Fanta’s characters by Psyop, determined to bring back the ultimate joy of life to the “playless” citizens. In fact, the round-faced animated teenagers have been present in the brand’s promotions for several years, but it’s the first time they speak.

“At its core, Fanta seeks to be the champion of play for teens. And science tells us teens need more play,” commented Wendy Clark, senior VP- Sparkling Brand Center at Coca-Cola, to AdAge.

The push includes videos as well as the graphic novel, which can be accessed at the dedicated online platform. Users with HTML5-supporting devices can enjoy parallax scrolling, full game play and multi-track audio with enhanced interactive game elements. The HTML4 version of the site, which can be accessed via older devices, goes without game-play elements. The plain HTML version that runs on old models of Blackberrys and Nokia has just the story and pictures. Fanta has also released a dedicated application for iOS and Android devices.

The campaign also includes a paper version of the graphic novel. The brand can send it to its partners, primarily fast-food chains like 7-11 or McDonald’s, so that they could print it out and integrate the story into the on-spot consumer communications. The message behind the promotion—»regaining the play» by living the life to the full—can be well-communicated via physical experiences as well. Still, there’s no word yet on if we could see the “Play Fanta” message on any kind of physical multi-sensory elements like the unconventional edible prints, recently introduced by the brand in the Middle East.

The graphic novel approach has been previously used by a plethora of brands including Honest Tea, Nike, and AXE to name but a few.