Fanta Turns Word Magnets Into Free Jelly Fizz on Australian Streets
Fanta's 2017 Australian experiential campaign invited pedestrians to rearrange word magnets on custom-built fridge Citylights, photograph their message, upload it, and claim a free Fanta Jelly Fizz — turning out-of-home media into a participatory brand moment during Easter 2017.
The activation, titled "Pedestrians create fun messages for a free Jelly Fizz," was published in Australia in April 2017 and created for Fanta by JCDecaux. It formed part of the broader "Shake Things Up with Fanta" relaunch — described as a multimillion-dollar integrated initiative, according to adnews.com.au — which marked Fanta's first global visual-identity update in approximately eight years, as reported by Mediafederation Org Au. The 2017 relaunch simultaneously introduced new packaging across the Fanta range and new sensory products including Jelly Fizz and Sour Tingle, per adnews.com.au.
In Australia, JCDecaux installed three custom-built fridge Citylights at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney from 11 to 18 April, the Esplanade in St Kilda, Melbourne from 11 to 19 April, and Reddacliffe Place in Brisbane from 10 to 18 April. Each unit was stocked with thirty word magnets that participants rearranged into personal messages before photographing and uploading their creation to receive a complimentary Jelly Fizz. The campaign occupied the Food and Drink category within the non-alcoholic drinks segment and is classified as an experiential, out-of-home medium execution. Josh Gonski, Fanta Brand Manager at Coca-Cola South Pacific, positioned the activation explicitly around teen agency, stating that the JCDecaux fridge execution was "a really fun way to give teens the tools, or in this case, magnets to do it and shake things up." The campaign earned a Clapboard Score of 72 out of 100, reflecting solid strategic alignment and creative novelty within the experiential out-of-home format.
Fanta entered the 2017 Australian Easter period facing a measurable commercial problem. Fanta value sales had declined by a notable margin in the period immediately preceding the relaunch, making recovery a primary strategic objective for the broader campaign of which this JCDecaux activation was one part.
The strategic logic positioned teenagers not as passive consumers of advertising but as active co-creators of brand messaging. Gonski confirmed this orientation directly, describing the 2017 initiative as "our first ever campaign where teens will champion our marketing." Alan Klein, Head of Creative Solutions at JCDecaux, reinforced the rationale by framing the Easter city environment as a natural gathering point for the target demographic, noting in comments reported by bandt.com.au that "many young people are in and around the city" over the Easter period. By anchoring activations in high-footfall urban locations — Pitt Street Mall, St Kilda Esplanade, and Reddacliffe Place — Fanta and JCDecaux maximised organic dwell time and peer-to-peer visibility in the Australian market.
Competitively, Fanta occupies a distinct space within the Coca-Cola portfolio, operating alongside Sprite in the flavoured non-alcoholic carbonated segment, while facing broader pressure from PepsiCo-owned brands across Australian grocery and convenience channels. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo together commanded a very large share of the global carbonated soft drink market as of 2017, according to researchandmarkets.com, making differentiation within the flavoured sub-segment a critical task. The experiential format — rather than conventional broadcast or digital display — was designed to generate earned social amplification through the upload mechanic, extending the campaign's reach beyond the three physical Australian locations without proportional increases in media spend.
JCDecaux designed and produced the physical units at the centre of this activation. Three custom-built fridge Citylights served simultaneously as branded out-of-home media and as interactive product dispensers, collapsing the distinction between advertising surface and point-of-experience in a single object. Each unit carried thirty word magnets — a deliberately constrained creative palette that structured participation without scripting outcomes, allowing each pedestrian's arrangement to be genuinely individual while remaining legible and shareable.
The upload mechanic bridged the physical and digital dimensions of the campaign. Participants photographed their magnet arrangements and submitted them to claim a free Fanta Jelly Fizz, converting the act of play into a documented social artefact. This structure created a two-stage engagement loop: public performance at the fridge unit, followed by digital submission that generated campaign-owned content at scale. The approach aligned with the broader "Shake Things Up with Fanta" visual identity, which introduced a new logo and packaging system across the Fanta range as reported by insidefmcg.com.au, ensuring the fridge units read as coherent extensions of the relaunch rather than standalone stunts.
Alan Klein, Head of Creative Solutions at JCDecaux, is the named creative intelligence behind the execution's format. Production credits for additional creative or production personnel on the "Pedestrians create fun messages for a free Jelly Fizz" execution are not publicly documented beyond the JCDecaux creative solutions team. Mumbrella's April 2017 review acknowledged the concept's appeal while noting that execution quality placed some reliance on participant initiative — a structural observation that reflects the inherent creative risk of any open-ended participatory format in an outdoor environment.
Fanta value sales increased by a reported figure of approximately two and a half to three percent, reversing a preceding decline of close to seven percent, across the broader twelve-week relaunch campaign for the period ending 14 May 2017. This result is attributed to the integrated "Shake Things Up with Fanta" initiative as a whole, as documented by mediafederation.org.au and bandt.com.au, and direct attribution of this sales recovery to the specific JCDecaux fridge execution has not been confirmed independently.
A related 2017 Fanta Australia integrated campaign won Gold in Best Integrated Campaign at the Media Federation of Australia Awards, led by UM and partners, as reported by mediafederation.org.au. Whether the JCDecaux fridge activation contributed to that award citation has not been confirmed. No verified performance data specific to the "Pedestrians create fun messages for a free Jelly Fizz" execution — including redemption volumes, upload counts, or dwell-time metrics — is publicly available.
Structurally, the campaign's effectiveness case rests on the convergence of high-footfall Easter placement across three major Australian cities, a low-friction participation mechanic, and an immediate tangible reward. The upload requirement created a documented content trail and extended earned reach beyond the physical Australian installation sites. Within the experiential out-of-home category, the format demonstrates how product trial can be engineered into a media unit rather than separated into a distinct sampling exercise — a model with clear replicability for fast-moving consumer goods brands operating in urban Australian and broader Asia-Pacific markets.
Fanta's 2017 Australian experiential campaign placed three custom-built fridge Citylights across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane during Easter. Pedestrians rearranged thirty word magnets, photographed their message, uploaded it, and received a free Fanta Jelly Fizz. The activation formed part of the broader multimillion-dollar "Shake Things Up with Fanta" relaunch, as reported by adnews.com.au.
JCDecaux installed three fridge Citylights at specific Australian locations. The units appeared at Pitt Street Mall in Sydney, the Esplanade in St Kilda in Melbourne, and Reddacliffe Place in Brisbane, all operating across the Easter period in April 2017, with each site active for approximately eight to nine days.
A related 2017 Fanta Australia integrated campaign won Gold in Best Integrated Campaign at the Media Federation of Australia Awards, as reported by mediafederation.org.au. However, specific award attribution to the JCDecaux fridge execution has not been confirmed. No verified awards for this activation were found across Cannes Lions, Effies, D&AD, or Clios.
Fanta value sales increased across the broader twelve-week Australian relaunch campaign, reversing a preceding decline, for the period ending 14 May 2017, according to mediafederation.org.au and bandt.com.au. Direct performance data attributable solely to the JCDecaux fridge activation, including redemption or upload counts, is not publicly available.
JCDecaux created the activation, with Alan Klein, Head of Creative Solutions at JCDecaux, named as its creative lead. Josh Gonski, Fanta Brand Manager at Coca-Cola South Pacific, represented the brand. The campaign was an Australian execution of the global "Shake Things Up with Fanta" platform, as reported by adnews.com.au and jcdecaux.com.au.
Fanta used the experiential format to position teenagers as active brand participants rather than advertising audiences. Josh Gonski described it as the brand's first campaign where teens would champion Fanta's own marketing. The Easter timing and high-footfall urban Australian locations were chosen to maximise peer-to-peer visibility and organic social amplification through the upload mechanic.
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