In an unusual marketing push, Coca-Cola Co. is giving British consumers 50 pence [82 cents] of mobile credit every time they buy Fanta, Sprite or Dr Pepper products.

From now until Nov. 30, cans, bottles and promotional movie theater cups will be labeled with a "50p free mobile credit" logo to entice consumers to buy Coca-Cola products. Once consumers buy the specially labeled products, they can go online and enter their mobile number and promotional code to receive 82 cents of mobile credit in their mobile account.

"Coke has launched a campaign called Gimme Credit and it is going to be massive, especially in terms of the youth market," said Thomas Green, head of business development at MX Telecom, London.

"This is the first time anyone has ever done anything like this in the U.K.," he said. "It is its immediate redemption that makes it so attractive. For Coke it will help build a sense of brand loyalty."

MX Telecom is enabling the mobile crediting effort.

Customers will find a promotional code redeemable for 82 cents under the ringpulls at the bottom of specially labeled cans of Fanta, Sprite and Dr Pepper.

Promotional codes can also be found on the reverse labels of bottles of Fanta, Sprite and Dr Pepper and on the peelable tabs of promotional movie theater cups of Fanta and Sprite.

All promotional codes are 10 digits and comprise both letters and numbers.

The first time that consumers want to cash in their credit, they must go online to http://www.gimmecredit.co.uk where they will be asked for their mobile number and their carrier network.

The promotion's site also offers to remember verification information for consumers.

After the initial redemption, users can simply text in to receive their mobile credit by sending their 10-digit promotional code to the common short code 85888.

However, this SMS exchange is not a part of a database opt-in. Registrants who participate in the promotion will not be contacted again for later Coca-Cola campaigns.

Subscribers to 3, Asda Mobile, Blyk, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodaphone wireless carriers are eligible to participate in the promotion as long as they are legal residents of Britain and are older than 12. For those ages 12-16, permission from the bill-payer is required.

Both prepaid and post-paid subscribers can enter to receive 82 cents of mobile credit to their account.

Customers can claim credit once a day until they have claimed a maximum of eight times per mobile number.

Coca-Cola is also running a bonus draw as the caboose of the campaign, powered by MX Telecom.

Between midnight on Oct. 30 and midnight on Nov. 30, customers will be able to enter promotional codes as part of the bonus draw for the opportunity to win one of 100 extra "50p mobile credits."

"For us the focus is that this will be a popular product in the U.K.," Mr. Green said. "Mobile marketing will find this a brilliant product, especially in the mobile commerce sense. Refunds via mobile -- mobile commerce can certainly benefit from that."