It’s too early to make a final judgment on Coca-Cola’s Coke Zero Facebook tie-in, but the idea is fun enough that it just might work.
The Coke Zero Facial Profiler app aims to use Facebook (
) to find your digital double. Coca-Cola promotes its Coke Zero brand under the guise of “having Coke’s taste but with zero calories” so finding an identical stranger is an interesting tie-in.
The app is pretty simple. Grant the Coke Zero Facial Profiler app access to your Facebook account via Facebook Connect and it will search for photos you have uploaded of yourself and scan them with its face recognition software. If you don’t have enough photos uploaded or if the photos aren’t right for the software, you can upload a photo from your computer or take a picture from your web cam.
As soon as the app has enough information, you’re added to the database and asked to invite your Facebook friends to join in on the fun too. Once the database is large enough (how large isn’t specified, but it was 22% full as of this writing), Coke Zero will show your doppleganger.
Coke hints that you might be able to have some fun with the information after a match is made, but is playing coy with the details. If you decide you DON’T want your photo in Coke’s database, you can request that it be removed and Coke says it will comply within 48 hours.
Like iPhone apps, Facebook applications are increasingly being used by small and large companies to promote or reinforce a brand. Personally, I like the idea of this app and can’t wait to see who it matches my face with!
