MEI is one of 14 exhibitor sponsors of the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) Gratitude Tour, a key element of the Vendialogue campaign to build awareness of vending among the next generation of consumers.
The Gratitude Tour is taking vending machines to multiple cities across the country this fall and will be the first tour of its kind. Running throughout September and October in seven cities, each event will take place in an open-air, high-traffic area for Gen Y consumers (ages 18 to 29) and university populations. Tour-goers will have the opportunity to interact with the latest vending machines, technologies and products.
In addition, tour events will feature live music, product giveaways and social media stations where consumers can enter NAMA’s Facebook contest (www.facebook.com/VendLoveWin), send messages to friends and use social media tools to share experiences.
The schedule of tour stops can be found on the newly launched www.vendialogue.com website, the hub of the campaign, created to stimulate conversation between the vending industry and Gen Y consumers. Website visitors are encouraged to voice their experiences with different vending machines and provide feedback about how they would like to see vending evolve. Through this online interaction, vending industry businesses hope to gain insights into improving product offerings to tomorrow’s consumers.
The Vendialogue campaign follows NAMA-funded research, which indicates that Gen Y consumers prefer vending over grocery or convenience stores, are interested in new vending technologies and products, and desire to make their voices heard as consumers.
“Vending today is exciting, entertaining and extremely interactive,” said Chuck Reed, marketing director at MEI. “The Gratitude Tour is a great opportunity for thousands of consumers to gain exposure to the new look and feel of vending. MEI is very excited to be a part of the Vendialogue campaign and NAMA’s industry growth initiative.”
