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The primary objective was to shift from “shopping transaction” to “brand interaction,” Berman said. Through the use of sight and sound, shoppers can be attracted to approach the machine.
Next, they interact with the touchscreen. Three screen sections offer the following:
1) a continuous series of brand featured messages;
2) an interactive touchscreen showing the products being offered and the ability to see and interact with the package (360-degree rotation), plus nutritional information; and
3) a promotional screen to tie-in with Coca-Cola brand messages or tie-in with their partners.
There is a “5-digit difference in cost versus a traditional soft drink vending machine,” according to Berman. “This machine has not been engineered (yet) to identify cost savings,” he noted. “What is being tested now is the marketing opportunity.”
The machine does not “pay out” (deliver its most important benefit) based on driving incremental sales, even though Berman claims sales increased by 35 percent versus a control group of machines. But it is a winner when it comes to advertising impact. It delivers brand impressions at about 20 percent of the cost of traditional teen media.
Berman also noted that they are only using about 20 to 30 percent of the machine’s capabilities. Future applications will allow for ring-tone downloads, Bluetooth connections, opportunities to win prizes and other promotional tools.
Coca-Cola recognizes that the interface has to be easy to use. Even for tech-savvy teens, going from screen to screen has to be intuitive.
New products will be part of the “news” delivered with the machine. Berman noted that their newest product packaging — aluminum bottles — have been merchandised to the teen audience.
THE KRAFT DIJI TOUCH MACHINE
The diji-touch machine from Kraft Vending & OCS, Crane Merchandising Systems and Samsung also features an embedded networked computer and a 46-inch Samsung LCD touch-screen panel. By tapping icons on the screen, a customer can get a 360-degree look at any snack, find out its nutritional information, or its ingredients.
