Herta a German subsidiary of the Nestle Group, launched a new product in Belgium called Knacki FootBall – small meatballs that look like footballs.
Then at a local train station, they placed a vending machine that offered these meatballs for free. But what people did not know was that to get the free meatballs they had to play a game of football inside the vending machine against a Belgian football legend Leo Van Der Elst. The results…
Over the years Coca-Cola has experimented with their vending machines and tried to make them much more than just the average soda-spitter-outer.
Last year they placed two vending machines, one in India and the other in Pakistan and turned them into a communication portal. These “Small World Machines” allowed citizens from both countries to interact with each other and even complete shared tasks for which the machines rewarded them with a Coke.
The success of that has inspired Coca-Cola to once again bring fighting parties together. Now instead of bringing together nations at odds, it has tapped into the rivalry between Italian soccer teams Inter and Milan.
To ease the aggression between the fans, Coca-Cola installed their “Fair Play Machines” on opposite sides of Milan’s San Siro stadium as the teams faced off. Pressing the button of one machine dropped a Coke can down the chute of that on the side of the rival team. So this way rivals could only receive Cokes from each other. The results…
Coca-Cola wanted to bring out the Santa in everyone. So for the 2013 holiday season, they created a special vending machine that prompted users to either get a free coke or give a free coke.
If the user choose a free coke, the machine quickly dispensed the drink for the user to enjoy. However, if the user decided to share, then the machine did something a little more special. 🙂 Watch the below video to find out…
At the recently concluded South by Southwest (SXSW) 2014 conference, Oreo showcased a vending machine that created custom Oreo cookies based on what was trending on Twitter and then converting the trends into custom Oreo flavors and colors.
Here is a behind the scenes look of how the vending machine worked…
Coca-Cola has created a whole bunch of innovative vending machines over the last couple of years. Pepsi on the other hand has created only a couple. Many of these soda vending machines I have featured here on Ramble.
Now to add to that collection here is Pepsi’s latest vending machine…dubbed the “Like Machine”, it is programmed to dispense soda to fans who “Like” the brand on Facebook via their smartphone or via the touchscreen on the machine.
Pepsi piloted the machine at a recent Beyonce concert in Antwerp, Belgium and has received a good response. So don’t be surprised if you see one popping up nearby at some point. 😉
