On June 21, 2010, SapientNitro unveiled what they call “the world’s first ever smile-activated ice cream vending machine for Unilever.” (PR here). Here’s SapientNitro’s demo video:
How cool is this? Unilever is taking digital interactivity seriously, and three things really stuck with me on this:
Personal Engagement. It’s not enough to just look at a camera and smile, but the computer recognizes a smile and then reacts to it. The computer captures your smile and “measures it 15 times a second, and if it’s big enough, rewards you with your very own ice cream. For free.” The physical interaction with the screen is more fun because it’s less work. You don’t need to push tons of buttons, you just need to smile.
It takes 72 muscles to frown, 14 to smile, and five bucks to fake it. (Click image to buy 'em!)
Connectivity. By allowing users to upload the images to Facebook, word of mouth goes digital. This makes Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and all the others much more relevant to people and products. For decades, word of mouth has been the most effective marketing tool. Making it easy for people to do that will give brands prime real estate in a consumer’s brain.
The Source. It isn’t a retailer or a brand, it’s Unilever, parent company of brands like Bertolli, Hellman’s, Dove, and Axe. Oh, and Unilever is the world’s biggest ice cream manufacturer with brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Good Humor, Breyers and Klondike. They can take this experience across any number of brands with the potential to engage the viewer.
The demo unit was unveiled in Lisbon, Portugal on May 21. Unilever plans to roll out to high-traffic customer locations around the world over the next 18 months.
The video ends with great copy: “An ice cream van for the digital age.”
That's sweet. I won't have to run after this any more.
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