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Pepsi’s Merging A Vending Machine With Social, CRM

Written by Evan Schuman
May 4th, 2011
Some mighty strange things have happened to vending machines lately, with machines offering iPhones and live crabs and accepting smiles for payment (really) and contactless payment (although some would argue that smiles are more viable).

But Pepsi has now rolled out a touchscreen vending machine that isn't primarily designed to actually give you anything to drink. It's an interesting intersection between social media, vending machines and CRM. In a "tis better to give than receive" mode, consumers walk up to the machine and can only use it to gift a drink to a friend or colleague (or, for that matter, a bitter enemy) by "selecting a beverage and entering the recipient's name, mobile number and a personalized text message." This creative idea actually has some fascinating CRM potential. It exposes Pepsi to friends/associates lists and flags new people who might be open to receiving promotional contacts.

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Posted in CRM, In-Store, Mobile/Wireless/Contactless, Payment Systems, Premium Content, Social Networks
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One Comment | Read Pepsi’s Merging A Vending Machine With Social, CRM

  1. vending Says:
    May 26th, 2011 at 5:30 am

    Pepsi’s new machines come with a fancy touch-screen UI that makes selecting a frosty beverage a more technical experience.

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