Now here is a win-win for both the consumer and the company. The Coca Cola company will make a huge innovation in soft drink dispensers which benefits both the consumer and the company. No longer will you have to hope that your drink of choice will be one of the 8 to10 flavors chosen, the new machine will dispense up to 130 different flavors. This extra capacity comes from the use of some super concentrated syrups used in the various flavors allowing more syrups to be contained in the dispenser machine.
This is accomplished by mixing flavors from 30 different on the spot per the consumers selection. According to the article in Information Week, this is the first time that Coke’s engineering and information technology teams have worked together. Kind of odd for an organization that has been around well over 100 years.
The new dispensers are called Freestyle and are equipped with a huge amount of technology and communications which quickly send sales information back to the corporate intelligence center. The machines include an RFID reader, a wireless Verizon card, SAP point of sale management, middle-ware from Tibco, as well as other various CRM and SAP systems. Put all this together and you have a huge data being fed back to the corporate servers.
The data from this new machine will give instant feedback to the marketers and advertising execs about what works and what doesn’t, what is a hit, and what is a miss. This will save a ton of money in taste tests, advertising, and focus groups.
I don’t’ know the specifics, but assume that the machines can be programmed from the central office with new mixtures. Imagine you run an advertisement in a limited area, instantly offering the drink in the vending machines in that area. You send the new programmed drink to the vending machines in that area and see if the advertisement had the effect as desired or if the new flavor is not what the public wants. This type of targeted advertisement and marketing is very valuable. Additionally, with these elements built into the dispenser, I can see an easy integration of local advertising through the Verizon network, discounts, new product rollouts all on the smartphones which will soon be the norm.
What a great time to be alive!!
References:
Bob Evans. (June 16, 2009). Global CIO: Six Lessons CIOs Must Learn From Coke's Dazzling Innovation. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0DO3SMRGYEYUSQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=217801282
RFID Weblog. (June 9, 2009). Coke Redefines Business Intelligence with RFID based Freestyle Drink Dispenser. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from http://www.rfid-weblog.com/50226711/coke_redefines_business_intelligence_with_rfid_based_freestyle_drink_dispenser.php
This is accomplished by mixing flavors from 30 different on the spot per the consumers selection. According to the article in Information Week, this is the first time that Coke’s engineering and information technology teams have worked together. Kind of odd for an organization that has been around well over 100 years.
The new dispensers are called Freestyle and are equipped with a huge amount of technology and communications which quickly send sales information back to the corporate intelligence center. The machines include an RFID reader, a wireless Verizon card, SAP point of sale management, middle-ware from Tibco, as well as other various CRM and SAP systems. Put all this together and you have a huge data being fed back to the corporate servers.
The data from this new machine will give instant feedback to the marketers and advertising execs about what works and what doesn’t, what is a hit, and what is a miss. This will save a ton of money in taste tests, advertising, and focus groups.
I don’t’ know the specifics, but assume that the machines can be programmed from the central office with new mixtures. Imagine you run an advertisement in a limited area, instantly offering the drink in the vending machines in that area. You send the new programmed drink to the vending machines in that area and see if the advertisement had the effect as desired or if the new flavor is not what the public wants. This type of targeted advertisement and marketing is very valuable. Additionally, with these elements built into the dispenser, I can see an easy integration of local advertising through the Verizon network, discounts, new product rollouts all on the smartphones which will soon be the norm.
What a great time to be alive!!
References:
Bob Evans. (June 16, 2009). Global CIO: Six Lessons CIOs Must Learn From Coke's Dazzling Innovation. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=0DO3SMRGYEYUSQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=217801282
RFID Weblog. (June 9, 2009). Coke Redefines Business Intelligence with RFID based Freestyle Drink Dispenser. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from http://www.rfid-weblog.com/50226711/coke_redefines_business_intelligence_with_rfid_based_freestyle_drink_dispenser.php
This is so cool! Wow, I especially like the fact that information can be transferred straight from the machine to headquarters. This is really showing direct use of raw data having instant affects on advertisements and consumers. I think it is a really good idea and more options are always a good thing for the consumer. Good job...very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. It sounds wonderful and really only possible with todays technology and the internet. I wonder how the tastes are for all the various combinations? I'm sure Coke, being Coke, made very sure beforhand that the quality was high through focus groups, taste tests, etc...
ReplyDeleteJohn
Too bad I don't drink soda or else this would be a dream come true, but I can't wait to tell my friends. Coke gets an A+ for innovation!
ReplyDelete