Sketch Loves... Interactive Vending Machines

One of the blessings of technology is that it has the power to turn mundane, everyday activities in to something innovative and interesting; clever brands have even managed to make vending machines a memorable experience. This engaging new ploy increases consumer involvement and boosts brand loyalty. Here’s a roundup of some of the best interactive vending machines we’ve seen so far.

BOS Iced Tea created a truly win-win concept with its tweet enabled vending machine named ‘BEV’. Passers-by were instructed to help get the brand trending on Twitter by tweeting a given hash-tag, this was then picked up by BEV and seconds later a can of BOS Iced Tea was released whist the users Twitter handle flashed on the vending machine’s screen.

And as Kenco says, “Great coffee speaks for itself”, quite literally in Soho Square this summer. This time it’s ‘Kenneth’ – there seems to be a tendency in personifying interactive vending machines, perhaps to help make the experience more personable. ‘Kenneth’ was a rather noisy talking vending machine, giving free Kenco coffee to those who would answer his questions or perform his tasks.

And lastly, ending on an altruistic note, how about the Swap-O-Matic? It appears to be of no obvious benefit to a brand, but simply encourages people to reuse and recycle. It’s a Swap Shop in a vending machines body!

eBookers 'Blue Monday'

Research has shown that the 21st January is officially the most depressing day of the year. To inject a little sunshine into this 'Blue Monday' and to promote their latest online offers, eBookers asked us to create a PR stunt that would put smiles on the faces of early morning commuters. 

Braving the snow and minus temperatures, teams of actors rode the London underground in their summer holiday gear, posing for photos and talking to people about the eBookers promotions.

We also had teams of eBookers staff at Victoria Station handing out branded Oyster Cards.

Sketch Loves... Pretty Packets!

So we’re told not to judge a book by its cover, but we rarely apply the same rule when it comes to the packaging of consumer goods. But really, if we did, design and marketing teams across the globe would be doing a very bad job indeed. We’re tuned to judge a product by its packet, and interesting, simple or beautiful design can usually sway us towards one item over another.

Drink brands often push the boat out when it comes to packaging, and Smirnoff must have really stood out from the shelves with their fruit peel bottles.

They created a unique experience for consumers by allowing them to ‘peel’ open the bottle of Smirnoff Caipiroska and feel the texture of the fruit used in the bottle.

And in this digital age where the download is king, interesting and unusual packaging may be the way forward for traditional CDs to tempt consumers to purchase a physical copy.

This vacuumed packed salami CD (for an album called ‘Saliami Postmodern’) would definitely catch the eye in a sea of CDs.

General food packaging has also come on leaps and bounds; ‘Bob’s’ (a Brazilian burger chain) has developed edible burger wrappers so people don’t even have to wait to unwrap them. I would have thought that actually seeing your juicy burger would be part of the enjoyment, but the novelty factor in this is pretty epic too.

And if your eyes are now open to the world of pretty packaging, we've found a whole host of interesting designs over at toxel.com