Earlier this year, we talked about how Pepsi’s social vending machine was a move to increase their brand awareness, and here we are into the second half of the year, with word that PepsiCo might just roll out an interactive vending machine in the UK, enabling shoppers to purchase drinks for their friends who have a sweet tooth. This can be performed remotely over Facebook.
The name Pepsi Touch has also been trademarked in the process, where this particular service launched in the US last year. Apart from purchasing a drink for yourself, you can also opt to give one to your mate in a simple manner – just enter the recipient’s name, phone number and a personalized text message, and you are good to go.
Pepsi and Coca-Cola are two great rivals in the beverage industry, so the former’s foray into interactive vending machine arena was already done in some way by Coca-Cola three years ago, via the ‘Freestyle’ drinks dispenser Stateside. [Press Release]