I spotted this article over at Mashable.com today and thought I’d share it. What a great example of how Coca-Cola can tap into crowdsourcing in real time to understand how fans and customers think drinks. And for customers who live in a larger town, there is a good chance they can take their ideas and quickly turn them around into a reality via a vending machine that dispenses their own unique concoction. I wonder how an application like this can help Facebook fans of other companies create their favorite restaurant meal, custom footwear or even the latest automobile design?
Coca-Cola on Wednesday rolled out a Facebook app that lets you mix your own Coke drink. The app is no online-only experiment, though: Real Coke vending machines that do the same thing are rolling out across the country.
The Coca-Cola Freestyle app, created by digital marketing agency 360i, lets you mix a drink using 125 Coke beverages, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta and Powerade. After choosing each, you hold down a “push” button to fill a cup of your choosing. When you fill your cup, you can name it. There’s also a game designed for the iPhone and Android formats.
The Facebook Page also directs you to Freestyle vending machines in your area and lets you ask for one in your town. There are now about 1,500 such machines in restaurants like Wendy’s, Burger King and Five Guys, but Coke plans to make more noise about Freestyle next year. The company is working with ad agency Ogilvy & Mather on a 2012 ad campaign for Freestyle, according to Advertising Age. Coke would like the apps to eventually generate a 2-D barcode, which could be scanned at one of the machines to create a blend, according to Ad Age.
Reuters has released its Reuters Top 100 list of most innovative universities in the world. Based on academic papers and patent filings, and compiled by the Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters, you may be pleasantly surprised by some on the list. Not surprisingly is the leader of the Top 100: Stanford University,…
I read an interesting article over at InventionMachineBlog about a trend we’re seeing as our workforce ages. Did you know that half of our workforce today is eligible for retirement in the next 18 months? The Bureau of Labor Statistics says as our US labor force grows older, our percent of 55+ workers will be…
Storm damage maps can be very useful in pinpointing where severe weather is heading, and New York City residents are using that same idea to help direct cleanup crews and emergency responders. Over the weekend the city launched a new mapping project where residents can report downed trees, powerlines, debris and power outages. It’s a…
Today Facebook users got the shock of their social lives when they logged in only to discover that their newly-revamped News Feed wasn’t what they expected. It’s the most talked about topic not only on Facebook, but trending on Twitter and other networks as well. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see this as…
I am very excited about the new developments in bioplastics research! Within the past few years there have been numerous new-to-market plastic products that either decompose in the landfill or make the recycling process cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly. One company from France has launched a plastic “coffee pod” (like the kind used in…
Perkins contributed an excerpt titled, “Future of Innovation… Personal Passion and Strategic Collaboration” in The Future of Innovation, edited by Bettina von Stamm and Anna Trifilova. Read her contribution here.
