My Lawnmower would like to Meet Your Weed eater

Futurists use to tell us the day would come when your appliances would be able to communicate with each other.  Imagine your microwave asking your refrigerator, “What’s for dinner?” and your air conditioner telling your tub to, “Start a hot bath!” when your approaching vehicle lets them all know you are en route home.  But, we never dreamed these appliances would ultimately want to talk with our neighbors!

Well, get ready!  Smart meets Social!  After Coca-Cola stunned the world with their Freestyle vending machine allowing you to concoct your own beverage (over a 100 choices), Pepsi is trying to best them with their new “Social Vending Machine.”  Now, you can pay it forward—beverage style.  Like paying the toll for the car behind you, you can buy a Pepsi for a friend, record a special message, put in their contact info, and the vending machine will text them a message with a code so they can get their gifted beverage on the Pepsi Social Vending Machine nearest them!

The implications for this product introduction are more significant than the machine itself.  The reach of social media is now infusing all manner of devices and appliances in our daily lives.  It can make a sense of community stronger and the capacity for random acts of kindness easier.  What can you do to hardwire social media into your relationship with your customers?
 

© Chip Bell Group, 2023.  Courtesy of John R. Patterson (www.johnrpatterson.com).  Permission is given to download and distribute this article as long as it contains this copyright notice.