Dive Brief:

• Coca-Cola brand Vitaminwater helped quench consumers' thirst this summer with three interactive, music-playing vending machines that dispensed free samples. The freebies came with a catch, however: visitors had to watch and listen to a display of bottles lighting up on a touchscreen and then replicate their pattern, per MediaPost Communications. Users also had to enter their email address or visit freevitaminwater.com to get a PIN to enter on the machine to access the free sample.
• The vending machines, called "Summer Jams," were introduced on June 24 and were made available until the "unofficial" end of summer. They were placed in New York City, in Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, and also Venice Beach, CA.
• The machines were created by Pearl Media, and Vitaminwater also worked with Rapport, Ogilvy & Mather and UM on the campaign. Over the more than two months of the campaign, it saw more than 40,000 interactions, generated 14,000 email submissions and dispensed 36,000 bottles between the machine and brand representatives.

Dive Insight:

Vitaminwater's out-of-home effort was one of many clever activations that ran this summer which tapped into consumers looking for free samples, chances to interact with brands or just fun ways to beat the heat. The gamified aspect of the vending machines — along with the promise of a free drink — likely went a long way toward generating traffic and buzz.

This type of novel, real-world interaction usually gets people taking photos and video to share on social media as well, growing organic brand awareness. For Vitaminwater, it was clearly a great way to drive email sign-ups and expand its customer database.

This will help it target users with digital ad campaigns and email marketing efforts going forward. Both email addresses and engagement through micro-site visits can be used within almost all ad platforms for targeting down to the individual level.