Sentient vending machines are a growing trend these days. Not too long ago, dutch beer brand Amstel set the ‘Amstel Pause’ in Bulgaria – the first vending machine installation that makes you do nothing.
This marketing strategy rewarded antsy consumers with a free beer, if they could stand still and do nothing for 3 minutes. “Keep calm and carry a beer koozie” was the theme for the vending machine. In this fast paced world, Amstel wanted that short break to allow consumers to clear their minds, while quenching their thirst.
According to PSFK, an average 84 people a day got their free beer, with a total of 1344 beers being dispensed to reward 4032 minutes (more than 67 hours) of rest. But those 1344 beers also managed to give Amstel an impressive media coverage, with more than 150 bulgarian and international publications talking about it and over 225.000 people viewing the campaign video just in the first 2 weeks. Quite a good deal for Amstel, right?
