Malibu, the world’s no.1 coconut flavoured rum , is leading the way in the world of innovation with the launch of new ‘connected’ bottles. Rolled out exclusively in Tesco at the beginning of September, the 40,000 ‘connected’ bottles use an entirely app-less technology called NFC (Near Field Communication); resulting in the largest global deployment of NFC on a consumer product in alcohol. This requires the user to do nothing except ‘tap’ their NFC-enabled android phone onto a Malibu sunset image on the bottle to access content and prize draws instantly.
As a global icon of summer, Malibu constantly experiments with innovative technology to make consumers’ experiences the best they can be. Exclusive research from Pernod Ricard UK reveals a growing trend for experiences not products, whereby consumers are no longer buying products and services – they are buying experiences delivered via the products and services. By changing the dynamics and challenging traditional views, brands can significantly increase their engagement with new and existing consumers and, the more innovative the approach, the more chance of reaching a new audience. Malibu has responded to this consumer need by introducing the ‘connected’ bottles technology; offering added value experiences to consumers by allowing them to interact instantly with minimal effort.
The pioneering campaign has been developed through an ongoing partnership between Malibu and creative agency SharpEnd, and follows work undertaken at The ABSOLUT Company’s innovation lab in Stockholm, where Absolut and Malibu collaborated on a ‘connected’ bottles showcase. The project has now led to the very first pilot of this kind in the UK.
Embracing the technology, Malibu will be turning each bottle into a direct, digital touchpoint for consumers. ‘Tapping’ the iconic sunset logo on the Malibu bottle will open up a world of five amazing digital #Becausesummer experiences that consumers can access through their mobile browser, including:
1. Instant-win competition – tap to win UE Boom speakers
2. User-generated-content competition – consumers are encouraged to upload a summer snap. Google’s Cloud Vision API will then use its automated machine learning capabilities to recognise the content of the image and classify it into a theme (e.g. BBQ, Festival, Beach). Once classified, a personalised, branded image is sent back to the consumer. They are then entered into a prize draw to win a holiday to Barbados (7 nights allinclusive)
3. Bartender in a bottle – drinks recipes
4. Bar locator – uses the consumer’s geo-location to find the nearest Malibu bar and alfresco drinking spots if the weather is good
5. Playlist – connects to Malibu Play on mix cloud to give playlists from Groove Armada, Marvin Humes, Clean Bandit and more
PERNOD RICARD UK
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