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Masterton, New Zealand – a town where sheep outnumber people – is the

unassuming home to a Coca-Cola Amatil office housing one of the most innovative

hotbeds of technical talent in the global Coca-Cola system.

In these humble offices tucked away next to a bus station, sandwiched between

mountains and hills, Andy Kerr and his team are shaping the future of vending

machines.

And the future is smart with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Amatil Australia and Amatil NZ have nearly 26,000 vending machines in their

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combined territories.

Updating one of these machines can require up to 45 minutes of on-site

reprogramming.

Kerr, Amatil’s general manager of vending systems services, pursued a vending

revamp that would not only improve the programming process, but also redefine the

user experience.

The idea began in 2015 when Kerr’s team was challenged to transform customer

interactions with vending machines into experiences comparable to what people

might have in a retail store.

Kerr’s team wanted a vending machine that could offer specials, track sales, preempt

maintenance and refill needs, and accept mobile payments. They wanted a vending

machine people would never need to touch to retrieve their drink purchase.

The solution, it turned out, was in the vending machines already in use. The units

just needed to get smarter.

Kerr's team of eight built a retrofit kit, compatible with the most popular machines

on the market, which would allow the company to control existing vending systems

digitally through the cloud. Once the machines are cloud-connected, Amatil can

digitally adjust their pricing from afar, and consumers can buy drinks via phone

before reaching the machine.

Coud integration opens up a new realm of global interconnectivity. Because the

machines operate on a unified digital system, customers can push a button on their

phone in Atlanta and have a drink appear at a vending machine in Masterton, New

Zealand.

“What we’ve done is common sense," Kerr says, humbly. "It just took us a while to

figure it out.”

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Greg Chambers, Coca-Cola’s global group director of digital innovation, is less

hesitant to boast about the game-changing nature of this technology and the brains

behind it.

“These guys put me in awe,” he says of Kerr’s team. “They are still hand making

circuit boards, when probably not five people in the United States can do that. I’ve

never seen anything like Andy Kerr.”

Inspired by Kerr’s innovation, Chambers’ team

at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, set out to create

a digital user experience to complement these newly-

digital vending machines.

Chambers imagined sitting on a hot train and having a

phone notification appear announcing a Coca-Cola

happy hour special – buy a Coca-Cola and get a

discounted DASANI, for example. More than a

notification, he envisioned this message as an

invitation to join a conversation with the brand.

Consumers could jump into personalized chats

with Coca-Cola, as if they were communicating with a

familiar bodega operator. As soon as they reached

their final destination, their mobile-made purchases

would appear in their chosen vending machine.

Chambers’ vision is soon to be a reality when it rolls out in Amatil’s New Zealand

market, before making its way to the U.S.

The first step in enabling this experience was creating a platform to host these digital

conversations. Recognizing consumers’ desire for an experience already built into

their devices as opposed to one requiring a new app, Chambers’ team partnered with

Facebook Messenger and Pandorabots, an AI Web service that designs Internet

robots (bots) capable of personalized conversations.

Users can opt into conversations with the vending bot via Facebook Messenger.

Using data gathered through the consumer's Facebook activity, current location and

tone of conversation, the AI bot will adopt a local dialect and attitude tailored to

each user. Every interaction with these responsive AI bots promises a unique

experience, as the bots develop a cognitive understanding of what’s being said in

each conversation and respond accordingly.

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@draznnl Sorry to hear Please call 800-438-265 8007039265. Thank you

Still a bit skeptical about why tasting is believing:

The Coca-Cola Co.

The Coca-Cola Co.

Just like the contour Coca-Cola bottle became a visual icon of the company,

Chambers believes these digital vending engagements can become a quintessential

part of the Coca-Cola experience.

“The spirit of The Coca-Cola Company is about surprising people through

experience,” says Chambers. “Our goal with this vending process is to create

experiences only Coca-Cola can create.”

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