I’m adoring this new high-tech vending machine technology that’s been launched by a company called Unilever. It uses advanced facial recognition technology to offer free ice cream to happy people (or at least people who are willing to fake a big smile in order to get their ice cream). It’s quirky and unusual and different and I love the idea.

The vending machine is designed to recognize smiles on the faces of people in front of them. It also recognizes age and gender but all that the consumer really cares about is that the machine can see how happy they are at the prospect of getting free ice cream. If your smile is big enough, the machine gives you the ice cream that you’re seeking.

What’s so smart about this? It caters to several different things that are appealing to consumers including advanced new technology, free stuff and happiness. Studies have shown that smiling even when you aren’t happy can increase happiness. One would assume that getting free ice cream also increases happiness. A company that can so easily increase consumer happiness is clearly doing a great job of selling itself.

Unilever’s marketing slogan for this product is “Share Happy”. It taps into the power of social media advertising by allowing you to share your winning smile via the company’s Facebook page. Although social media marketing is relatively new, it’s already becoming a must for businesses so companies like this one that do something creative to start setting their Facebook advertising apart from others immediately are definitely on the cusp of innovation.

The video here in the post shows the Share Happy ice cream machine in action. However, the commercial for the machine is actually way cooler and can be seen here.

via Springwise

Tags: high tech vending machine, unilever ice cream machine