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The Coca Cola Freestyle Machine: The Best Beverage Innovation in
Decades
I've got to give you a sneak peek into what those smart marketers at Coca Cola are up to!
Think about your favorite quick-serve restaurant. You place your order and then wander over to fill up your drink
at the fountain machine, where you've got, what- - six or seven choices?
That's old school.
Check this out: Coca-Cola is test-marketing "Freestyle", a sleek new fountain beverage dispenser that instantly
gives you a choice of over 100 drinks with just a few simple taps on its touch-screen display.
So what'll you have? Caffeine-Free Raspberry Coca-Cola? Strawberry Minute Maid Lemonade? Dasani Orange? Fanta
Grape? Or how about my favorite here in Atlanta, Peach Sprite Zero?
Sure, all the classic choices are still there too, but with the Coca Cola Freestyle machine you can now try new
flavor combinations that you can't find anywhere else.
Marketing Insight Into Why The Coca Cola Freestyle Machine is a
Success
While Coca Cola isn't a client of mine, as a new products consultant I can see four factors
that make the new Freestyle machine a winner:
- Personalization: consumers love imprinting their unique preferences onto an established brand to make it
truly "theirs."
- Intuitive Design: ease-of-use is critical in mass-market innovation; technology must support (not
subvert!) the big idea.
- Evolvability: staying 'fresh' keeps consumers engaged, and with the Coca Cola Freestyle machine Coke can
can continually introduce new flavors (and then use real-world data to launch the winners in stores &
elsewhere).
- Treasure Hunting: from the Coke Freestyle to Costco to the Apple iPhone, great brands awaken a sense of
discovery & delight in their consumers.
With this in mind, which of these four factors can you leverage on your business?
For inspiration, check out the Coke Freestyle fountain beverage machine in action. It's in extremely limited test
distribution, but
I've got
Coca Cola Freestyle Machine locations, photos, & videos for you here.
Enjoy them, and I'll see you again next Tuesday on Speed Dial!
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