Digital Ice cream technology at Unilever

CANNES, FRANCE: SapientNitro, part of Sapient unveiled to the global advertising community the world’s first smile-activated vending machine — an ice cream truck for the digital age - for Unilever.

A press release tells that Unilever is the world's biggest ice cream manufacturer and has diverse brands such as Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Good Humor, Breyers and Klondike in its global portfolio. This ice cream vending machine is an industry-leading innovative brand experience and part of Unilever’s new ice cream mission to encourage people everywhere to share life’s small moments of happiness.

We’re really excited about the possibility this new technology holds for Unilever. It offers a revolutionary new way for consumers to buy ice cream and, simultaneously, a revolutionary brand experience,” said Ian Maskell, Global Brand Development Director for Wall’s at Unilever.

Here is how it works: An entertaining “attractor screen” playfully immerses a passerby into the world of augmented reality, Wall’s-style. Once drawn closer to the machine, the person is prompted for a big smile and the ‘smile-o-meter’ measures his or her grin. A photo is then taken and with permission uploaded onto Facebook. The consumer can pick out his or her free ice cream by using the touch-screen interface on the vending machine.

“You would expect nothing less from Unilever, a company highly respected for innovation, than to introduce an industry-leading brand experience,” said Kim Douglas, Managing Director of SapientNitro UK, and global lead for Unilever. “We are thrilled to work with Unilever on this, and look forward to seeing the vending machine being rolled out into other markets around the world.”

To create this experience, creative technologists at SapientNitro harnessed the power of the latest technology across a number of realms, including facial recognition, 3G and Facebook. Designed in a lab by specialist teams intent on creating a machine unlike any other, the unique features of the smile-activated vending machine include: Groundbreaking facial recognition technology to track if a person is smiling; Intricate technology that captures and measures a person’s smile — the smile-o-meter — to let a person know how happy he or she is 3G technology to enable uploading and sharing of smiles via social media with the user’s permission SapientNitro also developed the graphic language, interface design and the unique animation style for the vending machine. Samsung was the screen provider and Sanden Vendo supplied the vending machine.