A bar is a place for drinking and having fun and socializing and dancing.
It’s usually not a place you’d expect to find some innovative technology.
Until now.
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We’ve all seen it before.
A group of people sitting together in a pub. But they’re not looking at each other, and they’re not talking to each other either.
They’re all on their phones.
What are they doing with their lives?
Technology is awesome and everything, don’t get me wrong. I tweet constantly, and enjoy being able to call my sister in DC while I’m hundreds of miles away in Boston. But I firmly believe there’s a time and place for everything. And when you’re out with friends, it’s not the time or the place to check your Facebook newsfeed or make a Vine video. And sometimes, it prevents you from experiencing things IRL (in real life).
But what’s the solution to the problem of overusing technology?
A small beer brand in Brazil came up with the answer by using… you guessed it, technology!
Polar beer wanted to make drinking beer with friends a social event. So, they designed a high-tech beer cooler that blocks the signal of cell phones within a 5-foot radius. That means that no one at the table will get a chance to be on their phones. And without phones, people are more encouraged to interact and laugh and joke and sing and be with their friends. To live in the moment and enjoy it.
Check out how this innovative technology encouraged other people to ditch their own technology.
This is such a simple idea, and a great way to have people associate Polar beer with sharing fun, loving moments with friends.
Another beer company also decided to bring technology to a bar too!
Budweiser designed the innovative Buddy Cup in 2013 that encouraged people who met in bars to connect with each other on social media. With the simple clank of two glasses together, strangers who shared awesome conversations would automatically add each other as friends on Facebook and be able to stay connected long after the bar closes for the night.
What’s really unique about both of these ideas is that these brands are both using something common and simple (a beer cooler, or a glass) and making it part of an experience.
They’re not creating high-tech glasses and coolers. They’re starting a movement that involves connecting with people and living in the moment. Both of these campaigns are examples of how technology is transforming not only the messages that brands are trying to send to consumers, but also the behavioral changes that brands are trying to create. Technology isn’t just relevant in billboards and advertisements and online banner ads. It can be used to start a conversation or create experiences.
Let’s drink to that!
laurenhaslett.com 