NEW YORK CITY — Visitors to the Ciena Co. booth at the recent Ethernet Expo here lined up to scan their ID badges at a vending machine to receive a free t-shirt.
The machine’s touchscreen display prompted visitors to swipe their NFC badges on a card reader below. A product selection screen then appeared, from which each badgeholder could choose a t-shirt that promoted Ciena, a provider of telecommunications networking services.
“It is a great way to give away swag and obtain ID badge information at the same time,” said Jeff Thibodeau of Innovative Vending Solutions, the Dayton, OH-based company that provided the machine for the promotion.
Vending Times profiled Innovative Vending Solutions in the May 2013 edition. The story is online here.