By Jeff Thibodeau, VP Operations
Innovative Vending Solutions offers a variety of digital vending machine rentals that can be utilized for events, tradeshows, and marketing/PR purposes. We frequently get asked if we rent vending machines. The answer is yes. We rent vending machines, sell vending machines, and rent vending machines with an option to purchase. Now that you know Innovative Vending Solutions will rent or sell you a custom vending machine, you may ask, “How can a digital vending machine enhance my marketing and events?”
A custom digital vending machine is a great tool to use for your marketing and PR events, as they offer a way to engage your guests or consumers in a fun, experiential way. The machines allow you to give away SWAG, product, grand prizes, and even sell merchandise. The machines can be used for tradeshows, new product launches, sporting events, and so on. There are many ways that the machines can be used to engage with the consumers. We will dive into some of the options below:
Social Media Activation
The social media activated vending machine offers functionality that enables guests to engage with the machine via a social media post—typically on Twitter or Instagram. It is based on hashtags that will be displayed on the screen, prompting the guests to tweet or post from their phone to trigger the vending machine to dispense a free gift. This is a great way promote a trending hashtag and/or gain followers and follow-up sales.Quiz/Survey Activation
A great way to test your guests’ knowledge of the company, event, industry, team, etc. is to have a quiz or survey on the touchscreen. With this option, you can ask a pre-determined set of questions, whether you want to ask the same few questions, or you want to have a database of X amount of questions to randomly pull a few from for every guest, leading to a unique experience that enables them to answer until they get it correct, allowing them to gain more knowledge on your company or product.QR Scan/Pin-Code Entry
This method of product retrieval enables the guest to scan a unique QR code, swipe a custom mag stripe card, or enter a pin-code on the touchscreen. This method acts as a gatekeeper, where the only way to engage or unlock the machine is by using a unique code. The benefit of this option is that you can give these codes out as you please, i.e., you can simply hand them out to anyone, hand them out after they go visit a demo, have them scan their badge, etc.Data Collection
This is a tried and true method of dispensing the free SWAG. It is literally using the consumer’s data as the payment for the product. The data that can be collected is customized for your brand, where we can collect information such as name, DOB, email address, phone number, etc. We can even get a bit more on-brand and ask what type of car they own, if they’ve ever purchased X product, etc.
Custom Applications
Lastly, IVS can incorporate custom applications for your company or brand. For instance, if you have a specific game you would like to have integrated into your touchscreen, or you have an API you would like us to tie into, we can do that as well. We have tied into many different APIs, from different credit card processors to internal company-specific APIs, and so on. Pricing on this will vary depending on the complexity of the integration and the production time involved in development.As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to engage with your guests via digital vending machine rentals. Whether you are looking to purchase or rent, any of the above options can be available to you. Feel free to reach out with any further questions.