Coke is going to start advertising other brands on its vending machines, beginning with a pilot programme in California. AVT has negotiated a cooperative agreement with Coca Cola to distribute vending machines with three to six month campaigns. Jointly, Coke and AVT will invite strategic companies to advertise on the network, generating revenue from the network of Coke machines along with other AVT vending systems.

AVT’s founder, Shannon Illingworth, tells us:

“We have retrofitted our AVTi digital advertising signage hardware/software into multiple Coca-Cola vending systems located at Laguna Hills Shopping
Mall in Laguna Hills, California, for the initial stage of a multi-phase southern California base pilot program with Coke. This is creating an opportunity for Coca-Cola to be part of type of network that it is so familiar with branding and disseminating information.”

The advertising LCDs are being retrofitted into Coke vending systems and are connected by 3G modems which link all the systems to the Internet, which in turn links to AVT’s dynamic server located in California. On the server, there’s software which can dynamically control and update the content on any Coke vending systems at push of a few keystrokes.

Using a display on their trolleys, shoppers in a test in the US will be able to find the products they need and pay for them. The system comes from Microsoft in collaboration with Media Cart.

And of course, by knowing where the trolley is travelling around the store, relevant ads can be placed just as the consumer is passing the right spot. The east coast ShopRite supermarket chain will get the test this summer.

Scott Ferris, general manager of the Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group at Microsoft, tells us:

“Digital advertising opportunities are expanding rapidly into new areas, as many of consumers’ daily activities, such as shopping, become increasingly ‘connected,’ and Microsoft is committed to working with advertisers and agencies to take advantage of these opportunities as they unfold.”

The shopper will get promotions based on location within the store but that’s the least of it. The whole thing works with loyalty cards, so the store will also deliver suggested shopping lists and promotions based on previous habits. Expect more crashed trolleys and tumbling displays of tall canned goods pyramids as shoppers no longer look where they are going in your local supermarket.

Recently launched Modstream creates text advertising on shopping carts. Via their website, advertisers create messages, select stores, days, day-parts and pay for their campaign. The system works through internet and wifi to deliver messages to the trolleys.

Nice enough, but it’s missing a critical element. Where’s the RFID or Bluetooth signal? With that, the trolley would deliver timely promotional messages in the right aisle. It needs a new level of infrastructure both in terms of hardware and in store management. But I’m sure it’s what clients will be demanding.