How exciting can a vending machine get?

If you’re Coca-Cola, the answer is “very” – when it’s a “multimedia Coke machine”.

Also known as the uVend, Coke debuted its interactive, touch-screen vending machines at the Beijing Olympics. It’s now starting to put them into malls across the US. Today, the uVend is a novelty that generates lines stretching around the block – for a machine that still, at heart, just dispenses fizzy drinks.

But for Coke, these networked, brightly lit devices open up a new world of marketing potential. Read more