“We have a new glow extract [in addition to the malt extract]. It shows under UV light, so it’s made for clubs. It’s going to be really attention-grabbing. Our customers can now easily create their own web apps with their own look and feel. They can change the content and decide what kind of frames they want to have for selfies. Completely branding a campaign from the ground up.”
Perhaps the greatest leap forward is the inclusion of sophisticated new tools for campaign analytics and marketing. Customers can monitor the demographics of the consumers that use it within each bar, helping them finetune marketing campaigns. “We are moving more and more towards campaign management,” says Meshulam.
Now the target is to broaden the customer base by attracting more brand owners, bar owners and restaurant owners. “The whole industry was extremely focused on the off-trade during Covid,” says Meshulam. “All of the marketing went to off-trade and online purchases. Now people are going to come back big time. They are trying to maximise consumer spend and create more unique experiences to encourage consumers to stay longer, spend more, have more fun, share their experiences on social media, so we are a tremendous marketing tool for them. We think the timing is impeccable to be out there with the new platform. We think it will be great for the brands and also the bars and restaurants that want to get consumers in.”
The price varies from market to market, but it is roughly $2,000. Meshulam says that it quickly pays for itself, both in sales increases and in organic social media marketing. Consumers post pictures of their selfies on top of beverages and share them with their networks, helping to promote bars and brands.
“Today creating organic social media is key for every business,” says Meshulam. “To have your customers publish you in their networks is the number one key to success for viral marketing. With Ripple, suddenly your consumers become content creators, and they share it.
“Technologies that integrate so flawlessly into the digital journey of the consumer are a no brainer. We offer integration into digital menus. It gives you an option to customise and personalise your beverage.”
The firm is now working on a Ripple Maker 2.0 Pro, which will have multiple pods to make it more efficient at peak times. “We’re developing new software tools, we have new extracts in R&D, but the whole project is around running campaigns on top of beverages,” says Meshulam. “Our objective is that every company serving beverages will start looking at the key location for marketing, events and locations. We look at the top of the beverage as an unexploited screen, and we are looking at ways to make it more profound.”
