The Ripples 2.0 printer was unveiled at the Diageo World Class cocktail competition, which saw Canada’s James Grant triumph following five days of challenges. Ripples teamed up with Diageo to create a Ketel One-branded printer that jazzes up the tops of espresso martinis.
Entrepreneur Yossi Meshulam founded Ripples in 2012 after spotting an opportunity to launch viral marketing campaigns on the tops of beverages. The company began supplying its original device – the Ripple Maker – to bars, coffee shops and restaurants in 2015. It used malt-based pods to allow consumers to print their selfies and logos on the heads of their pints, coffees and cocktails.
Ripples has previously worked with Diageo on a global campaign for Guinness, and it ran a similar partnership with Suntory in Japan. Producers can buy branded Ripple Makers and distribute them to bars around the world. The company also supplies bars and restaurants directly with the devices. A study in Tel Aviv last year found that it caused sales of Guinness to spike by more than 25% in participating venues.
Now the firm has refined the technology and launched Ripples 2.0. It was tested at a dozen venues around the world, and feedback was positive, so the first units are now starting to be shipped.
“The Ripples 2.0 printer is a huge leap forward for the drinks customisation space,” says Will Harvey, global digital innovation manager at Diageo. “It couldn’t come at a more important time, as consumers are demanding more and more meaningful and personalised experiences from the hospitality sector. New features, such as the sketch, give greater control to consumers to truly take the drink customisation to the next level.”
Drinks International caught up with Meshulam to learn more about the improvements his team made for the second-generation Ripple Maker.
“We have three main components – the hardware device itself, which sits on the bar; the software components; and the chemistry, the extracts, the food technology,” he says. “With Ripples 2.0 we made major developments on all of them. The hardware took 18 months to develop and get into mass production. It is beautifully designed – very slick, very modern, with a small footprint. It really looks like an amazing addition to any bar.
“We designed it to be very Instagrammable. We noticed with Ripple Maker 1.0 that people really like to take videos of the printing process. We had a door, which was meant to be opened only when people replaced the pod, but we noticed that customers kept the door open the whole time. With Ripple Maker 2.0 we made the whole cover from transparent glass, so you can take a video from the top and post it on Instagram.
“It has replaceable panels, which allow customers to brand the units. If someone has multiple brands, or they want to do campaigns or events, they can rebrand the unit each time to fit the campaign. It prints faster. It’s a very quiet machine compared to the previous model.
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“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.”
