The social vending machine was first introduced at the two Beyoncé concerts in Antwerp, Belgium. Right up Pepsi’s ally with their Live for Now campaign, targeting people between 16-25.

Their smartphone became the central hub of this idea. Simply go to likepepsi.be on your smartphone, connect with Facebook and chose your sample drink you would like to taste.

The machine uses node.js (server side technology) to enable seamless real-time communication between the vending machines, the webserver and the user’s mobile phones.

After the Beyoncé concerts the machines have been placed at: University colleges, concert venues and festivals. Creating a new social currency and engaging with the target audience in a fresh new way.

On average, a sample was distributed every 3 minutes, allowing Pepsi’s Facebook page to grow by 200 fans daily.

Every day, 230 users interacted with the social vending machine. 213 users exchanged a ‘like’ for a Pepsi sample, 203 of which actually chose a drink. 70% of the users chose Pepsi Regular and the social vending machine was more popular amongst men (65%.) In total, the Pepsi Like Machine was live for 23 days (May 15th to October 31st 2013). Thanks to its overwhelming success, Pepsi is now looking for a permanent place to put the machine.

Mashable, The Huffington Post, The Next Web and over 300 other (inter)national blogs covered this world premiere.