Sit back with a beer and watch the movie. No credit card required. Russian app developers, Heads and Hands, have turned Grolsch bottles into movie unlockers.
The technology is complex. What it does is very simple. “We were aware of a current campaign being carried out in Russia by Grolsch, that allows consumers to enter promotional codes found on its bottles in to its partners' websites. This enables people to access a movie for free. We liked this idea, but thought we could make the process a whole lot easier. So, we developed this new ‘one-touch’ technology for the bottles in order to facilitate the transaction in a single step," Aleksandr Semenov, chief executive officer, Heads and Hands, explained.
The bottle is fitted with Bluetooth beacon technology.
Movieunlocker presentation from Heads&Hands on Vimeo.
The beer bottle and the device with which it is brought into close proximity are able to identify one another using radio signals. A beacon is fitted under the Grolsch bottle cap. It sends a signal to the device on which you wish to watch the movie.
In order to prevent a premature activation when the bottle is capped, a special sticker blocks the radio frequency from being identified by the device.
When the bottle is opened, the beacon is activated and sends a signal to a server with a previously registered serial number.
If there is a match between this and a number in the database, the server confirms a successful connection. This verification process then allows a user to unlock their chosen movie. The product is compatible with any device equipped with next-generation Bluetooth beacon connectivity.
Semenov concluded, “You will never need a credit card to pay for a movie again. It’s so amazingly simple, I still can’t believe I’ve done it. Who knows, maybe we’ll target the pizza market next with this technology!”
Campaign Credits:
Alexander Semenov: chief executive officer, Heads and Hands
Ilya Burakov: art director
Anton Maksimov: IT director
Alexey Efremov: senior front end developer
Igor Glushkov: developer
Alexander Maslennikov: developer
