Aboard the Vending Cruise, 5 May 2013 – The 2013 “Image of Vending Award” was announced today at the EVA’s flagship conference EurOps, organized this year on board the Vending Cruise. The undisputed winner of the Award was NAVSA with its FeelGood project; the second award was presented to Rheavendors for HAL, and the 3rd went to Intel for Self-Serve Espresso Bar, a joint project with Costa Enterprises.
The EVA “Image of Vending” Award was designed to give recognition to innovation from every segment of the vending industry, where a marked improvement has been added to the global image of Vending. The 2013 contest was open to products, services and initiatives introduced to the market since 1 June 2011, from EVA Members and National Associations’ Members.
The EVA received 18 projects from all areas of vending:
- Azkoyen SA: Azkoyen Novara
- Bianchi Vending Group: Duo, be the one
- Bravilor Bonamat: Esprecious
- BWT water + more: BESTMAX BALANCE
- Coges: Coges Engine
- D.A. Design Group: Self Store 24H
- Gearomat: “smart mobile vending” with gearomat control system
- Gruppo Argenta: Eni shop 24
- Intel & Costa Enterprises Ltd: Marlow CEM-200 Self-Serve Espresso Bar
- MEI: MEI CashFlow® 5in1 eCash
- NAVSA: programme “FeelGood”
- N&W GLOBAL VENDING: KARISMA
- Rhea Vendors Group: HAL (Hospitality Area Lounge); TM-ON telemetry technology
- SandenVendo: G-Drink Finger Point + CO2 cooling unit
- SwissPrimePack: Vending cup “Latte Macchiatto”
- U-Select-it: Alpine Elevator
- Westomatic Vending Services: The Sigma Touch
The 3 best projects were picked by a Jury that was selected from an international panel of industry experts, representing most of the European countries and segments of the Vending industry, a Vending Press Journalist and a Communication Agency Representative.
- Award Winner 2011: Rheavendors, Carlo Majer
- Communication Agency: Acapella, Anne-Sophie Lavaurs
- Cups: Swisspack, Jan Schürmann
- Ingredient Supplier: Lavazza, Sergio Telesco
- Journalist: Vending TV, Fabio Russo
- Machine Manufacturer: Saeco Vending, Iwald Mons
- Machine Manufacturer: Aequator, Arnaud van Amerongen
- Operator: Mastercup Vending, Michal Piotrowiak (Poland)
- Operator: Sogeda, Fioravante Allegrino (Italy)
- Operator: Uvenco, Sergei Kornienko (Russia)
- Payment: Coges, Stefano Bertoldo
As in the previous edition, the Jury had to give a score from 1 to 5 on 20 different criteria, which were grouped under 3 main headings:
– Consumer–oriented criteria: under this heading, the Jury rated the impact on the consumer and consumer-friendly aspects;
– Positive factors: functionality and future-oriented, affordability, sustainability, innovation and technological aspects, as well as placement potential were amongst the criteria;
– Visual aspect and story-telling: esthetics, experience, fun and general aspect were looked at.
“Since the opening of the call for applications, 42 vending companies have undertaken to certify over 3000 machines. Partners such as Kellogg’s, Danone Waters, Nutrition et Santé, La Courtisane or Mondelez International have also joined the programme.
We are very proud of the feelGood label’s dynamism. It is the first time in the French vending history that so many professionals gathered to build such a responsible initiative. The programme has a very positive impact on consumers, on public authorities and on the media. And beyond that, the label feelGood shows that vending professionals can do great things when they work together”, said Nicolas Bodilis-Réguer, the Director General of NAVSA.
“The acronym HAL (Hospitality Area Lounge) defines a vending environment with a hi-tech heart that, in its turn implies an innovative articulation of customer service for hospitality
context (hotels, motels, conference center and “vending boutiques”), which intensely exploit the opportunities of web-based interfaces. It enables to perform extended purchases of products and services in one simple session.The HAL project further extends the re-qualification process of the vending experience. To quote Baudelaire, it creates around vending a palpable feeling of «luxe, calme et volupté». It both conceals and reshapes the traditional image of vending”, said Prof. Carlo Majer, Rheavendors Group.
“Intel is proud to be a contributor, together with Whitbread and Costa Coffee, to the Marlow Intelligent Self-Serve Expresso Bar, which has been placed within the top three in the EVA ‘2013 Image of Vending’ Award.
The design is the result of a number of objectives that we feel addresses the changing face of the vending industry, driven by the ever evolving consumer demand for digitalization. Firstly, the platform delivers a world first ‘5-sense user-experience’ including sight, sound, touch, scent and taste. All of these elements are now expected from technology by an increasingly sophisticated consumer base. Secondly, the solution collects valuable business data which goes beyond the traditional, in not only anonymously characterizing users together with their choices by age and gender but by reporting machine analytics in real time. All of this is achieved through the application of an end to end technology solution built upon open standards, with security and analytics built in”, said an Intel Spokesperson.
“I feel that the winners of this year’s Vending Award are representative of what challenges lie ahead for our industry: emphasis on vending as a retail channel able to provide the consumer with a wide variety of products, as illustrated by the FeelGood project. I’m particularly pleased that a National Vending Association ranked amongst the finalists and ultimately won the award. This shows that Vending Associations are not merely advocates of the industry, but also thought leaders, paving the way for their members. The project that won second place, Rheavendor’s HAL, which stands for Hospitality Area Lounge, was the perfect example of creating a real life atmosphere around the vending machine and of telling a story, adding extra value to the vending experience. The 3rd finalist, Intel/Costa, is about enhancing the consumer interface with the machine (touch-screen), reinforced by trust in a coffee shop brand. Coffee-on-the-go from an interactive and fun machine, displaying variety in sizes and tastes, in a cup that is similar to those that are used in coffee shops, this is definitely full of opportunities for vending operators”, said Catherine Piana, the EVA Director General.
Only in its second year, the Image of Vending Award has reached a quality level and a quantity of participating projects that are nothing short of impressive, and highlights the industry’s creativity. Crises and tough economic conditions tend to stimulate a high output of creativity. The EVA EurOps Conference was placed under the banner of business optimism and growth opportunities, and this year’s Vending Award winners indicate that there is every chance for vending to become the consumer’s favourite, most innovative and interactive retail channel in the coming years.
