My favorite bit of news from the retail industry today: in Singapore, Coca-Cola has introduced a vending machine that dispenses a soda if you hug it. As this article discusses, it is a rather ingenious marketing campaign: it draws young people (it is located at a university) into a multi-sensory engagement with the product, and taps into their increasingly positive attitudes toward public displays of affection.
Score a few creativity points for Coke.
