Tapping into the Metaverse: How Refreshing is a Digital Heineken?

18

September

2024

5/5 (2)

The metaverse, a network of virtual 3D spaces that connects people globally via immersive VR technology, has become a hot topic in recent years. After Facebook’s rebranding to ‘Meta’ and announcement of its investments in making the metaverse a reality, many companies jumped on the bandwagon, expressing their intentions to explore this novel virtual platform. Among them was Heineken, the Dutch beer brewing giant, which seized this opportunity to promote its newest innovative drink; Heineken Silver. Can a virtual Heineken be enjoyed as much as one in the real world?

Heineken’s big launch took place in June 2022, in partnership with the metaverse platform Decentraland. They built a virtual brewery and invited metaverse users, live streamers, and colleagues to join in on the celebration. The event featured a DJ, a virtual buffet, and, of course, a virtual bar. The launch of their beer was filled with tongue-in-cheek comments and slogans, asking attendees to “taste” the virtual beer and share their thoughts (Heineken N.V., 2022).

Heineken never intended to successfully launch a virtual product line. Instead, their marketing team aimed to generate brand awareness for their newest innovation, by using the trending concepts of virtual assets and the metaverse. The campaign was ultimately designed to persuade metaverse users to go out and enjoy the real world with a real beer (De Seta, 2022).

Despite Heineken not being entirely convinced that virtual consumables are the future, there remains a market for digital consumption. Decentraland’s online store, to this day, sells digital clothing, furniture, and much more (Decentraland, 2024). Further proving that the metaverse and digital assets are still relevant topics is the recent acquisition of London-based company LandVault, which specializes in building and delivering digital twins and immersive experiences in the metaverse (Symcox, 2024). The firm Infinite Reality acquired it for an extraordinary £350 million (Ibid). This acquisition underscores the ongoing interest and investment in the metaverse.

Heineken boasts their vision of “brewing the joy of true togetherness.” Although those who attended the launch of the virtual Heineken were still left quite thirsty in reality afterward, the entire stunt did bring people together to share in virtually brewed togetherness via a digital medium.

In my opinion, the importance of physical versus digital assets diminishes if our true goal is to be together and create memories. Whether a beer is virtual or a fresh, cold one doesn’t really matter—as long as you’re not thirsty and looking to quench it with something.

Here I am Partying with the Heineken Silver DJ and the dancefloor NPC’s

References

De Seta, D. 2022 The virtual Heineken Silver case study, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVud38Ea6GY

Decentraland, 2024, Welcome to Decentraland Available at: https://decentraland.org/.

Heineken N.V., 2022, https://www.heineken.com/nl/nl/decentraland Available at: https://www.heineken.com/nl/nl/decentraland.

Symcox, J., 2024 £350m swoop for London metaverse firm Landvault. BusinessCloud. Available at: https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/350m-swoop-for-london-metaverse-firm-landvault/.

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Technology Impacting The Beer Industry

5

October

2020

5/5 (1) The first signs of beer production go as far back as about 7,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, a place we now know as Iran. Since then, the art of making beer has not changed a lot. Of course, better tools, healthier and more hygienic processes are implemented and used, but the brewing industry remains a traditional one. Brewers are afraid to make changes in the way they brew, since it may harm the quality or the image of their beers and brand. That’s why new technological breakthroughs are not directly applied to the brewing process (Iserentant, 2003).  With a demand of more than 1.8 billion hectoliters of beer globally (Global Beer Consumption by Country in 2018, 2019) and increasing competition, this starts to change. In this article, we explore some of the new technologies now used in the beer industry.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) is spreading through many industries, and now it also enters the beer industry. Sugar Creek Brewing is using these technologies to solve a problem they had with the packaging of their finished beers and to become more efficient. Spillage of beer throughout the manufacturing process resulted in losing $30,000 every month (Vogelbacher, 2019).  By installing a camera in their bottle line, taking photos of every beer passing by, they gathered a tremendous amount of data. With the help of IBM and the algorithms of Watson, they were able to interpret this data and almost completely eliminated the problem (Bandoim, 2019). More sensors are installed and allow them to collect even more data, which can be accessed through the IBM Watson/Bosch interface 24/7 (Bandoim, 2019).  The example of Creek Brewing is a good example of how AI and IoT can optimize the brewing process and the impact it can have on a company.

In the previously discussed example, AI is mainly used to optimize the production process. There are already breweries using AI to make beer. At IntelligentX they use data to improve their beer recipes. The idea is to use data smartly and more strategically. Data collected from customers, such as preferences, is a central focal point in the company (IntellligentX: AI Beer, n.d.). The data, being customer feedback, is collected through Facebook by answering several questions (Marr, 2019). This input then is analyzed with the help of AI and machine learning algorithms. Based on the results from this process, the brewer can decide to adust the taste of the beer or which type of beer to make next (Marr, 2019).

The last example I want to share is more related to marketing than to the production of the beer itself. Apps like Untappd allow beer connoisseurs to log the beers they are drinking. This results in data of who is drinking what type of beer at which location. Based on this information, breweries can gain valuable insights into how and where certain types of beers can best be advertised. Another new development is smart drafts or taps, as provided by Indian based startup TapIO.  The tap looks just like a regular beer tap, but it’s full of technology. Customers are billed by the drop, which is registered on their personal smartcard. This data allows breweries to do personal recommendations based on user behavior. Another benefit of this system is that it reduces the wastage of beer since the pay by the drop idea stimulates people to pour a pint more carefully (TapIO – The Disruption The Beer Industry Needs, 2019). Apart from many more benefits for brewers, there are also benefits for customers. The most important one is that it helps them to get the order faster (TapIO – The Disruption The Beer Industry Needs, 2019. Untappd and TapIO are two great examples of how new systems and technologies can help collect data valuable for breweries.

Throughout this article, we explored a few developments in the beer industry of which I expect we will hear more. Personally, I’m very eager to see how the production of beer based on AI will develop. There are technologies where you can create your own beer recipe and start brewing with the help of an app (Minibrew), but I find it much more interesting to see how breweries are adjusting beers according to my personal taste. Overall I hope, technology will increase the variety of beers and improve the quality of it. A good thing about all those developments is that in the end, you still need people to enjoy beer!

https://youtu.be/xY3RSI1zlrg

References

Bandoim, L. (2019, July 24). Brewery Uses AI And IoT Technology To Improve The Quality Of Beer. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanabandoim/2019/07/24/brewery-uses-ai-and-iot-technology-to-improve-the-quality-of-beer/

Global Beer Consumption by Country in 2018. (2019, December 24). Retrieved from KIRN: https://www.kirinholdings.co.jp/english/news/2019/1224_01.html

IntellligentX: AI Beer. (n.d.). Retrieved from weare10x: http://www.weare10x.com/portfolio_page/intelligentx/

Iserentant, D. (2003). Beers: recent technological innovations in brewing. In: Lea A.G.H., Piggott J.R. (eds) Fermented Beverage Production, 41-58.

Marr, B. (2019, February 1). How Artificial Intelligence Is Used To Make Beer. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/02/01/how-artificial-intelligence-is-used-to-make-beer/

TapIO – The Disruption The Beer Industry Needs. (2019, November 11). Retrieved from Brewer World: https://www.brewer-world.com/tapio-the-disruption-the-beer-industry/

Vogelbacher, J. (2019, April 23). AI and IoT Help Perfect the Brew at Sugar Creek Brewing Company. Retrieved from IBM: https://www.ibm.com/blogs/think/2019/04/ai-and-iot-help-perfect-the-brew-at-sugar-creek-brewing-company/

 

 

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