Augmented Reality to Bulk Vending?

Brand Vending Brings Exciting Tech to the World of Temporary Tattoos

With the goal of modernizing flat and capsule vending – tattoos, toys and candy – Brand Vending has recently unveiled 4D Tattoo Tower, Tubz Toy Tower and Tubz Candy Carousel. The company’s vice president of sales, Craig Good­man, calls the machines “2.0” units that are really bringing vending into the future.

That’s especially true for their latest tattoo machine, which is scheduled to begin shipping at the end of September.

“The 4D Tattoo Tower is the 2.0 version of our ubiquitous red tattoo machine,” he said.

Billed as “tattoos that come alive,” here’s how the temporary tats work: At first, it’s a typical tattoo vend. But once the customer puts it on their skin, it’s anything but typical. That’s because using augmented reality technology, they’re able to use a mobile app (Magic 4D from Popar Toys, available on smartphones and tablets) to bring the tattoo to life. Users can then interact with the tattoos virtually, sharing images on social media and collecting the tattoos long after they’ve rubbed off in the real world – another modern-day advantage of the 4D Tattoo Tower.

Brand Vending came to the augmented reality world through Popar Toys, which is owned by one of Brand’s owners and focuses on educational books for kids. That company wrote the code for the free Magic 4D app that brings the tattoos to life.

“We figured out a way to incorporate that technology in the vending channel through temporary tattoos,” Goodman said.

As of now, there are six different offerings in the 4D format, and 12 designs for each. (Dinosaurs, Fantasy, Fright Nite, Pet Shoppe, Rough Riders and Wild Kingdom are the current series of 4D tattoos.)

The 4D Tattoo Tower itself is a “really attractive, fun machine,” Goodman says, that includes the video monitor, which is essentially “a commercial for tattoos.” It captures the imagination and shows people what the AR tats can do.

The machine, which made its debut at IAAPA 2018, will be available for $899 when released and Brand Vending is also giving away four free boxes of tattoos (1,200 total tattoos) with a purchase. “That’s $600 worth of product right back to you,” he noted. “It almost pays for the machine, and it gives an incentive to new operators.”

An innovative product, the latest flat vending machine in the Brand Vending lineup comes after the industry sector, well…flattened.

“We sold more temporary tattoo machines, arguably, than any other company in the industry 20 years ago,” Goodman explained. “It’s a highly profitable revenue stream where you can buy the tattoo for 10 cents and sell it as a 50-cent vend. We used to sell millions of tattoos a year, but sales for us and other companies went down.

“We wanted to figure out a way to spark that fire again, and the way to do that is to remember how to get the kids’ attention. You show them the screen and what they can get out of this machine.”

The modernized product, he said, has the industry talking about tattoo vending again.

“We’ve sold thousands of vending machines in the past 20 years,” Goodman said. “We’ve never seen this much excitement about flat vending. People are excited again to vend tattoos. They were looking for a facelift.”

The “rejuvenation” of the machines isn’t relegated to the technology, but also the design of the machines themselves.

Over the years, Goodman said, “We’ve all increased our artwork quality, but the kids were still walking by the machines and not stopping. They didn’t say, ‘Look at me,’ but now we have a screen that screams ‘Look at me!’”

Eye-catching is also how to describe Brand Vending’s other two recent “2.0” products, Tubz Toy Tower and Tubz Candy Carousel.

“These are so unique and new looking that kids just have to see it to want to interact with it,” Goodman said of the products. Users have to twist the machines to get the capsuled toys and candy.

More information about the company and its offerings are available at www.brandvendingproducts.com.