PAULIG MUKI: SMART COFFEE CUP
| Title | PAULIG MUKI: SMART COFFEE CUP |
| Brand | GUSTAV PAULIG |
| Product/Service | MUKI IS A TOTALLY NEW SOCIAL PLATFORM THAT WILL BRING AN ELEMENT OF SURPRISE TO |
| Category |
A01. Innovation |
|
Entrant Company
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TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
|
Advertising Agency
|
TBWA\HELSINKI, FINLAND
|
Credits
| Juhana Hokkanen |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Lead Creative Technologist |
| Miika Kumpulainen |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Associate Creative Director |
| Juuso Kalliala |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Copywriter |
| Juha/Matti Raunio |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Vice President |
| Daniel Julier |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Product Designer |
| Milja Hakala |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Project Director |
| Umberto Onza |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Jr Product Designer |
| Antti Sinisalo |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Art Director |
| Christine Göös |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Copywriter |
| Lauri Käkelä |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Jr Product Designer |
| Esko Räsänen |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Senior Developer |
| Mikko Paasto |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Senior Developer |
| Miika Pärni |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Senior Developer |
| Karri Kauppila |
Gustav Paulig Ltd. |
Marketing Director |
| Risto Kalsta |
Gustav Paulig Ltd. |
Senior Marketing Manager |
| Sanna Wester |
Viestar Ltd. |
Project Manager |
| Mikko Köykkä |
Mikko Köykkä |
Technical Designer |
| Andrei Papshev |
Chipital Ltd. |
Technical Project Manager |
| Gennady Nosenko |
Firstline Software/Inc. |
Head Of Mobile Development |
| Theodor Arhio |
TBWA/Helsinki |
Creative Director |
| Martin Mohr |
TBWA |
|
The Brief
Drinking coffee hasn't changed much in centuries: you brew it, pour it, drink it. We wanted to change this and make the act of drinking coffee more social than ever.
We realized that thermal energy from coffee could be used to power something small-scale. So, we played around with this and came up with Paulig Muki. It is a take-away cup with an e-Ink display, accompanied by an app that allows you to send images to your friends' Mukis.
The core engineering team consisted of one lead electronics engineer, lead functionality and concept designer, and lead product designer. In addition to the core team we had numerous people participating in the project (see credits). Budgets are confidential.
Related technologies and tools: e-paper displays, Bluetooth 4.0, Energy harvesting, 32-bit microprocessors, PCB manufacturing, 3D printing, paper prototyping, plastic injection, FDA certification, RF certification and mobile development (iOS, Android and WP).
The beta phase has begun in the fall of 2014 and in February 2015 it will be launched and sold worldwide.
The innovations' core functionality is based on the idea of human interaction, reaction and entertainment. Going further from this, the platform will enable co-branded operations as a service. Planned features on the roadmap are branded content feeds, weather forecast for the day, local bus schedules, daily calendar schedule and many more. The platform itself opens up almost limitless possibilities. The product will have an open API that will provide the development community to take the product even further.
The innovation combines already existing technologies but added to that, we created new or revamped old protocols to enable the product to work as an entity. For example we created a new protocol to send out bitmap image data via the Bluetooth 4.0 standard as the old technology hasn't been designed for such a complex data transfer.
The innovation was created as a consumer product by the brand Paulig from Gustav Paulig Ltd. The company was founded in 1876 and is still family-owned Finnish roasted coffee supplier. Uniqueness of this innovation comes from the creation of the whole story under one roof. The innovation, the product design, Muki brand and the marketing communications are all done by one company bringing the technology, the designers and the marketing professionals together.
Setup for the system combines Muki product and a mobile application via a BLE-connection. Muki is powered by energy that is harvested from heat transfer from hot coffee to a heat gathering element in the bottom of Muki with a TEG-element. This power is stored in a super capacitor and used to connect to the mobile device that then sends the image data to Muki. After the data is received, it is transferred to the display with a microprocessor.
Gustav Paulig Ltd. currently operates in six markets. The concept launch gained so much attention in the biggest global technology medias (such as Mashable, CNet, Gizmodo, Business Insider, and many more) that already 18 markets want to sell Muki. So as an outcome of a single innovation project, Paulig's markets will triple around the world, including huge ones such as United States, China and Japan.
The Paulig brand used to be a bit outdated amongst the youth segment in Finland. The expected outcome of this innovation project is to achieve a younger and more innovative brand feel: to show that Paulig coffee is no longer only for your older relatives. The concept launch of the beta phase has already reached the challenging younger audience and made the Muki a desirable product for them.