According to a recent AdWeek article, Google is bringing some sprinkles to the smart home speaker game.
You may have been hearing a new buzzword lately, something like “experiential marketing” or “pop up shops” and if you weren’t on board before, you’re probably about to buy your ticket. Unless you don’t like technology and doughnuts (in which case I definitely do not trust you, go away).
Google is getting ‘smart’ about its new product release by partnering with bakeries to produce pop-up doughnut shops to help promote its newest Home product, dubbed the Home Mini. I’ll give you three guesses what it is.
That’s right, it’s a mini version of its full Home product.
The Google Home is a competitor to the Amazon Echo – and, later this year, the Apple HomePod. These products are smart home speakers that utilize artificial intelligence to create assistants that can respond to voice commands. These speakers can pull information from its own databases, and can also connect with a number of skills and apps that allow it to expand its usefulness. These speakers can also serve as smart home hubs, or just connect with your other smart home devices to help you control your smart home.
These speakers can pull information from its own databases, and can also connect with a number of skills and apps that allow it to expand its usefulness. These speakers can also serve as smart home hubs, or just connect with your other smart home devices to help you control your smart home.
Amazon was first-to-market with a smart home speaker, and Google was close behind – though maybe not close enough. Since Amazon released the first-generation Echo, they were also able to release other versions before other companies caught up. Today, the Amazon Echo family includes a full speaker, a mini speaker, a camera speaker, and a speaker/screen combo. Apple has yet to even release its first-generation product.
Google is working hard to catch up to Amazon and stay ahead of Apple. Which brings us back to the pop-up doughnuts shops.
If you haven’t caught the connection yet, the Google Mini is small and circular – much like a doughnut (though the smart home speaker lacks a center hole…and sprinkles, as far as I know).
Those lucky enough to be close to the cities where the pop-up shops will be (see the list below) will be able to see the new Google Home Mini, interact with it, and, of course, get their hands on some tasty doughnuts. And what would a pop-up shop be without a chance to win a prize? Google has set it up so that those in the shop will interact with the mini speaker to trigger a chute that delivers a box to them. The box will either contain a doughnut or a Google Home Mini.
Here are all the places where lucky, lucky people can take part in this experience:
October
4th – 8th: 465 W. Broadway, Manhattan, NY
4th: 432 Octavia St., San Francisco, CA
7th – 8th: 1515 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA
14th – 15th: 432 Octavia St., San Francisco, CA
20th – 22nd: Jane’s Carousel, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY
21st – 22nd: 80-82 Rainey St., Austin, TX
28th – 29th: 399 NW 10th St., Oklahoma City, OK
November
2nd: 1415 Engineering Dr., Madison, WI
4th – 5th: 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
4th – 5th: West Georgia Street, Indianapolis, IN
9th: 4270 Duncan, St. Louis, MO
