Barilliant - new system for an old industry

In addition to monitoring inventory usage, the technology also identifies beer quality issues by monitoring beer temperature and gas pressure all the way from the keg to the tap. Until now, information such as productivity and pour skills of individual bartenders has not been available. Publicans can now use Barilliant to investigate bartender productivity and efficiency – over pouring need no longer go unnoticed!

Barilliant was first launched in Sydney’s Boundary Hotel in 2007, and has since been installed in a number of popular venues throughout New South Wales and South Australia.

Queens Arms Hotel managing director Ben Schwartz says installing Barilliant identified quality issues with the pub’s beer lines, “and after an hour of insulation work, the beer quality problems had been significantly reduced. We also found out which individual staff members can and can’t pour a good beer, significantly reducing wastage!”

PulseTV: The cherry-on-top of this quite unique system is PulseTV – a new form of soundless video-based medium designed for display where patrons queue for drinks. The lack of sound means the medium is focussed on being a supplementary entertainment and will not intrude on the central entertainment in the room.

It’s ingenious in our book, as the screens, which run 50% advertising content are displayed in the most valuable piece of real estate in a venue – at the point of purchase – the idea is for PulseTV to entertain patrons while they are waiting at the bar and the benefits are many – approximately three minutes of every hour is dedicated to informing patrons of promotions, upcoming entertainment or special events taking place at the venue. For example, a sports bar might use this time to inform its patrons of upcoming pay-per-view sporting events it will be showing.

Not surprisingly, there’s been lots of interest from alcohol retailers keen on reaching the customer in the last minute or three before they buy a drink. Given that the target audience is patrons in a partially intoxicated, less-inhibited state with particular vulnerability to flight-of-fancy suggestions, it’ll be interesting to see what the alcohol marketers come up with to entice different audiences to try Brand A rather than Brand B. With a system that’s fully configurable by software, it’d also be possible to run hourly specials to suit the hour-of-the-day.

Indeed, it might be possible to add a whole new profit center using the PulseTV system because it’s not so much an advertising medium when viewed from the venue’s viewpoint as a communication medium with its most important customers – using three minutes of every hour they’re in the establishment enables a venue to communicate directly with their public – a time when it can establish a reason why patrons should return (a pool/darts/tipping competition), why affinity groups should use the venue (a major sporting event to be shown live, a marquee night for a particular musical genre), a new feature of the venue … and it gives a captive audience something to look at when they are at their most uncomfortable – in very close proximity to other humans in a queue.

PulseTV screens are displayed at the front of the bar facing patrons. PulseTV features a mix of soundless visual content, advertising and internal promotional information to a captive audience – patrons milling in front of the bar.

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