Nobody understands what Pepsi's 'Smart Can' is for

Advances in flexible display tech have led to some weird and wonderful innovations in recent years, but the Pepsi Smart Can is one of the strangest and most intriguing yet. It highlights a lot of possibilities, but people are a little confused about what the aim is, both from a product and a branding standpoint.

Unveiled at the Cannes Lions, the can-shaped device is wrapped in a flexible 3D high-definition screen. Neat. But does anyone really want a Pepsi-branded digital lava lamp? (for more capable displays, see our pick of the best monitors for graphic artists).

Writing on LinkedIn, Pepsi's SVP & Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini described the novel device as a "CAN-vas for creativity, a media that will unlock new ways of storytelling, a gate to access new experiences, for the new generation of people 'thirsty for more'."

The device was developed by Pepsi's global beverage design team in Ireland after beginning life as a side project cooked up using the 15% of free time that Pepsi gives the team to explore passion projects. It has movement sensors and accelerometers, which allow the user experience to be customised, and the idea is to launch tieups with digital creators to make sports, gaming, music and food content to show on the device. But don't we already have enough screens?

To clarify, the Pepsi Smart Can is not a can, and it doesn't contain any drink. Rather it's a cylindrical digital media platform. Mauro says it will stay in an idle state as a decorative object most of the time, but will activate from time to time and give access to special experiences like a unique concert, an exclusive Pepsi diner, the SuperBowl or the final of the Champions League.

But Pepsi isn't planning to become a media or tech company, and there is no plan to mass-produce the can for now. Instead, it will initially be sent to selected influencers and creatives. That makes it sound like everyone else's experience of the Smart Can will be limited to watching on traditional displays as influencers watch the can. That could work as a novelty for a few quick social videos, but it could very quickly become just another digital gimmick headed for a landfill site, kind of like the KFC games console but less funny.