These cool Loop tablets can help tell your craft beer story at grocery stores and retail outlets

Increasingly, people want to know the company producing their products. Looma or The Looma Project (as the company is often called) is a shopper education marketing firm. The outfit specializes in creating engaging consumer product education videos, so customers can connect with the people and ideas behind brands. The company shows these videos through in-store video storytelling programs. In fact, Looma just announced an expansion into Texas grocery stores with the recent launch of beer and wine educational video programs in approximately 120 H-E-B stores statewide.  

Looma basically uses smart tablets to do this. Its platform, known simply as Loop, shares a blend of personal stories and educational information — think tasting notes or pairing suggestions — through a network of smart tablets in beer and wine departments with the goal of informing purchasing decisions and connecting shoppers to the people behind the products. According to its website, Looma currently works with the like of Anheuser Busch and New Belgium Brewing Co. on the beer side of things, but I’m sure it could also be your craft brewery.

Looma’s actually been doing this for a while. Its partnership with H-E-B represents a new geography for the Durham-based startup, which has more than a thousand active tablets across their retail programs, including Schnuck Markets in the Midwest and Carolinas-based retailers Harris Teeter and Lowes Foods. According to the press release:

Loop videos are unique in their authentic intent to connect and educate rather than overtly advertise, and Looma is differentiated from other point-of-decision content providers by its strict adherence to the presence of a “real, human protagonist,” and “authentic, unscripted narratives”. They share the backstories behind many local and regional brands, complemented by information (nutrition, tasting profiles, sustainable practice certifications) about specific products.

As e-commerce continues to focus on convenience, many brick-and-mortar retailers are re-orienting some of their long-standing value propositions, focusing the in-store experience on discovery, education, and a sense of connection. 

Sounds about right for the craft beer sector. The stories behind brands are increasingly important, and this technology is definitely a unique way to have your story jump off the shelf. According to that same release, Looma expects to continue its growth in the year ahead, with pilots in progress and scheduled in both new and existing retail partners, within and beyond the adult beverage category. If you’re interested in being one of those partners, feel free to drop Looma a line right over here.