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+ The Kegstand

To wrap up our unit on leisure and entertainment, we tapped into a demographic group that devotes much of its time to activities in this category - college students. This demographic splits its time between classroom attendance and social events, and who doesn’t think of a keg party when they think of the college experience? We'd like to present to you our latest concept, the Kegstand.



As we began defining our concept we discussed sustainability, realizing the keg lifecycle is optimal - rent, return, refill - then rent again. So we went into the field and looked for other opportunities to improve the keg experience. We discovered that the three key areas in need of our help were transportation, maintenance, and entertainment.

Transporting a keg is sub-optimal. The weight and shape often require two strong individuals to move the keg to its party location. We added handles and wheels to our concept so that the Kegstand can easily transport a keg from the store to your backyard.



Second, we evaluated the required maintenance while using a keg. 10 out of 10 college students prefer cold beer; so submerging the keg in ice is essential. Here's where it can get tricky: Users have the daunting task of lifting the 15.5 gallons of beer into an aluminum trashcan, usually in front of some snickering friends and/or attractive women. Because the host house sacrifices their trashcan, trash becomes unmanageable, piling up around the house to be cleaned up the following day. (How did this cup get in the shower?) Also, our ethnography informed us that the tap’s nozzle should never touch the ice. Consuming small amounts of melted ice mixed with keg foam and spilled beer is not preferred.



To address these issues, we broke the keg cozy down into two parts. Users now only lift the keg about a foot onto the base, then slide the top half over the top and buckle it down. Dump in the ice and you're ready to go. When you're finished, a plug allows for easy drainage of melted ice. Built in hooks let the hosts hang a garbage bag to do their best managing all the empties.


Our ethnography informed us that the tap’s nozzle should never touch the ice. We added a cap display so you no longer have to ask, “What kind of beer did they get?” Then we added a cup dispenser and serving tray so you don't have to jockey for position waiting to fill up.



Finally, we wanted to make the keg the center of the party instead of that guy. We added a cap display so you no longer have to ask, “What kind of beer did they get?” Then we added a cup dispenser and serving tray so you don't have to jockey for position waiting to fill up.



The Kegstand would cost more than stealing your neighbor’s trashcan, but we found that most rent a bucket or trashcan when renting their keg. So we present this concept as an appealing upgrade to the current retail landscape.

If you are a keg connoisseur or passionate about innovation in this category, please contact us - we would love to share more with you on a confidential basis.

Cheers!

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The Greener Grass is produced by Kaleidoscope, a product development consultancy in Cincinnati, Ohio.