Coca-Cola AHHCade
Real-Time Social → Physical Activation System · Live Event Interface · Interactive Installation
Engineered a kiosk-based interactive system that translated real-time social input into on-site actions during the Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! pre-show at the 2014 American Music Awards, enabling live audience participation within a broadcast environment.
- Role:
- Software Developer/Architect
- Employer:
- IfThen
- Client:
- Coca-Cola
- Team:
- 2 Developers + Project Management
- Industry:
- Non-Alcoholic Beverages
- Timeline:
- 4 months (2014)
Impact
- Enabled real-time fan participation during a live red carpet broadcast
- Used by on-site talent and production teams during the Yahoo livestream pre-show
- Bridged social input with physical activation in a live event setting
- Operated continuously throughout the full red carpet broadcast window
My Role
- Led full front-end architecture and implementation of the installation interface
- Built real-time messaging layer using WebSocket, SockJS, and STOMP
- Designed and implemented content orchestration and timed presentation logic
- Developed producer tooling to simulate and trigger live content scenarios
- Collaborated with integration engineer responsible for hardware connectivity
Technical Architecture
System Overview
- Single-screen installation interface designed for a fixed-format kiosk display
- Dual content pipeline supporting both scheduled playback and real-time injected prompts
- Event-driven architecture allowing producers to push curated social content live
- Touch-based interaction model enabling product selection within the activation space
- Local WebSocket communication layer connecting UI interactions to physical hardware
Architectural Decisions
- Adopted push/pull content model to enabled the system to operate autonomously while supporting live producer-driven moments
- Separated content orchestration from interaction and messaging layers for independent control of presentation timing, user input, and external integrations
- Optimized for fixed display dimensions, touch input, and minimal operator overhead
- Introduced real-time messaging abstraction to support multiple transport strategies (SockJS, STOMP, raw WebSocket) across environments
- Built simulation tooling for live event readiness allowing rehearsal and validation of content flows prior to broadcast execution
Stack
Frontend
Messaging
Context
Coca-Cola’s Red Carpet LIVE! pre-show extended the American Music Awards broadcast with a branded digital experience streamed on Yahoo. The activation included the AHHCADE, an interactive installation where fans influenced on-site activity through social input.
The challenge was to translate live, unstructured social signals into a controlled, broadcast-safe interface that could be used by on-site talent and production teams in real time.
The resulting system functioned as an interaction layer between remote audience input, live production workflows, and physical activation hardware which enabled a continuous feedback loop between social media and the red carpet experience.
Media
In Action!
Meghan Trainor inadvertently demonstrates my software.
Hanging Out
Mark Cuban and his daughter hanging out at the Coca-Cola AHHCade.