Project Overview
Malibu Rum wanted to position itself as an innovative brand pushing the boundaries of convivial culture while demonstrating a strong understanding of its core customer group. The ambition was not simply to create a gadget, but to deliver a memorable technical stunt that felt natural within the social context of the brand.
The product concept centred on a physical interaction rather than a screen-based one. A consumer could place or interact with the branded object to trigger a drink re-order. The product would then communicate with a radio system, help locate the consumer and provide feedback as the order progressed.
Denovi’s role focused on the technical product development needed to make this experience reliable, compact and production-ready at prototype volume. This included custom electronics, PCB design, RF integration, tactile engines, lighting, firmware behaviour and low-volume functional prototype production.
The Technical Challenge
The project combined brand experience design with genuine embedded systems engineering. The product needed to feel simple to the consumer, but behind that simple interaction sat a more complex system of input detection, RF communication, location signalling, visual feedback and haptic response.
The hardware had to be integrated into a piece of core brand merchandise without making the object feel overly technical or compromising its role in the experience. This placed constraints on PCB size, component layout, battery strategy, antenna performance, tactile motor placement, lighting diffusion and enclosure integration.
Reliability was especially important. In a live brand experience environment, the product needed to work repeatedly, communicate clearly and provide feedback that reassured the consumer their interaction had been registered.
Design and Engineering Approach
Denovi worked closely with the SharpEnd team to ensure the technology supported the brand idea rather than dominating it. The design process focused on curating a connected product experience that felt playful, physical and on-brand while still being technically robust.
The electronics development included a purpose-built PCB integrating the required RF communication system, tactile feedback hardware and lighting control. The board layout had to consider component fit, signal behaviour, battery constraints and the mechanical realities of embedding electronics into the product form.
The RF system was developed to allow the product interaction to communicate with the wider experience environment. This required careful consideration of antenna placement, communication reliability and the user feedback loop, particularly because the consumer would not see the underlying technical process.
Tactile engines and lighting were incorporated to provide immediate feedback. These feedback mechanisms were important to the user experience because they turned an invisible wireless process into something the consumer could feel and understand.
Prototype Production
The output of the project included a low-volume production run of functional prototypes. These were not purely visual mockups. They were working connected products designed to demonstrate the experience and allow customers to interact with the concept in a tangible way.
This required Denovi to move quickly between electronics design, firmware behaviour, physical integration, assembly planning and prototype manufacture. The development process balanced technical performance with the need to protect the brand experience and produce a polished demonstrator.
Outcome
The project delivered a functional connected product experience that allowed Malibu Rum to demonstrate a distinctive brand innovation through physical interaction. It showed how embedded electronics, RF communication and thoughtful feedback design can turn a simple object into part of a wider service and storytelling system.
For Denovi, the project demonstrates the ability to integrate technical engineering into brand-led consumer experiences without losing sight of the physical product, the user journey or the production constraints.