100+ Accelerator · Cohort 8

November 2026

Smarter sampling.

Sampling in bars, without ambassadors.

Prepared for AB InBev100+ Accelerator Cohort 8
The problem

Sampling works. Proving it is the hard part.

The old way
With Gratis
Who pours
A brand ambassador, travelled in
The bar's own staff
How it is counted
By hand, on a clipboard
On the bar's own point of sale
When you see it
Days or weeks later
The same night
What you pay for
The event, whatever happens
Each confirmed sample
What sits on the bar
Printed table tents and posters
The screens already there

Up to 1% of revenue goes to sampling.

Source GratisIQ, Fusion pitch deck, Nov 2026.

Impressions vs engagement

We don't track impressions, because we can buy impressions.

M
Marcel Marcondes
Global Chief Marketing Officer, AB InBev

Gratis counts actions.

Sources ANA Masters of Marketing, Oct 2026. Point of sale is about 29% of measured alcohol marketing spend, FTC. Up to 50% of temporary point of sale material is thrown out, OnTrak.

The solution

Sampling without ambassadors

Real-time insights

Every sample lands on the bar's point of sale as it is poured. The campaign updates the same night, not in a report six weeks later.

High efficiency

About $4 a confirmed sample plus the drink. A campaign is set up in 30 to 40 minutes and reports itself.

Lower footprint

No ambassador travel to 80 events, and about 2,000 printed pieces never made. Estimate

Sources Sample price and setup time: GratisIQ product records, Oct 2026. Estimate: 20 bars, one event a week for four weeks, 80 events, 25 printed pieces per event, so about 2,000 pieces. Printing avoided entirely because the offer runs on screens the bar already has.

How it works

From impression to counted action

Tonight at the bar
Michelob ULTRA Zero
on us
Scan to claim. One per guest, 21+.
Scan to claim

The bar's own screen. No printed material.

Tonight at this bar
A sample, on us
Michelob ULTRA Zero
Zero alcohol21+
Draft or bottle, whatever this bar is pouring. One per guest.
Claim my sample
Step 2 of 3
Confirm you are 21+
Date of birth
03 / 14 / 1996
What would you have ordered otherwise?
Another beer
Wine
A cocktail or spirit
A non-alcoholic drink
Nothing
Continue
Your sample
7K4P 28 min left
Show this to the bartender
1

Staff check your ID.

2

They pour, and ring the sample through the bar's own till.

Your answer was recorded
Done
  1. 1

    Scan

    From the bar's own screen.

  2. 2

    Confirm 21+

    Register, and answer one question.

  3. 3

    Check ID and pour

    The bar's own staff.

  4. 4

    Venue paid

    Through its POS, per sample.

Note Guest screens are mockups. Product art is a placeholder and no AB InBev marks are used. Demo video link to be added.

Early results

At scale, and measured per pour

500+
venues
200K+
samples
$3.2M+
paid to bars and restaurants
9
point of sale integrations

Denver · Don Julio

+115%

sampled product sales during the campaign

Oklahoma City · Pacifico

+29%

paid sales against baseline, and still +13% the month after

Pittsburgh · Dogfish Head

77

paid units from a new placement, promoted on TV screens with no print

Sources GratisIQ campaign records, Denver, Oklahoma City and Pittsburgh, 2026. Observed against each venue's own baseline, not controlled tests.

Actionable insights

Engagement you can count

From the venue

  • Samples by venue and by nightWhich bars, which nights, which placements carried it.
  • Full-price repeat ordersThe same product bought again, at full price, on a later check.
  • Sales before, during and afterRead off the venue's own point of sale, not reported by hand.

From the consumer

  • 23% opt in to brand updatesA first-party audience the brand keeps.
  • 24% answer the post-sample surveyAsked after the drink, about the drink.
  • What they would have ordered insteadAsked before the pour, so the free drink has not moved the answer yet.

Source GratisIQ campaign records, 2026: opt-in and survey response rates across completed campaigns.

Time and cost

Hours of coordination, down to minutes

An ambassador event

Billed for time

  • 4 to 7 hours of internal coordination for every single event
  • Counted by hand, reported later
  • Printed material shipped to each bar

With Gratis

40%
cheaper than a national sampling agency
  • About $4 a confirmed sample, plus the drink
  • 30 to 40 minutes to set a campaign up
  • Reporting is automatic

Sources 4 to 7 hours per event: field marketing lead, Constellation Brands. 40% cheaper than a national agency: Diageo. Price and setup time: GratisIQ product records, Oct 2026.

The pilot we are proposing

Why a zero-alcohol pilot

Smart Drinking has made no- and low-alcohol beer a priority. These are the three questions it raises, and we can answer all three.

Did they try it?

Every sample is recorded on the bar's own point of sale.

Did they buy it again?

Full-price repeat orders, on later checks, at the same venues.

Did it replace an alcoholic drink?

One question before the pour, then checked against what the same check actually contained.

Note The third answer pairs what the guest said with what the point of sale recorded on that visit, so a stated answer is never the only evidence.

The pilot

The pilot

  1. Step 1

    One market, one beer

    A single US market and one zero-alcohol beer, for example Michelob ULTRA Zero.

  2. Step 2

    About 20 bars

    Bars that already carry it, so nothing has to be shipped or listed first.

  3. Step 3

    Four weeks

    One event a week per bar, about 3,000 samples in total.

  4. Step 4

    Measured three ways

    Sales 30 days before, during, and 30 days after.

Against a comparison set: bars in the same market that carry the product and run no event, matched on size.

The offer runs on the bars' TV screens and digital signage instead of print.

Note The comparison set is what separates this from the early results on slide 6, which were each venue against its own baseline.

Measures, budget and next steps

What success looks like

We measure

  • First-time triers
  • Full-price repeat orders
  • Sales before, during and after
  • Footprint saved, in events and printed pieces
$38,700
total, with no markup

Platform $13,500, plus up to $25,200 of drinks paid straight to the venues.

If it works, national, market by market. Every bar we connect stays connected and can be reactivated for the next campaign.

Source GratisIQ pilot costing, Nov 2026: platform fee and sample drinks at the venues' own prices, no markup taken on the drinks.

Founding team

Running this well takes point of sale data, payments, and reaching the right consumer.

CEO

Built a beverage alcohol analytics venture with Nielsen, harmonizing point of sale data across 25,000 venues.

Owns Point of sale data

CPO

Led product for Walmart's digital banking platform, where money moving correctly was the product.

Owns Payments

Head of Engineering

Integrated every major point of sale system at OpenTable, across tens of thousands of venues.

Owns Integrations

COO

Employee number three at Nielsen's programmatic advertising arm, reaching the right consumer at scale.

Owns Reach and operations

Engagement you can count.

One zero-alcohol beer
One US market
Three months
About $38,700
Ayan Roy, CEOayan@gratisiq.comgratisiq.com