# Photo Payment Food Trucks Google Photos Food Truck Challenge Lets You Pay for Food with a Picture By Christopher Magsambol | Published 2015-08-29 | Lifestyle Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/google-photos-food-truck References: [psfk](http://www.psfk.com/2015/08/google-photos-food-truck-challenge-deeplocal.html) & [youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0QSQANxY08) The '[Google](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/voice-pay) Photos Food Truck Challenge' is currently touring the US with an ingenious payment method for food -- pictures. The challenge is simple, and the best part is, no one goes home hungry. In order to qualify for [free food](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mcdonalds-side-missions), a large mechanized countdown of 20 seconds begins, with a randomly picked term. For example, if the word "beach" is chosen, contestants must scour their phone's gallery for a picture of a beach and find it within 20 seconds. Those who didn't pass the test don't go home empty handed but are given a smaller prize. Google is using this fun, interactive contest to promote a new app, 'Google Photos,' which puts all your phone's pictures and videos in one place. Those who were unsuccessful in the challenge were encouraged to use the Google Photos app. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 3.1/10 - Popularity: 15% | Activity: 69% | Freshness: 8% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X - Top markets: North America ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Lifestyle](https://www.trendhunter.com/lifestyle) > [Food](https://www.trendhunter.com/food) ## Key Themes ### What's Driving This Trend - **Picture Payment:** The trend of allowing customers to pay for goods and services by submitting a picture presents opportunities for companies to develop new, secure payment systems based on facial recognition technology. - **Interactive Marketing:** Innovative campaigns that incorporate interactive elements like competitions or challenges can help companies engage customers and promote their products or services in new and creative ways. - **Consolidated Media Apps:** The popularity of apps like Google Photos that consolidate media from multiple sources could disrupt the traditional models of media distribution, presenting opportunities for developers in this space. ### Who This Affects Most - **Food & Beverage:** Restaurants and food trucks could explore using picture payments as a way to stand out from competitors and attract new customers. - **Payment Processing:** Companies in the payment processing industry could invest in developing secure facial recognition systems for picture payments, or partner with app developers to integrate this technology into their products. - **Marketing & Advertising:** Marketing and advertising agencies could incorporate interactive elements similar to the Google Photos Food Truck Challenge into their campaigns to create engaging user experiences that drive results for their clients. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [AI-Powered Food Logging](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/gpt-food-cam.md) - [Pay-By-Voice Mobile Transactions](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/voice-pay.md) - [Food Truck Billboards](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/food-truck-billboard.md) - [AI Food Photography Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/menusnap.md) - [Community-Supporting Meal Initiatives](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/giftameal.md) - [Pay-Ahead Food Pickup Services](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pay-ahead-pickup.md) - [Meal-Scanning Calorie Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/snap.md) - [AI Calorie Trackers](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/foodtrack.md) - [Health Food Challenge Apps](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/rewards-and-challenges.md)