Connected Packaging

The fashion industry has always been first when it comes to promoting its products in innovative ways. Retail stores already leverage proximity technologies like Near Field Communication (NFC) to create more value to the customers by providing them with product information, recommendations or even quick wireless transactions for their purchases. Ralph Lauren is one such fashion industry leader who leveraged NFC for their retail chains.

Premium Fashion Brand Ralph Lauren  & Their Implementation Of NFC & QR Code

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion company that is into designing, marketing and distributing luxury clothing to its customers throughout the world since the past 50+ years. Ralph Lauren partnered with Harrods in Europe to take control of a 15-window display in a luxury retail store. Ralph Lauren leveraged NFC and QR code expertise of Proxama for their proximity marketing expertise.

Every window at the store displayed an advertisement through a large ventricular and included QR stickers. Customers would be allowed to tap on the display or scan the QR code, which would lead them to a website landing page on their NFC-enabled smartphone. With the help of that interaction, users would get an exclusive map showing them inside the Fashion Lab area within Harrods retail store where the Ralph Lauren collection is located.

In addition to that, access to the landing page would allow the users to check the collection even when the store is not open. Proxama provided means of their TapPoint platform to provide Harrods with the interactive mapping and granular campaign analytics. These analytics would allow the store as well as the brand to get real-time statistics of their campaign to amend or enhance their plan to get the maximum return on investment.

Advantages Of The Campaign

Ralph Lauren’s campaign offered numerous advantages to the brand, which at the end of the campaign resulted in a prominent return on investment. Here are a few direct benefits of the campaign:

• Ease of use:

Ralph Lauren’s campaign was built upon NFC and QR code, allowing most smartphone users to benefit from the same.

• Attracting the customer:

Interactive mapping intrigued customers to reach the clothing range. This was, by far, the most exciting way to attract customers.

• Identifying customer interest:

Proxama allowed the brand and the store to get a complete idea of how customers respond to the offerings and what was able to interest them the most.

• Campaign strategy feedback:

Real-time analytics of customer’s interest would allow the brand to improvise the strategy and manage the product representation for better results.

• Better return on investment:

More exposure and positive feedback loop would allow the brand and retailers to get a higher return on investment on the range they sell.

A smart strategic campaign is expected from a fashion industry leader such as Ralph Lauren. Their QR code and NFC-based movement certainly lived up to their brand identity and allowed a soothing consumer experience for the end customer. It was a perfect example of strategic retail campaigning.

Connected packaging and smart packaging is going to change the retail market soon, and it wouldn’t be surprising if everyday items adopt these technologies as well. A century-old Swiss dairy product provider, Emmi has a reputation of leading the industry with their innovative quality products. Emmi launched a campaign to implement connected packaging and interactive digital marketing. Emmi partnered with Appetite Creative in order to develop a gaming platform for smartphones that can provide an interactive experience with any of the four milk products offered by Emmi.

Product Ecosystem And Architecture For A Connected Experience

Emmi’s connected ecosystem consists of a few different components. They partnered with the best in the industry, such as Tetra Pak for product packaging and Appetite Creative for digital system architecture and mobile games. Tetra Pak implemented QR codes on the packaging where users can scan the QR codes and enter into an entry-level jackpot round in the app, leading them to different games to pay.

Developed games would be collecting some of the user data from the unique QR codes printed by Tetra Pak that users could get a return as discount offers and raffle entries. These ecosystems would collect information such as:

• Age of the user,
• User’s gender,
• User’s location,
• Hours of engagement & presence duration on the platform
• The location of package purchase

Emmi collected the information mentioned above to get valuable insights about the customer interests and supply as per the demand. This campaign and user statistics will also allow the brand to look into the user’s social media preferences.

Customer Engagement Games Delivered With Emmi Products

Emmi launched four games with their app for users to engage in it while the users can learn more about the products offered by the brand and receive the rewards. These four games include:

• A quiz game similar to Tinder where the user can answer specific questions and get a match with an exact Emmi product based on their choices and they would earn a discount on that particular product as well.
• Emmi jump game where the user has to run along the way while avoiding the sugar and catching the Oat Milk throughout the track.
• Emmi flip game where the user has to flip the product until all the sugar is gone off the Emmi Milk.
• Lastly, a game where the user would have to catch the dropping Emmi products called Emmi Fall. The user will lose the collected points if the user grabs the sugar mistakenly.

Connected packaging with a printed code is an economical technology to implement, and it can be used to exchange information in the most effortless manner. A daily consumed product must consider every lending cost in the accounts as such Emmi’s inexpensive implementation of NFC did not put any strain on it’s existing customers. This campaign didn’t charge anything additional to customers. Instead, it rewarded them for their engagement while the brand was able to get insights for better sales strategy, the kind of approach expected from a century-old renowned company.

Connected packages are about creating a better engagement and product purchase experience for the end customer. An FMCG company, Malibu has been aggressive to implement technologies in its products to provide this connected experience to its customers. Malibu is leading the Internet of Things (IoT) campaigns among the beverage industry with Near Field Communication technology into their bottle. The FMCG brand has been proactive to implement technology that promotes the creativity and gamification of the product for the sole purpose of a better consumer experience.

The Malibu Games: Launch Of Connected Bottles

Malibu introduces as many as 300,000 connected bottles with NFC chips in the USA, particularly in the states including Texas and Ohio. This launch took place as a part of the Malibu Games in 2019. These Malibu Rum bottles were equipped with NFC chips embedded into the bottle’s aluminum cap.

Users would be able to directly tap on top of the aluminum cap and get access to Malibu Games content on their NFC-enabled mobile phones. In addition to an NFC chip, the bottles also carried QR code printed on the bottle’s neck. Therefore, users can also scan the QR code in order to access the Malibu Games content even if their smartphone doesn’t support NFC.

This campaign was not a massive experiment for Malibu without any prior proven campaigns. Before the Malibu Games in 2019, Malibu has been experimenting with connected bottles since 2015. In addition to that, Malibu had already successfully executed a couple of successful smart packaging solutions in the UK and Germany in 2018.

The Vision Behind Connected Malibu Bottles

As per the Global Brand Manager of Malibu, their primary objective with connected bottles was to allow users with more accessibility. These connected bottles allowed them to separate their brand from other competitors. The consumers would be able to get a relevant post-sale engagement by additional services and after-purchase experiences with the help of NFC.

Malibu offered a smartphone game called Sunshine Slide that users can access once they participate by tapping on the bottle. The brand also allowed the users to win lucky prizes for participating in the game. In addition to the fun, the bottles would also share new drink recipes for consumers to enjoy. Malibu focuses on generating a more significant customer base with the help of their offerings into a connected experience and providing the users with engaging content. That has been the driving principle with which Malibu bottles are able to connect with their customers on a genuine level.

To conclude, Malibu has been one of the first in the FMCG industry to implement connected devices in order to create more value for their customers and engage with them post-sales to improve customer loyalty. Such a piece of tech is never easy to implement as it requires stressful testing and constant improvements for precise implementation. Still, Malibu proved that it is definitely possible to achieve by putting in the right amount of effort in the development and strategizing.

The era of the Internet of Things (IoT) or Smart products is far from over and is picking up pace with every passing day. One such example of an intelligent and innovative consumer product is LifeFuels’ smart nutrition bottle that leverage electronics to provide their customer with ultimate product value while allowing them to get product usage statistics and manage their product supply demands. This is a perfect combination of hardware plus firmware ecosystem that encourages users to use the product often while creating value for them.

What’s the Smart Nutrition Bottle?

Lifefuels, a Virginia based beverage company, has developed a smart product solution enabled with RFID, ultrasonic sensor, Bluetooth connectivity, and a smartphone application. The product has a fascinating industrial design that consists of various pods inside the bottle itself. These dispensing pods would allow the user to intake their enriched beverages with different vitamins. The concept behind this product is that users will sense and get the intake statistics on their smartphone app, allowing them to track their consumption.

How Does It Work?

This piece of engineering leverages several technologies for its advantage. The central concept to identify the dispensing pods is based on NFC identification. This NFC tag carries the unique ID, product name, number of servings, and stock-keeping volume. The bottle holds an inbuilt transceiver to read or write data in NFC tags. The bottle carries an ultrasonic sensor to monitor the water in the bottle compartment, and lastly, Bluetooth allows communication with the user’s mobile app. In addition to this brilliance, the bottle is powered by a rechargeable battery and comes with a dedicated charger.

What Makes It A Techno-Commercial Perfection?

LifeFuels also intends to implement an RFID based tracking for inventory management and their new initiative where they can recycle these bottles to make the business model productive. Users will be able to get their consumption data and notifications when new purchases are to be made. The app will allow easy purchasing that enhances the direct product sales cycle and enables users to request recycling for the used pods as a part of the incentive strategy. With the consumer statistics, the brand will understand the customer needs and better manage their supplies accordingly, saving their precious beverage.

In conclusion, LifeFuels has fulfilled its vision with extraordinary in-house engineering. The product design and electronic placement was a challenging job for such a product, especially as the actual reading of an RFID pod that is being used is of primary importance to the whole concept. In addition to that, the electronics used inside the bottles are viable when compared to the value that they create.

Customer engagement, direct sales of pods, recycling of pods, inventory management, and monthly retaining package sales of pods are impactful advantages for this product. It is an example of a smart product that creates value for consumers as well as the brand, and that is what makes this idea sustainable. Such electronics advancements and engineering examples would encourage other brands to improvise their products and increase their significance.

NFC has been behind most of the smart products that are being developed to provide a connected consumer experience. Mammut, an international outdoor sports equipment provider, became the first of its kind to leverage NFC to give a better consumer experience to customers while gaining supply chain traceability. Mammut is an industry-leading Swiss company excelling at building best in class products with innovation and engineering for more than 150 years. They have started NFC implementation with a view to help customers and retailers using interactive merchandise information.

Mammut Connect & Their Implementation Of NFC

Mammut paid extraordinary importance to its customers by building an ecosystem of NFC-based outdoor apparel and their own mobile app for Android and iOS. Customers will be able to use their NFC-based smartphones to communicate with NFC chips embedded into Mammut products such as a climbing helmet or a skiing jacket. Once the customer pairs their smartphone with Mammut merchandise, they will be able to receive more relevant information and know more about the equipment.

A Complete Customer Engagement

Mammut Connect will be available on every platform, including web, Android, and iOS making it accessible. Besides, the app itself adds a lot of value to the user and the brand by numerous elements. The app also offers a built-in social media platform where users are able to upload their pictures, videos, and location stamps to share their outdoor adventure with all the other users. It will promote their products while enhancing customer engagement. The brand will also benefit from the app to share news, updates, and featured content pertaining to their sponsored athletes.

There are three parts to the app: My Product, My Inspiration, and My Activity. These areas would provide them with relevant information, statistics, and outdoor activity reports to inspire them to make the most out of the Mammut products. Users will be able to collect outdoor experiences under My Activity as a personal diary that can be shared with the Mammut community.

What’s In It For Mammut Customers?

Apart from better customer experience and customer engagement, Mammut Connect offers some direct value to the consumers. One such benefit is an extended product warranty. Mammut will provide five years of warranty to a product that is registered with the Mammut Connect app by the consumers. Additionally, customers will get invited for outdoor adventures, and customers will receive sales offers and better equipment usage guidance from the source itself.

Mammut has been ruling the outdoor sports with their excellent product designs, mobile apps, product engineering, and comfortable apparel. Their initiative with NFC-based connected products influences other brands throughout the world as their market expands to more than 40 countries. Mammut blends the real and online world with its Mammut Connect ecosystem. Mammut has recently acquired a digital crowdsourcing platform called Mountain Hub, and this acquisition will create additional value as customers can share or receive trip reports, routes, and situational updates. Their strategy shows that they care for their customers, and other brands should adopt similar strategies.

There are many technological advancements taking place with each passing day, but that doesn’t mean that they are viable enough to invest in them. Connected packaging is a relatively new concept; as such, many questions surround it, including its data security, reliability, and financial feasibility. Ideally, these questions are majorly focused on the technologies chosen for their use, majorly RFID, and NFC. All the business aspects need to be considered before taking a huge step, such as changing product packaging completely.

Bill On Material & The Product Lending Cost

The rich user experience should not come at the expense of an affordable product. Premium products with higher margins can easily accommodate connected packaging with AR, IoT, NFC, or RFID. In comparison, the products with thinner margins may proceed with printed costs if it serves the purpose. A slight change in the product cost has a significant impact on mass productions, which can not be overlooked. Choosing the right solution to create considerable value is the key to ensuring the return on investment.

Value Proposition:

Before implementing connected packaging, brands must have a clear idea of what value they are trying to create for the customer. It’s going to be an underutilization when consumers are not using the connected packages even after the vast R & D investment in good intent. It’s essential that the connected packaging proposes some value to complement the customer experience instead of implementing a fancy feature that customers can’t often use.

Solution Scalability:

Is it really a scalable solution? Would the majority of customers benefit from the same? A brand would have to think about these primary questions thoroughly. NFC based smart packaging would be proven effective, considering that most smartphone users could use it easily. However, the same might not be accurate for other RFID tags where the user must have particular RFID readers that support it. A similar case has to be studied when comparing the scalability of other technologies like printed codes, AR, and Image processing.

Security & Authenticity:

Duplication and stealth of information is always a concern for any user. There is some information that is safe to share publicly, such as the expiry date of a food product. Then there are other products where the data is customized for the buyer’s needs. Barcodes & QR codes might be readable by every code scanner while brands can leverage app-based password authentication on NFC and RFID based connected packages. Besides, it is hard to duplicate NFC or RFID tags considering the unique identification and variety of information they carry. Similarly, AR-based connected packages are easy to recognize because of the lengthy platform development.

These parameters can help brands develop the best suitable connected packaging solution if taken into consideration precisely. Otherwise, there is a chance that their implementation of connected packaging can end up as experimentation. The brands need to find that sweet spot between enhanced customer experience and commercial return on investment for their efforts. Getting that right would be a delight for the brands as well as the consumers.

Connected packaging has come a long way since using Barcodes and QR codes to share important information with the customers or manage quick checkouts at outlets. All the retail products, including the daily consumption items such as cheese, milk carton, mobile phone box, and literally every other commodity, are packed into connected packaging using Barcode and QR code since the previous decade and more. They served their purpose effortlessly, but now there’s a new turn around the corner in terms of innovative technological advancements.

Connected Packaging: Different Technologies & Their Advantages

Connected packaging allows the customer to connect and interact with the product or the brand. There are a few handy technical options available for brands to leverage for their connected packaging solutions. Here’s a list of those technologies along with their strengths:

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): RFID has been fundamental for new generation connected packaging. RFID cards offer a more extended communication range and allow various RFID tags with different performance options to choose the best as per the brand needs. RFID has been widely accepted for inventory management over other options because of its ideal specifications and reliable performance.
• Near-field Communication (NFC): NFC is a form of RFID that allows communication in a range of a few centimeters. Most of the smartphones that consumers are using already have NFC provisions, and it will enable them to communicate with NFC-based connected packages by just tapping on them. Many brands leverage NFC these days to exchange information between the product and the customer for a better purchase experience.
• Printed Codes: Printed codes go beyond QR codes or Barcodes; many different printed codes can accomplish similar applications. Codes such as Digimarc can be kept in the packaging graphics and can offer a connected experience with easy code scanning devices or apps.
• Augmented Reality. AR-based connected packaging is a new subject, and this technology carries vast potential in terms of customer’s understanding of the product and better product value to the customers. Computer vision and AR-based products can create a whole new experience and market the product itself while allowing them to collect and optimize the gathered data to use them for a better consumer experience.
• Internet of Things (IoT): IoT is changing the way things work for the past few years, and connectivity is the core concept of IoT. Internet-connected packaging can offer traceability, agility, and security to consumers, supply chains, and brands. IoT-based connected packaging makes much more sense for valuable packages that have to be traceable worldwide.

Undeniably, connected packaging solutions have a bright future ahead. It would not take long until all these technologies are used commercially in a viable and profitable manner. The best part about connected packages is that they can comprise multiple technologies and create innovations beyond imagination based on their particular target market area. For example, a product can leverage both NFC and printed codes to exchange different information to consumers and retailers. Soon enough, connected packages will be unique selling points for the market-leading products and offer unparalleled advantages for the consumers.

Smart packaging is a new way for brands and manufacturers to indicate that they value their customers. Smart packaging has many advantages for the brands and supply chains; however, they also create significant value for the end-users. Conventional packaging proposed no value to the customers apart from providing a transportation layer to the products. It’s about time that brands rethink it and create or utilize smarter packaging to create a better consumer experience.

Smart Packaging Advantages For End Users:

The smart packaging revolution has benefits for both brands and consumers. In a time of rising e-commerce purchases and remote orders, there are many problems that smart packaging can solve. Here are a few examples with which the customer is profited by smart packaging:

1. Package traceability

Lack of transparency and traceability is always dissatisfying for any customer. There are times where third-party supply chains and conventional packaging do not provide enough traceability to the customer, and it creates dissatisfaction. Smart packaging would allow the customers to tracker their purchased product along with their status. It would comfort them and make their purchase experience better.

2. Product information & guidance

Often the customer cannot go through the product purchase because of a lack of information, understanding, or product reviews. It would definitely help customers if they can know everything about the exact product by just tapping on it. The information shared by smart packaging is official and related to that actual product, allowing customers to be confident about their purchases.

3. Purchase authenticity

Purchasing a duplicate product or even a closely different product can result in a waste of money for customers. The ability to make sure that they are buying the exact product from their favorite brand makes the purchase comforting and assuring. Any loyal customer would not wish to purchase a duplicate mistakenly, and smart packaging is the answer to that.

4. Safety against tempering & misplacement

What if the customer could know if their received product has been harmed through logistics? Smart packages would alert the user about any tempering, misplacement, or poor conditioning of the goods.

5. Advanced customer support

No customer finds it convenient to call a toll free number of product customer service to get some minor information. They would rather wish to get their answers at their fingertips. App-based smart packaging ecosystem allows them to get their confusion resolved right away efficiently.

6. Sharing their experience with brands

Any customer would have that one thing that they wish to improvise in their product. If they can reach the brand and share their experience, then it shows to the customer that the brand cares about their customers’ needs and makes an effort to meet their expectations.

The customer is the king. This sentence applies to industry or business. Smart packaging allows the product industry to improve the consumer experience for their customers. More benefits the customers get is the measure of how valuable any product is to them. Smart packaging is a way to let the customers know that the product is theirs as soon as they make the purchase, even before being delivered.