Diageo, one of the global leaders in beverage alcohol, and Thin Film Electronics ASA (Thinfilm), which is into the development of printed electronics and smart systems, will look to completely change the role of a bottle in the consumer experience, with a prototype Johnnie Walker blue label smart bottle that will be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress to be held from 2 to 5 March 2015 in Barcelona. The bottle will be on display at Thinfilms stand throughout the four-day event.
The smart bottle aims to enhance the consumer experience by using printed sensor tags featuring Thinfilms OpenSenseTM technology, which can detect both the sealed and opened state of each bottle. The tags and the sensor information they contain will allow Diageo to send personalized communication to consumers who read the tags with their smartphones. The innovation, created by Thinfilm in collaboration with Diageo Technology Ventures, will make it possible to send consumers targeted and timely marketing messages, whether at retail or after purchase, such as promotional offers, cocktail recipes and exclusive content.
Thinfilms proprietary and patent-pending OpenSenseTM technology makes use of smartphones Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities. The technology allows Diageo to track bottle movements across the supply chain, in-store and to the point of consumption, with the sensor tags remaining readable even when the factory seal has been broken, providing an additional layer of security in protecting the authenticity of the product.
Unlike conventional static QR codes that are often difficult to read, easy to copy, and do not support sensor integration, OpenSenseTM tags can dynamically detect whether a bottle is sealed or open with the simple tap of a NFC smartphone. To ensure authenticity, the tags are also completely and permanently encoded at the point of manufacture and cannot be copied or electrically modified.
