The connected "smart bottle" aims to enhance the consumer experience by using printed sensor tags featuring Thin Film's Open Sense 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 communications to consumers who read the tags with their smartphones.
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| Johnnie Walker Blue Label - Smart Bottle |
The innovation 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.
Thin Film's proprietary and patent-pending Open Sense technology makes use of smartphones' Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities. The technology will allow 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.
Commenting on the news, Helen Michels, Global Innovation Director at Diageo, said: "Mobile technology is changing the way we live, and as a consumer brands company we want to embrace its power to deliver amazing new consumer experiences in the future. We constantly experiment with the latest cutting edge technologies to enrich and enhance the experiences delivered by our iconic brands. Our collaboration with Thin Film allows us to explore all the amazing new possibilities enabled by smart-bottles for consumers, retailers and our own business, and it sets the bar for technology innovation in the drinks industry."
Diageo Technology Ventures was established in September 2014 and is a program specifically designed to solve some of the company's existing business challenges and unlock new opportunities for future growth by working with emerging technology companies.
As the first initiative to be rolled out as part of this program, the working prototype bottle illustrates the new possibilities Diageo's packaging enables for customers and retailers including advancements in sensors, electronic printing, material sciences and mobile technologies.
The prototype bottle will be on display at Thin Film's booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain throughout the four-day event which starts on March 2nd.
Source: Diageo