Interactive Print - Near Field Communications

Adam Peek, senior vice president of sales at Meyers, discusses the upcoming panel discussion, "Printing’s Role in Increased Product Functionality," taking place at the 2023 PRINTING United Expo, and other reasons why it's important for packaging and printing "nerds" to attend the event. 

At first, Decathlon used RFID technology on one of its own brands to track delivery to the company’s distribution centers and stores worldwide. Soon, the RFID-based tags and labels were implemented on almost every product offered by Decathlon globally.

Avery Dennison is adding six new facestocks to its Wine & Spirits portfolio. The facestocks are manufactured from sustainable materials, including cotton-based materials and materials produced with organic and recycled content. The company is also planning to share more about its NFC technology for additional consumer engagement with wine labels.

The new NFC, RFID, and LED “direct to packaging” applications with digitally printed electronic innovations earned MGI an Oscar Award.

From consumer engagement to product security, brands, consumers, retailers, and converters can all benefit from smart packaging.

Image recognition, near field communication and many other technologies are making packaging a more interactive experience, engaging consumers in new ways. As smart packaging continues to catch on with brands, printers and converters should be prepared to be able to offer these technologies.

Just in time for a soccer-filled summer, El Jimador tequila will use Thinfilm’s complete NFC mobile marketing solution to enhance marketing efforts for its "Soccer Moments" campaign. The campaign will include NFC tags in custom bottle neckers and branded coasters.

Iovate Health Sciences International is set to implement NFC technology from Thinfilm into a selection of its health supplement brands. The NFC tags will provide consumers with content including recipes, product reordering information and video content featuring star football player Rob Gronkowski.

Earlier this summer, NFC tag manufacturer Thinfilm and leading Spanish wine maker Barbadillo, collaborated to incorporate NFC technology into 126,000 wine bottles. The results are now in and demonstrate that the smart packaging initiative led to an increase in sales for Barbadillo.

Launching the largest ever deployment of near field communication (NFC) tags in the wine and spirits industry is a big step forward for smart packaging. We spoke with representatives from NFC tag manufacturer Thinfilm, and Barbadillo, one of Spain's leading wine producers, about this latest initiative.