Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
New technology from printed electronics manufacturer Thinfilm and adult beverage company Diageo (makers of Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, and Guinness) will let you know if your alcoholic beverage is fresh, or if someone has gotten in to it.
This so-called smart bottle technology, CNET explains, uses thin printed sensor tags that will communicate information to your smartphone, altering the consumer if the bottle’s seal has been broken, and can also track its movement along the supply chain, into stores, and beyond.
The innovation is known as OpenSense technology, and it takes advantage of a mobile device’s Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities to track the bottle movement from the factory to the point on consumption. The sensor tags are still readable, even after the factory seal has been broken, helping to protect the authenticity of the product, Diageo said in a statement.
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“Unlike conventional static QR codes that are often difficult to read, easy to copy, and do not support sensor integration, OpenSense tags can dynamically detect if a bottle is sealed or open with the simple tap of an NFC smartphone,” the company noted, adding that the tags are “permanently encoded” and “cannot be copied or electrically modified.”
Diageo officials told VentureBeat that the tag will all only tens of cents to the cost of the bottle, and that since it uses radio-frequency communication, it will not require a battery. The tag’s own radio signal provides the power that completes the connection between it and a code reader.
CNET explains that the collaboration between the two companies has led to the development of a prototype Johnnie Walker Blue Label smart bottle. The website notes that such a system could also allow customers to scan the bottle and receive promotional offers while in the store, or could provide cocktail recipes once the consumer takes it home.
“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,” Helen Michels, Global Innovation Director at Diageo, explained. “Our collaboration with Thinfilm 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.”
“Today’s conventional NFC mobile marketing solutions are not technologically advanced enough to create immersive or customizable consumer experiences,” added Thinfilm CEO Davor Sutija. “By leveraging OpenSense, Thinfilm is enabling the ‘smart bottles’ to carry digital information that can be accessed via NFC smartphones. Diageo can reap the benefits of the intelligence gleaned from our smart sensors and create engaging experiences for its customers.”
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The bottle will be officially unveiled next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and the prototype will be on display at Thinfilm’s booth throughout the four day event, which runs from March 2 through March 5. The tags will go into production later this year.
Now you will know the answer to the question, “why is the rum gone?”
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