Johnnie Walker Blue Label Bottles to Use NFC Technology Giving a More Premium Experience

Diageo plc, is looking to change the role of a scotch bottle in the consumer experience, with a prototype JOHNNIE WALKER BLUE LABEL smart bottle.  The NFC technology behind the bottle will be provided by Thin Film Electronics ASA. The NFC-enabled smart bottle aims to enhance the consumer experience by using printed sensor tags featuring Thinfilm’s 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 communications to consumers who read the tags with their smartphones, providing a more ‘premium’ experience.

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.
Thinfilm’s proprietary and patent-pending OpenSense technology makes use of smartphones’ 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, OpenSense tags can dynamically detect if a bottle is sealed or open with the simple tap of an 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.