Using the Internet of Packaging to connect with consumers

By Jonathan Jackson, CEO Hive.

  • 7 years ago Posted in
The Internet of Things has long been hailed as the “next big thing.” It wasn’t long ago that the idea, that everything - from your coffee machine to your door lock - could be connected to the Internet and used to communicate with other devices, appeared fanciful. Yet, it is already becoming commonplace. In the Internet of Things, everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data, and machines become smart. For brands, this poses an enormous opportunity to connect and engage with consumers in unprecedented ways.

 

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 86 per cent of UK adults connected to the Internet in the last year. Their connected devices are becoming ubiquitous, and even the smallest or cheapest gadgets now include a microprocessor. Communications options like a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or even a mobile phone connection, are also now commonplace in these devices.

 

However, when it comes to Internet-enabled product packaging, it is a different story. Placing even the simplest and cheapest chip onto a regular consumer package (such as a box of tea bags or a cereal box) is not feasible at this time. Still, forward-looking brands need to look at packaging as an innovative way to reach out to consumers, fostering brand loyalty and engagement.

 

How can this be done? By giving the packs a unique identity and digitally connecting them. Today, there are a number of options available to FMCG marketers to get millions, even billions of packs ready to connect to the Internet – creating an Internet of Packaging.

 

Shaping the Internet of Packaging

 

At first glance, the solution is surprisingly uncomplicated - mundane even. A simple 12-digit alphanumeric code, unique to each item of packaging printed alongside the best-before date or elsewhere. Printed codes can empower brands, as they can easily change the campaigns the codes link to, so they have the flexibility of running regional promotions or even change the offer according to the time of day or the weather. What is more, these codes are straightforward in terms of functionality, whilst the technology behind them is incredibly advanced, ensuring originality and security in the codes.

 

Speaking of security, one of the biggest consumer concerns at this time lies in whether their information is safe with brands. Since these codes are passive until the consumer chooses to activate them, they are more shopper-friendly as they are not perceived as a ‘tracking’ effort on the brand’s part.

 

Using connected packages to get to know your consumers

 

Traditional media such as television or magazine ads no longer have the same attention-grabbing powers as before. Therefore, marketers have to become increasingly inventive to find those “magic moments” when consumers are receptive to brand engagement. Rather than relying on traditional ads to get a consumer’s attention, a better strategy is to align campaigns to existing consumer behaviour.

 

By giving products their own unique identity, brands can leverage technology to go directly to consumers in real-time and link activity to sales – all while also gathering valuable data on their consumers. Large drinks brand Charles Wells, for example, used codes on a cash-back promotion to launch a new product; not only was the launch incredibly successful, but through the codes they discovered their consumers were actually a decade younger than they thought. This is the kind of intelligence that can otherwise be incredibly expensive, if not entirely impossible, for brands to get from the supermarkets.

 

Connected packages can unlock subtle and surprising clues about a brand’s customers. The advantages are huge. By ‘pre-loading’ packs with codes which can be activated at any time, all brands have to do to run a promotion is to create a marketing campaign telling their target audience what they can win or what they can earn, where to find the codes on their packs and how to use them. For example, by going online and inputting them at a promotional microsite or submitting them using social media.

 

What brands get from connected packages

 

As with consumers, for brands, the benefits are undeniable. As soon as a code is registered, the brand knows about it. Unique codes offer instant validation and verification compared with solutions such as receipt scanning. Better yet, brands that put codes on packs as part of the production process do not have to worry about the expense of printing special promotional packs.

 

In the Internet of Packaging, promotions can be run at any time. When codes are on every pack, the value-added promotions can become an integral part of a brand’s ecosystem. They are constantly available for marketing efforts, so instead of using them as a stop-start tactical sales booster, connected packages are a vital part of a brand’s marketing program.

 

In the era of the Internet of Packaging, it is this marriage of technology and simplicity that will help brands connect with consumers in unprecedented ways, when and how they want. Winning brands will act now, building a strategic advantage that will see them far ahead of the competition.