After speaking contest AIPIA (active and intelligent packaging Industry Association) Conference, Heineken selected to develop three next-generation smart packaging from nine companies.

In the coming months, Constantia Flexibles, CapTag Solutions and Rako Group will travel to Amsterdam to meet with Heineken's design and packaging team to discuss their ideas.

Light up the bottle with LED

At the exhibition, Constantia Flexibles showed a pressure-sensitive label with an LED lamp for the promotion of the city name; CapTagSolutions showed its energy-CapTag, which enables a single bottle to be lit on the shelf; Rako Group demonstrated the Click-matching smart lighting tags for interactive bottled product promotion.

Richard Gilliat, Technical Director of Constantia Flexibles, said: "We are very pleased that our plan at AIPIA was recognized as one of the award-winning works by Heineken."

“Constantia proposed a proposal to develop a label with a variable electronic display, which is very close to the profile provided by Heineken. We look forward to working closely with the packaging design team on this project in the coming months.”

David Potter, commercial director of CapTag Solutions, said that we designed tags that can perform remote product-level supply chain/inventory control, as well as collect short-range consumption data, as well as collect energy to drive LEDs or electronic ink displays. Accurately reflect product capacity for brand protection.

He added that at the end of the show, we chose to display the color electronic ink in red. This technology comes directly from the Taiwanese partner's electronic ink screen laboratory and uses the energy-CapTag variable to drive the color display.

Thorsten Wischnewski, head of RF technology from the Rako Group, brought his “click and match” smart lighting label, for example, to provide people with an interactive multi-sensory experience and an interesting way to meet others in the bar.

He said: "I think we have brought some good ideas for Heineken. The audience like it very much, and we at least prove it to be a dynamic model."

Three weeks to prepare

"The preparation of this exhibition is very difficult, because we have only three weeks. This is the result of our great team working together."

“From our point of view, we are experts in electromagnetics, energy harvesting and radio frequency identification technology. This is very special for a printing company and it is also our core business. We combine three aspects of technology, After creating a prototype with holographic and radio frequency identification technologies, the marketing team began to discuss the "click-match" idea.

"The whole activity proves that we are moving in the right direction."

Six other contestants are, respectively: Speechcode, Stora Enso, Nanomarker, Kezzler; Origintag, and Bluelog, in front of them by the participants and a design department Bionda Hakkenberg Heineken brand manager and design director Mark Van Iterson global leadership team A three-minute "speech" was given . Iterson said that packaging design is the core of Heineken, because the bottle is the brand's logo.

He said: "Heineken beer is one of the least innovative products in the world because it has not changed in more than 450 years."

“Yes, our innovation lies in the processing of beer, but the final product is always the same, which means we must develop more ideas around it and get experience from it, which is recognized by people all over the world. ."

He added: "If we don't do anything, it will become old-fashioned and outdated. As a brand, we must keep up with the times. If you look back at our brand history, you can find many subtle changes, such as From the banner label black to green."

“We always ensure that the product meets current trends and contemporary needs to ensure that it does not look out of date.”

Innovation and renovation

Iterson added: "The only way forward is experimentation. At the time of prototype design, we try to reshape everything and evaluate its feasibility, such as letting a black bottle shine, or to support rational drinking. We put it on top of the bottle. A glass of water to encourage people to drink water during drinking.

He said that at the AIPIA Congress (November 14-15), he saw 9 exciting speeches and he also looked forward to working with the winners.

Heineken's 9-point "elevator speech" points

Constantia Flexibles: Uses print technology to place digital displays on bottles with city names. Pressure-sensitive labels such as LEDs have appeared on the market, and now their technology is focused on reducing the thickness of electronic smart labels on bottles.

CapTag Solutions: Smart Cap Tag allows consumers to communicate with the brand via smartphones.

Speech Code "Speech Tag" technology: Speech Codes is a 2D QR code containing speech information. Users use offline applications to scan code for up to 40 minutes of voice output in over 40 languages. The "voice tag" is an NFC tag containing up to 30 minutes of voice information.

Stora Enso: Using RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and NFC (Near Field Communication) for the connection design, the bottles become personalized and can be integrated with digitally encoded digital prizes.

Nanomarker: A subsidiary of PSPI (Potsdam Specialty Paper), using the image of Heineken founder Gerard Adriaan Heineken, adding a nano-sized digital image to the bottle and launching a smartphone game called "Founder Founder". .

Kezzler: Use the Consumer Verification and Track & Trace software to deliver relevant messages on the bottle in real time.

Originag: Talkin'Things technology can use a two-phase NFC sticker on the bottle to track customer purchases by using promotional codes or allowing customers to chat with each other.

Rako Group: Launches its click-matching smart lighting tag, offering a way to promote interactive bottled products, or a fun way to sneak at a bar.

Bluelog: Tell consumers through its application Coolbeer their nearest cold beer in Which store, and can obtain this information by scanning the other brand-dimensional code.