Digitalize physical labels to give consumers more.
Innovative brands are transforming physical labels on packaging and products into dynamic digital platforms to redefine consumer relationships and build lifetime value.
A smart label is any type of label that incorporates technology to move beyond the traditional use of a physical label. Common technologies often used in smart labels today are RFID, QR codes and Near Field Communication (NFC) tags.
Transform a physical label into a digital platform
Give consumers dynamic, digital product information
Provide transparent insights into sourcing and empower end-to-end traceability
Build lifetime value with engaging experiences that keep consumers coming back for more
Perhaps the first iteration of smart labels were the now ubiquitous UPC and EAN barcodes that have been on products for decades.
Today's smart label connecting technologies, incorporated directly into physical labels, empower complex and personalized digital experiences that offer more value than ever before possible.
The most prominent type of smart label is the connected label, also known as an intelligent label.
Connected labels utilize a connecting technology to attach a digital platform to the physical label that is launched by scanning with a phone or other device.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Smart Label Near Field Communication (NFC)
Smart Label Quick Read Codes (QR Codes)
Among the exciting possibilities opened by today’s smart labels is the ability to provide unique ID traceability of a product from sourcing all the way through the end of product life, giving multiple parties, including consumers, easy access to that information.
Tracking items through the supply chain with smart labels gives brands insight into the full sourcing and product journey and helps prevent gray market diversion.
Today’s consumers want to know the full provenance of their products. When that product has been tracked along the entire product journey, digital experiences give consumers the transparency into the process they now demand.
All of this offers clearer supply chain transparency than previously available. And tying the unique ID to the blockchain offers a new level of security.
To make the most of Smart Labels, brands are using smart product platforms to deliver dynamic digital experience that unlock this transparency, along with increased sales, authentication services, real-time product analytics and more.
Blue Bite provides inherently personalized mobile experiences that are contextual based on factors like user behavior, the product, location and language.
Another subset of smart labels is active labels, which responds to their environment. For example, a food label that responds to temperature to let consumers know if the product was in too warm of an environment throughout it’s journey to the store and should not be eaten. An active product can also be a connected product, but does not have to be.
The lack of a space between Smart and Label here indicates a specific smart label use formed by the Consumer Brands Association and the Food Marketing Institute. QR codes on many food products link to a website with nutrition information facts about the food.
This is great information to share with consumers, but brands using the QR codes to give consumers an entire, personalized digital experience are able to provide that nutrition information along with the plethora of additional values listed above.
While the name digital labels may sound like a synonym to smart labels, it is instead a specific type of digital printing used for high resolution, short to medium sized product runs.
