At the beginning of this year Diageo’s iconic Johnnie Walker Blue Label got the smart bottle treatment from Thinfilm. The prototype Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle uses extremely thin, electronic sensors which can tell if the bottle has been opened or not and where it is in the supply chain. And these sensors also mean Diageo can send information to customers who scan the bottle with their smartphones – and change that information, thanks to the sensors being “always connected”.
Till now the bottle has only been used as a prototype. And just before the year ends, Diageo has collaborated with Selinko to commercialize the first interactive whiskey bottle, by launching it on a pilot basis in Thailand for an unspecified time period.
The limited edition of 500 Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle use the Intact system, which combines Selinko’s ORM software platform, Inside Secure’s Vault IC 154 NFC chip and patent pending capSeal opening detection technology, and Amcor smart capsules.
Unlike conventional static QR codes that are often difficult to read, easy to copy, and do not support sensor integration, the printed sensor 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.
In addition to its ability to clampdown on counterfeiting, the smart bottle offers the maker to communicate with consumers on a more personalized level. A consumer scanning a bottle with the “Johnnie Walker Interactive APP” has access to an exclusive space of privileges: personalized VIP invitations, the possibility to send personalized digital post cards, luxury lifestyle content, recipes and much more.