Suntory Beverage & Food Great Britain & Ireland (SBF GB&I), which produces popular drinks products such as Lucozade and Ribena, has started to introduce QR technology across its packaging to gain better visibility of the goods it places on the market.
The company is using Polytag’s enterprise platform which enables it to generate, manage and evaluate GS1-compliant QR codes at barcode level via a dashboard used in-house.
Each code provides access to multiple information sources, including location-aware scanning data, campaign scheduling tools, embedded videos and links to social media, and fully brandable webpages. In short, placing these codes on packaging could unlock new capabilities in supply chain management, consumer engagement and market intelligence.
The collaboration, which will begin with the introduction of the QR codes on a select range of drinks, allows SBF GB&I to leverage packaging as “a dynamic digital touchpoint”, according to Polytag. In time it could, for example, begin to understand recycling rates of the packaging as well as set strategy based on results of monitoring how consumers engage with the brand.
Expansion in use of the technology will be informed by the scanning insights and consumer engagement data the company gathers using the Polytag analytics platform.
Alice Rackley, CEO of Polytag, said Suntory’s adoption of its platform “demonstrates how enterprise brands are transforming packaging from static containers into intelligent assets”.
She added: “The depth of insight available through location-aware scanning combined with our campaign management tools gives companies like SBF GB&I the agility to respond to market dynamics in real-time whilst building direct relationships with consumers at the point of interaction.”
Keith Allen, head of commercialisation at SBF GB&I, said the Polytag platform provides the company with “supply chain visibility, consumer engagement capabilities and market intelligence through a single integration”.
He continued: “The ability to manage campaigns dynamically whilst capturing location data and consumer behaviour insights transforms how we understand and serve our customers.”
Will Addy, chief commercial officer of Polytag, said organisations such as SBF GB&I “need technology that can handle complexity at volume – millions of individual codes, multiple concurrent campaigns, and data synthesis across diverse markets”.
“Our suite of tools, from campaign scheduling to embedded content and real-time dashboards, is built specifically to give enterprise teams the control and insight they need to execute sophisticated strategies without operational burden,” he explained.
Other retailers working with Polytag, such as Waitrose and Ocado, have extended their partnerships to place invisible UV tags on milk packaging. When this packaging is scanned at waste management facilities around the UK, these retailers receive data which can provide a better understanding of how much of their packaging is recycled.
[image credit: Polytag]
1 thought on “‘Packaging as an intelligent asset’: Suntory and Polytag partner in traceability drive”
“transforming packaging from static containers into intelligent assets”. A good summary of how QR codes and Polytag are helping brands discover more about their products and their consumers. What’s not to like.