Packaging Gets A Digital Life On The Web

Image credit: EVRYTHNG

EVRYTHNG have announced a world-first collaboration with Crown, one of the largest packaging companies in the world and the number one producer of food cans globally. Together they will be embedding digital intelligence into billions of consumer packaged goods (CPG) products, making each one capable of triggering and driving digital applications. For leading global brands this collaboration means their products can now come with digital capability right out of manufacture at huge scale and with immediate application opportunities. 

Under the partnership, Crown will add unique serialized codes and on-product triggers ‘at source’ to products packaged in beverage, food and aerosol cans, and in specialty packaging tins. Every physical item has its own unique software identity and data profile in the cloud with the EVRYTHNG IoT Smart Products Platform, enabling each product to power new real-time digital applications and analytics throughout its lifecycle. Crown and EVRYTHNG are making it possible for food and beverage products to be #BornDigital™ , given digital capabilities right out the gate as they’re made.

The value of #BornDigital™ products is not just to provide standalone experiences, but to build a bridge to the other products, applications and services in consumers’ digital lives. As Andy Hobsbawm, co-founder & CMO of EVRYTHNG recently told me in an interview for an article I was writing for SnapMunk, “You should be able to ask Alexa or Google Home or Siri what you should wear today and the service knows what’s in your closet because of the smart tags on the individual items,” says Andy. “Or your ready meal should tell the microwave what setting to configure itself to. Or your recycling bin should be able to count and track what gets thrown away responsibly to be able to feedback into reward programs to incentivize sustainable behavior.”

In terms of apparel, EVRYTHNG’s partnership with Avery Dennison, via their Janela™ Smart Products Platform, will allow them to digitize ten billion apparel and footwear products in the cloud over the next 3 years. 

How big is the IoT pie? Here are some eye-opening stats regarding the size of the IoT pie, per Andy and Avery Dennison:

·         89% of brands believe customer experience will be their primary basis for competition (Gartner, 2015).

·         Digitally influenced sales (traditional brick-and-mortar retail sales impacted by shoppers’ use of digital devices) are 5X larger than e-commerce sales (Deloitte, 2015).

·         By 2020, 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a mobile phone (Ericsson 2014).

·         77% of consumers are particularly interested in expiry notifications for food products (Group M panel, UK, 2016).

·         According to Nike, digital is a vital accelerator in reaching $50B (USD) in revenues by the end of fiscal 2020, including new ways of engaging consumers with the brand, through to the manufacturing and delivery of products (Just Style, 2016).

The transformation of packaged goods products into dynamic digital assets, connected in real-time

with enterprise systems and the wider digital ecosystem offers huge value creation opportunities for

brands. EVRYTHNG expects innovation to come in many different forms such as:

·         Product information: Consumers can scan smart packaging for product nutrition, ingredients, manufacturing processes and provenance for total transparency about where a product came from and how it was made.

·         Supply Chain Tracking: Staff and other role players in the supply chain can scan products to track inventory, update field information and optimize stock levels.

·         Loyalty Rewards: Consumers can interact with products to access personalized digital services, offers and content.

·         Product Reordering: Consumers can use their smartphones to interact with, or reorder, products and access similar products that they may want to purchase.

·         Brand Protection: Brands can bolster anti-counterfeit programs by enhancing products with item level digital authentication and real-time analytics.