El Jimador, a leading premium tequila brand owned by US drinks giant Brown-Forman, is launching a ‘smart’ bottle and connected drinks coaster, using technology developed by Norwegian NFC experts, Thinfilm.

The six-figure deal is a key element of el Jimador’s omni-channel ‘Soccer Moments’ campaign, and is being heralded as the biggest ever largest NFC-related activation for a tequila brand. El Jimador is the sponsor of the Mexican National Soccer team’s 2018 US tour.

In collaboration with Thinfilm, el Jimador has incorporated NFC tags in custom bottle-neckers and branded coasters. When tapped with a smartphone in-store, at home, or on the go, el Jimador customers can instantly submit their favorite soccer story for a chance to win $25,000, custom jerseys, and other prizes. The NFC tags fully integrate with Thinfilm’s CNECT Cloud Platform and enable el Jimador marketers to view real-time tapping activity, analyze campaign performance, and uncover actionable insights.

The connected el Jimador bottles and coasters are being distributed through select retail outlets, bars, and restaurants across the United States.

Ed Carias, Senior Brand Manager for el Jimador tequila at Brown-Forman says: “Our Soccer Moments campaign is connecting us with consumers who are both fans of soccer and fans of the el Jimador brand. By leveraging the smartphone that most of us carry today, Thinfilm’s NFC solution significantly extends our ability to establish those connections, build lasting consumer relationships, and drive the success of the el Jimador brand.”

Following its Soccer Moments promotion, el Jimador plans to use Thinfilm’s NFC mobile marketing solution in a “Day of the Dead” campaign this coming October.

“It has become increasingly common for leading brands like el Jimador to position NFC as a key enabler within major omnichannel marketing initiatives,” said Davor Sutija, CEO of Thinfilm. “The Soccer Moments campaign is a perfect example.”

Thin Film Electronics ASA is a publicly listed company in Norway with global headquarters in Oslo, Norway; US headquarters in San Jose, California; and offices in Linköping, Sweden; San Francisco; London; Hamburg; Singapore; and Shanghai. Its Thinfilm solutions use NFC to connect FMCG products to the Internet of Things.

El Jimador is a premium 100% blue agave tequila made by Mexican distillery Tequila Herradura, founded in 1870. In 2007, the company was bought by Brown-Forman for $776 million. Over the past 10 years, Brown-Forman, which owns other alcohol brands including Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort and Finlandia Vodka, has been expanding international distribution for el Jimador and it is now sold in 136 countries, compared with the 56 countries at the time of the acquisition.

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Kraft Peanut Butter is running a promotion which allows Canadians separated from their loved ones this holiday season to send them hugs via internet-connected teddy bears. Canadians who use “#KraftBearHugs” on social to share who they would like to give a bear hug to will be entered into a competition to win a pair of Wi-Fi enabled bears.

To launch the promotion, Kraft Canada created 10 foot tall versions of Crunchy and Smoothie, the teddy bears which have been Kraft Peanut Butter’s brand characters in Canada for more than 50 years, and placed them in public spaces in Vancouver and Toronto, so people could send their loved ones virtual hugs from one city to another.

For Canadians who don’t live in Vancouver and Toronto, the also launched smaller plush Crunchy and Smoothie bears with Wi-Fi connectivity, which people can use to share ‘hugs’ over the internet – the bears have bowties which light up when people send virtual hugs.

There are 100 pairs of bears available to be won; the approximate retail value of the prizes is Canadian $40,000. More information about the campaign can be found at kraftbearhugs.com. There is no purchase necessary. To enter, consumers have to create an original social media post consisting of a maximum of 500 characters addressing the question of who they would want to send a bear hug to and why the hug would bring them closer together. Entrants can, depending on what the social media site they are using allows, include pictures and videos.

Entries will be judged on uniqueness, creativity, togetherness and distance, in descending order of importance.

To coincide with the promotion, Kraft Canada released to results of a new survey which found that more than one in three Canadians (37%) will be apart from their family during the holidays. Distance is the main reason many will be separated from their families this holiday season (59%), followed by finances (23%).

Nina Patel, Marketing Director of Brand Build for Kraft Heinz Canada, says: “Kraft Peanut Butter wants to help Canadians stick together – even when they’re physically apart – and there’s no better way to do that, than with the power of a bear hug. Our iconic Crunchy and Smoothie bears have been beloved for generations by Canadians and represent togetherness and that familiar sense of comfort that our loved ones bring.”

Crunchy and Smoothie have been symbols of the Kraft Peanut Butter brand in Canada for over 50 years. Originally, the brand’s glass jars were shaped like teddy bears, and now they appear on the packaging of the jars. In 2014, Kraft Peanut Butter introduced new-look bears (with some controversy from brand fans) and released limited-edition plush teddy bears as part of its ‘Stick Together’ campaign. This campaign was massively successful, and the brand says it is taking it to the next level with the new Wi-Fi-enabled BearHug Bears.

The strategy behind the campaign aims to imbue Kraft Peanut Butter with an emotional value above and beyond pure product benefits.

Kraft worked with marketing agency Rethink, PR agency Edelman and media agency Starcom to create the campaign.

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Malibu, the world’s no.1 coconut flavoured rum, has launched Internet of Things enabled bottles into Tesco in the UK on an exclusive basis. Consumers with smartphones just have to tap the image of a ‘Malibu sunset’ on the bottles to access content and be able to enter prize draws instantly.

The 40,000 ‘connected’ Malibu bottles use Near Field Communications (NFC) chips, similar to the ones found in Transport for London’s Oyster cards and many credit and debit cards. Malibu points out that by using NFC chips, there is no need for consumers to download an app to their phone.

The campaign is part of the worldwide Malibu #Becausesummer campaign.

Pernod Ricard UK, which owns and markets Malibu, says that its exclusive research has revealed a growing trend in consumer demand for “experiences not products, whereby consumers are no longer buying products and services – they are buying experiences delivered via the products and services. By changing the dynamics and challenging traditional views, brands can significantly increase their engagement with new and existing consumers and, the more innovative the approach, the more chance of reaching a new audience. Malibu has responded to this consumer need by introducing the ‘connected’ bottles technology.”

The campaign has been developed through an on-going partnership between Malibu and creative agency SharpEnd, and follows work undertaken at The Absolut Company’s innovation lab in Stockholm, where Absolut and Malibu collaborated on a ‘connected’ bottles showcase. The project has now led to the very first pilot of this kind in the UK.

Embracing the technology, Malibu will be turning each bottle into a direct, digital touchpoint for consumers. ‘Tapping’ the iconic sunset logo on the Malibu bottle will open up a world of five amazing digital #Becausesummer experiences that consumers can access through their mobile browser, including:

• Instant-win competition – tap to win UE Boom speakers
• User-generated-content competition – consumers are encouraged to upload a summer snap. Google’s Cloud Vision API will then use its automated machine learning capabilities to recognise the content of the image and classify it into a theme (e.g. BBQ, Festival, Beach). Once classified, a personalised, branded image is sent back to the consumer.  They are then entered into a prize draw to win a holiday to Barbados (7 nights all-inclusive)
• Bartender in a bottle – drinks recipes
• Bar locator – uses the consumer’s geo-location to find the nearest Malibu bar and alfresco drinking spots if the weather is good
• Playlist – connects to Malibu Play on digital audio streaming platform Mixcloud for playlists from Groove Armada, Marvin Humes, Clean Bandit and more.

There is an age-gate to access prizes and content, only users aged 18+ can access these experiences.

Jo Alexander, Malibu Marketing Manager at Pernod Ricard UK, comments: “This is a huge step into an exciting future for the alcohol sector, and part of our on-going push for Malibu in the digital space. We couldn’t be more excited that Malibu is leading the way in brand innovation by bringing this advanced technology to the forefront of the industry. This concept is consistent with our ‘Because Summer’ wider campaign as we wanted to ensure that our target audience of young-adult fun starters could get the most out of summer – and our ‘connected’ bottles do just that with a number of exclusive prizes on offer at the tap of a bottle. As a first for Malibu, we know that this will be a huge hit with consumers and we can’t wait to see their reactions. This is just the beginning for this exciting new technology.”

Cameron Worth, Founder of SharpEnd, comments: “Bottles are now media platforms, able to drive localised content that is defined by the market that sells the product and maintains the consumer relationship. Once the bottle becomes a media platform there are so many different things that can be delivered that are beneficial to shoppers. This provides an entirely new way to communicate with them and brings Malibu directly in front of its target audience, presenting the opportunity to drive brand loyalty through service delivery.”

Tomas Roope, Creative Lead, ZOO Google Creative Services EMEA, adds: “We are hugely excited about being part of bringing such a complex suite of technologies together, to build such a simple, user friendly bridge between packaging, mobile and shoppers’ passion for self-expression. For us this is a really intriguing exploration of something that only a few years ago would have been prohibitively complex technically. For us this really feels right on the edge of user retail innovation.”

The ‘connected’ bottles will be in-store from the beginning of September; all bottles will have an accompanying neck-tag to provide the consumer with a clear explanation of the technology.

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Arc, the shopper marketing and activation agency which is part of marketing services group Leo Burnett, has signed an exclusive partnership with Thin Film Electronics ASA, a global leader in printed electronics and smart systems.

The two companies will collaborate to deliver Thinfilm’s NFC OpenSense technology to Arc and Leo Burnett clients across a variety of product categories.

NFC OpenSense tags are thin, flexible labels that adhere to products and can be activated with the tap of an NFC-enabled smartphone. Each tag is uniquely identifiable and can detect both a product’s “factory sealed” and “opened” states. Once tapped, the tag wirelessly communicates with a smartphone, instantly delivering contextual brand content at shelf or when using the product at home.

Thinfilm’s products can be used to create ‘smart packaging’ – the company has just announced at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona that leading Spanish winemaker Barbadillo has launched a rare sherry in “smart bottles” protected by Thinfilm’s NFC-based authentication technology (see image). The NFC OpenSense tags incorporated into each bottle are specifically designed to beat counterfeiters, prevent unauthorized refills, and facilitate product authentication.

Thinfilm and Leo Burnett/Arc teams will work side-by-side, ensuring the technology is accessible to brands and creating custom NFC OpenSense solutions for agency clients. In addition, the combined team will help further shape the technology to ensure the technology is more attractive and accessible to brands.

Nick Jones, EVP, Innovation & Growth at Arc/Leo Burnett, says: “Technology affords people the opportunity to plan, shop, and buy on their own terms anytime and anywhere, resulting in highly sophisticated shoppers and a highly competitive marketplace. Thinfilm’s NFC OpenSense technology is a game changer. It allows brands to connect with shoppers beyond the point-of-sale, delivering multiple messages throughout a product’s lifetime.”

In June 2015, Thinfilm highlighted its NFC OpenSense technology at Leo Burnett/Arc’s fifth annual FutureShop showcase in Chicago. Leo Burnett/Arc clients and staff learned firsthand how next-generation, mobile-centric retail marketing technologies can change the way brands communicate and the way consumers make purchase decisions.

Davor Sutija, CEO of Thinfilm, adds: “Thinfilm is very excited to partner with a global leader and innovator in the field of digital communication and shopper marketing. We look forward to working closely with the team at Leo Burnett/Arc to help provide the agency’s clients with solutions that strengthen consumer relationships and ultimately, grow their businesses.”

Thinfilm was the first company to commercialize printed, rewritable memory and is creating printed systems that include memory, sensing, display, and wireless communication, all at a low cost.

Thinfilm’s roadmap integrates technology from a strong and growing ecosystem of partners to enable the ‘Internet of Everything’ by bringing intelligence to disposable goods.

Thin Film Electronics ASA is a publicly listed Norwegian company with headquarters in Oslo, Norway; product development and production in Linköping, Sweden; product development, production, and business development in San Jose, California, USA; and sales offices in the United States, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Arc is the Intelligent Activation Agency within Leo Burnett Worldwide. Headquartered in Chicago, Arc provides brands with innovative, insightful and imaginative creative solutions rooted in understanding people and behaviour through the lens of a shopper. As part of one of the world’s largest agency networks, Arc has 26 offices in 22 countries with more than 1,000 employees.

Arc works with some of the world’s most valued brands including Coca-Cola, Fiat, Adidas, Samsung, Microsoft, McDonald’s and P&G.

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Oculto, a Tequila-flavoured beer from Anheuser-Busch InBev in the US, ran a promotion in November and December 2015 where fans could scan their bottles, get connected to a special app and win prizes.

The limited edition bottle, which also featured an innovative label that lit up, was launched at a special event at the end of November.

The bottle features LED lights underneath its label. When consumers hold it in the right way, they activate a pressure-sensitive switch which turns on the LED lights, causing the eyes of the Mexican-style skull mask design on the label to glow.

Additionally, when drinkers scanned their bottles, they were connected to a web app called Relics of the Night, which let them interact with the brand digitally and potentially earn rewards and prizes by posting comments and photos to social media.

Oculto, a lager blended with beer aged over tequila barrel staves, launched in the US March 2015, targeting a young tech-savvy demographic. At launch, labels featured various hidden details including messaging that only appeared when the beer was cold.

Mallika Monteiro, senior director, Oculto at Anheuser-Busch, said at the launch of the limited edition bottle: “With the original Oculto packaging, we focused on creating a truly innovative bottle with a host of discoverable elements – everything from hidden messages on the back of the label to eyes that mysteriously appear when the bottle gets cold. Oculto’s unique positioning and social nature inspired both the illuminated bottle and the Relics of the Night digital activation to further highlight the personality and social nature of the beer.”

To create the illuminated bottle, Oculto partnered with Inland Packaging to leverage smart label technology featuring printed electronic pathways, paper batteries, micro switches and LED lights with a pressure sensitive label design.

The pressure switch is placed where the thumb naturally falls while holding a beer bottle, and once pressed the LED lights begin to shine through the eyes of the mask on the front of the bottle for about three to four seconds. The special edition bottle will be featured at select Oculto events in 2016.

The “Relics of the Night” geo-targeted web application was initially only available during November and December 2015 in the Miami area of Florida. Adults 21 and over attending selected events could participate by scanning the Oculto mask on their bottle, signage, or napkin, and uploading their image to Oculto.com/scan. Once uploaded, consumers were given a chance to “spin the bottle” and win prizes.

It is not know if AB InBev plans to use the same technology for future Oculto special promotions, or even to roll it out across some of its other brands.

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