Page 36 - Packaging News Magazine Mar-Apr 2021

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ACTIVE & INTELLIGENT | www.packagingnews.com.au | March-April 2021
The untapped power of a digitally connected product
Innovations in AR technology have provided a platform for digitally activating once static aspects of a brand’s marketing mix – such as its packaging and labelling – opening new opportunities for brand engagement, writes Jan Arreza.
PACKAGING is an extremely impor- tant aspect of retailing, it helps identify a brand, protects prod- ucts, and most significantly, pro- vides a platform for sharing information with consumers.
Over the years, brands have experimented with attention-grab- bing packaging designs, but ulti- mately, packaging remains a largely passive brand asset.
This is fast changing though, with more leading global brands jumping on the bandwagon and integrating augmented reality (AR) into their packaging to enable more engaging and digitally connected experiences for consumers.
Bill Atta, co-founder and chief product officer from augmented real- ity specialists Dreemar, says AR bridges the gap between static physi- cal products and targeted digital con- tent, which opens up countless mar- keting possibilities.
“We live in a world that is largely digital, and currently, the problem
Bill Atta and his team aim to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital by implementing
AR into product packaging
and labels.
with physical products on the shelf is that they are largely static items with no digital connection to take advantage of,” says Atta.
“Marketers spend so much on the physical product and yet do not get to use the channel for customer engagement, nor do they receive any meaningful analytics, meaning it just becomes a sunken cost.
“Adding a digital content layer, which is what AR does, delivers two key benefits – firstly, it opens an outlet for consumers to further engage with a brand and its products through unique immersive experiences, and for marketers, the costly and static physi- cal product they have invested in can now deliver valuable feedback and insights on consumer behaviour.”
Atta highlights three main cus- tomer experience trends that have emerged at the forefront for AR in packaging and labels – storytelling, gamification and promotion.
Storytelling has to do with deliver- ing extra product information or
provenance that cannot physically fit onto the product’s labels or packag- ing. This involves a consumer scan- ning the label or packaging with a smart device to engage and access this information, such as the company history or how the product came about or even talking to consumers about how best to use the product.
Gamification, which Atta says is a hugely burgeoning segment for Dreemar, is when instead of scanning to get more information, one scans to play a game instead. One example Atta highlights is a project where Dreemar worked with a boutique brewery to activate its packaging to allow consumers to play beer pong when the label was scanned.
Promotion has to do with brands incentivising consumers through competitions, rewards, coupons and discounts simply by scanning the product packaging. In this case, the packaging becomes a ‘digital door- way’ for consumers to participate in a brand’s promotions.