The company which is attending the Global Food Safety Conference in Nice, France, this week says its digital codes have recorded over half a million consumer interactions with their platform during a 24-hour period, peaking above 1,800 API calls (Application Program Interface) per minute.
Counterfeit goods
Serialization is the process of assigning a unique identifier to individual products applied to a product or packaging through any kind of carrier, like a human readable code, a QR code or NFC.
It allows companies to verify the products consumers buy are authentic and provides brands complete supply chain visibility to track each individual unit in real time.
Christine Akselsen, CEO, Kezzler, said the milestone is thanks to 16 years work helping to solve real world problems such as counterfeit goods, unauthorised distribution, changing regulatory requirements and the need to build consumer trust.
“Kezzler meets these challenges by digitalising billions of individual products in the supply chain. Our focus remains on achieving this in a way that promises high flexibility and scalability with low operational burden,” she said.
Kezzler’s technology is deployed by global brands for example; from Reckitt Benckiser and Pfizer Viagra in Asia to Mondelēz Toblerone in Europe and Honeywell in the US.
In November last year, Kezzler and Amcor partnered with Mondelēz to launch a Toblerone campaign that deployed technology to elevate the consumer product experience.
During the campaign consumers were able to record a special video message for their intended recipient that was linked to their individual chocolate bar via a unique ID, enabling personalized gifting.
Every Toblerone bar included in the campaign came with a QR code that had a unique identity. The 360g Toblerone bars also came with custom sleeves such as ‘To my Mom’, ‘To my BFF’, and ‘To Grandma’.
Cadbury Milk Tray
By scanning the QR code using their phone consumers were able to record a personalized video message for the person they wanted to gift it to. When the recipient then scanned the same code they could view the message and could share it on social media.
The Toblerone campaign followed a similar initiative in February 2018 when Kezzler and Amcor rolled out a Valentine’s Day campaign with Mondelēz, using the MaXQ digital packaging system on boxes of Cadbury Milk Tray across 133 UK Tesco stores.
The promotion, which asked consumers “what would you say with Milk Tray?” led to an increase in sales of 7%.
Finally Brady industrial and safety printing systems partnered with Kezzler and Honeywell on its Refrigerant Brand Protection program, labeling and tracking to combine an anti-counterfeiting platform for Genetron 134a refrigerant.
Genetron 134a refrigerant can be used in automotive, commercial and industrial air conditioning, and refrigeration applications.
To combat counterfeiting, Brady provides secure label design services, layered anti-counterfeit materials, serialized label converting, and controlled supply chain distribution through one of its NASPO-certified facilities.
It turned to Kezzler for its real-time serialization code to give each product a digital identity and Honeywell for its security tags and detection devices.
As a result of the initiative, nearly 3,500 containers of counterfeit Genetron 134a products were seized by local law enforcement in Saudi Arabia in 2013.
Initially, this program was developed specifically for the Genetron 134a products in the Middle East, but has since expanded globally.
“Counterfeit products, particularly when it comes to refrigerants, are a dangerous and costly problem for manufacturers, distributors and consumers around the world,” said Dennis Polinski, global product manager, Brand Protection, Brady.
“To combat hazardous replications, it’s essential to establish and sustain a strong brand protection approach.”
The companies jointly developed a specialty label that is applied to the top of the product cylinder and is easily seen or scanned.
The label had various levels of authentication, including a proprietary machine-readable covert taggant containing a unique signature in the form of an Over Print Varnish (OPV).
It was also tamper evident to eliminate illegal removal and reuse, and contains a unique QR barcode and tracking serial number provided by Kezzler.
“With contributions from Brady, Kezzler and Honeywell Authentication Technologies, we were able to leverage each company’s expertise to create a technology that aligned with the product’s needs,” said Garth Zambory, business development manager, Honeywell.
“This labeling and tracking program was a much needed resolution, especially considering the large volume of the product manufactured and shipped globally.”