Call it a cellular marriage of convenience or a wireless packaging hookup, but two market leaders in mobile packaging applications are joining forces to push development of cellphone technologies in north america. In the past two years, both dupont packaging & industrial polymers and graphic packaging have separately worked on technology to expand the use of package radio frequency identification rfid tags read by mobile devices. Now, the pair have signed a marketing agreement along with technology partners augme mobile and scanbuy to make those efforts more noticeable to north american consumers. Marietta, gabased graphic packaging has been a market leader linking cell phones with packaging, commercializing its technology under the name snap2c. Last year, the paperboard company began adding bar codes to billboards and promotional displays and had started work with folding cartons used with brand owners. Its partner, augme, accumulates consumer data and provides technology to trace consumer trends and assist in marketing campaigns. Charles brignac, graphic marketing manager for snap2c, said scanning via cell phone from a code embedded in a package is only one area used by the company. Graphic and augme also sets off the ability to text message a consumer can type in a code on a cell phone and receive information on product rebates, coupons, recipes, and other data. The marketing agreement with scanbuy and dupont only involves scanning by a camera cell phone, using a bar tag in a primary or secondary package. However, while there are 130mn camera phones in the united states, only a small percentage are equipped with readers that can scan images on packages, brignac said. A test will come in how quickly consumer packaged goods cpg makers are ready to switch up marketing campaigns and enter the smart world of cell phones and packaging. In japan, brignac noted that about 80 percent of consumers have scannable software on their cell phones, while the package option also is a big seller in europe. Smart packaging is becoming a big business worldwide but, somewhat surprisingly, north america lags behind a bit. Combining the technology leaders could help but brand owners must still be convinced that consumers will shop differently and use their phones to process package information.
