Brand Packaging

Thinfilm Introduces OpenSense Smartphone-readable Label

Benefits include enhanced product security and rich consumer engagement.

OpenSense tags are designed to deliver thin, flexible, cost-effective protection with significant improvements over traditional NFC and RFID-based authentication.

Existing wireless authentication methods can suffer from limitations. Some require expensive, proprietary readers that limit the scale of deployments. Others intentionally destroy the antenna when a product is opened, making it impossible to interact with the product after opening.

Thinfilm’s proprietary and patent-pending OpenSense technology aims to overcome those limitations by providing smartphone-centric NFC readability before and after product opening. Together with the economic benefits and scalability of printed electronics, the OpenSense solution enables protection of a wider range of products than feasible with expensive solutions based on complex encrypted ICs, according to the company.

Unique identifiers within each Thinfilm OpenSense tag support applications fighting product diversion, counterfeiting, unauthorized refills and the use of forged containers. Brand manufacturers and trusted suppliers can identify if a seal has been broken anywhere along the supply chain, while a secure cloud database tracks product lineage and provides robust analytics to enable smart business decisions.

On the consumer side, brand marketers can benefit from enhanced consumer engagement capabilities, beginning at the point of sale and continuing beyond the point at which the product is initially opened. Dynamic mobile content can be customized and delivered based on “sealed” or “opened” status. In addition, information about when a package has been opened can give brand owners the intelligence necessary to encourage frictionless reorders and promote sales of complementary products.

Markets and applications include: