SmartLabel™ Shares a Richer Story – Are you Ready to Share Yours?

by maryann

Consider a typical scenario at your local grocery store. In aisle three, a mom thinks about her child’s allergy while a father searches for a detailed list of ingredients and a millennial wonders how the product is sourced. All three are holding identical packages, yet each person needs more—and different—information in order to make a purchase decision. The key challenges for packaged goods brands striving to compete in a highly-regulated, consumer-driven environment are: 1) how to fit all those details—and many more—on one tiny product label, and 2) how to create a unique connection with every customer. The good news is that all three people in the scenario have something important in common. They each have a smartphone in one hand and your product in the other hand-—giving them instant access to comprehensive information from forward-thinking brands that use QR Codes to activate the package with SmartLabel.

Consumers don’t want just calorie information and a long ingredient listing anymore. They want to know more about the food and drinks their families consume, along with a complete understanding of the products their families use. Take apples, for example. Imagine that the three shoppers in our scenario are holding packages of ARCTIC^® Apple slices from Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. With a quick scan of the product’s SmartLabel QR Code, the concerned mother will know that the product is free from common food allergens including milk, peanuts, soy, tree nuts and wheat. Similarly, the father will learn that not only are the ingredients 100% Arctic® Golden Apples, but he’ll confirm that the apples are preservative-free while getting additional data about vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants. Perhaps most interesting of all, the millennial will have access to detailed information about sourcing and sustainability, discovering how the brand minimizes water use, decreases crop damage, avoids insecticides, and even reduces the carbon footprint through the implementation of responsible company policies.

SmartLabel Pushes Beyond the Label

It’s important to understand that SmartLabel isn’t just about marketing what is already on the label—it’s about sharing all the information that doesn’t fit on the label. The timely technology gives brands the opportunity to create a conversation between consumers and the farmers or producers of the products they use. To facilitate these engagements, more than half of the companies currently providing label transparency through SmartLabel are using—or soon will be launching—SmartLabel QR Codes. When it comes to concerns such as nutrition, health, and safety, consumers require more than general information. They want the inside scoop delivered straight from the source. Until SmartLabel™ arrived on the scene, brands were limited by the tiny amount of real estate available on a product label. Now, brands have discovered that some of the most effective communication happens beyond the label—and the package holds the key. If you’d like to learn more about SmartLabel, please reach us at smartlabel@scanbuy.com.  As a proud supporter of SmartLabel QR Codes for Hershey's, Mondelez , Flowers Foods and many more companies, we welcome the opportunity to share best practices with your team.