Is This Scotch Bottle Tracking You?

Feb. 27, 2015 –Smart phones, smart houses, smart just about everything. How much more “smart” do we need?  Apparently we need a smart Scotch bottle.

Diageo, the biggest beverage alcohol company in the world has teamed up with Norway-based Thin Film Electronics to create a bottle label that communicates with your smart phone.  A prototype will be launched using Johnnie Walker’s top shelf Scotch, Blue Label, at Mobile World Congress taking place March 2-5 in Barcelona.

The Thinfilm label allows Diageo to track a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label from point of manufacture through delivery to retail to point of consumption.  By tapping the bottle with a mobile phone, the purchaser will get confirmation that the bottle is authentic and has not been opened.  Well, about time.  We’ve had to use our eyes and common sense to figure it out all these years.

But it doesn’t stop there.  If you opt in, Diageo will send you a recipe for a cocktail using JWBL, though why anyone would use Blue Label in a cocktail is the real question.  And lest you run out and have to make do with Black Label, or heaven forbid, Red Label, you will get a reminder to buy another bottle.  How thoughtful.

Thinfilm’s patent-pending technology uses smart phone Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities.  You don’t have to hold the phone over or close to the bottle.  Just be in proximity and wondrous information and offers will be yours.

Can it tell if you have poured one too many?  Not yet, but be patient.

The innovative packaging will be introduced to the marketplace later this year and according to Venky Balakrishnan, Global Vice President of Digital Innovation at Diageo, the label could be routine within three years.  It will add 10 cents to the cost of each bottle.