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Launched at this year’s World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile and technology conference, t he Johnnie Walker Blue Label ‘Smart Bottle’ looks like it might be pioneering the next generation of whisky bottles. ‘Until recently, a bottle has been a container for liquid,’ says the Global Innovation Director at Diageo, before adding that this will change when the smart bottle goes into production later this year.
The Johnnie Walker Blue Label ‘Smart Bottle’ has a very thin electronic sensor that shows if the bottle has been opened and can also track it in the supply chain. It was created in collaboration with the Norwegian technology firm ThinFilm and uses NFC (near field communication) sensor tags, meaning Diageo can track a bottle not just through the supply chain but in-store and once the consumer has opened it.
For the consumer this means that in-store you can tap your smart phone against the bottle and see a promotional offer, or a video or any information Diageo wishes to share with you. Then when you buy the bottle you can verify that it holds genuine Johnnie Walker. Once it’s opened, Diageo can change the messaging to share more relevant information, such as cocktail recipes or serving suggestions.
This technology could be a breakthrough in ensuring authenticity. Until now, the best way of telling if a bottle of whisky was authentic was by making sure the cap seal was not broken; but this is easy to counterfeit. Other methods have included the use of a hologram seal over the cap or the more tried-and-tested method of asking an expert.
The problem of not knowing if a whisky bottle has been opened is not a new one. Last year a professor at St Andrews University developed a technique using an infra-red laser that could detect if a whisky was real or fake. In May 2014 a new technology called ‘CapSeal’ was launched mainly for the wine industry, which has a serious problem with counterfeiting (20 per cent of wine is believed to be counterfeit compared to around 10 per cent of whisky, which costs the whisky industry around £500million).
The clever thing about the NFC sensor tags is that it is very hard to copy or electronically modify as it is encoded during the production process. Another thing is that it is very easy to change the messaging. Unlike QR codes, which can’t be modified once printed, the NFC tags are essentially always connected and the information stored on them can be updated or changed when needed.
One part of me applauds Diageo for this innovation but another part wonders why we need this. Is it the beginning of the inclusion of the whisky world in the ‘Internet of Things’ – the term given to today’s sudden wave of connected household items, like smart light bulbs, smart fridges and any other physical item connected to the internet?
I do worry about walking into a whisky shop in the future and having my smart phone go into meltdown as hundreds of bottles of whisky try to send me messages or videos or offers. Only time will tell whether this becomes the norm and an industry standard.
However, I do agree that there is a need for consumers to be able to ensure authenticity of a bottle of whisky. So on balance, I have to say I’m looking forward to seeing the next generation of whisky bottles.
‘One part of me applauds this, while another part wonders why we need it’