Identiv, Inc. announced a collaboration with OTACA Tequila, expanding smart packaging innovations with near field communication (NFC)-enabled authentication, product provenance and transparency, customer loyalty, and brand awareness. Identiv’s best-in-class NFC transponders connect consumers and brands into an Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem where consumer engagement is present in each digital touchpoint.
OTACA is the first tequila company to fully digitize its product offerings with NFC. The tap-and-go NFC model incorporates Identiv’s experiential design into smart packaging, inviting the brand’s loyal customers to engage, track, and authenticate their purchase. Consumers use their NFC-enabled Android or Apple iOS device to tap the tag and access OTACA’s custom digital experience, including product authentication, the history of its founders, and the ability to place a new order.
“Partnering with Identiv gives us a team of design experts to build out a transparent digital experience that allows us to share the story of our tequila with customers at point-of-sale and in their own home,” said Anthony Accetta, CEO and Co-Founder, OTACA Tequila. “With one tap, customers can access our tequila’s journey, learn when we’re preparing to harvest, and discover the latest plans for the brand.”
Identiv is known for offering the highest quality NFC tags with innovative designs, global scale, and depth of encoding capabilities. Its R&D and engineering teams are focused on integrating ecosystems for supply chain efficiency and designing engaging consumer experiences. High-performing NTAG 210u NFC tags power the new smart packaging solution for OTACA.
“Our partnership with OTACA Tequila continues our accelerated growth in radio frequency identification (RFID) devices and NFC for smart packaging, consumer engagement, asset tracking, and authentication in the IoT. In this contactless era, people expect to interact with products and brands in new, exciting ways. We deliver on those experiences by turning the physical world digital,” said Amir Khoshniyati, Vice President Business Development, Identiv.
The NFC tag is a printed, standard circular form factor and attaches to the top of the tequila bottle. Blockchain expert SUKU manages the consumer engagement platform. The decentralized, distributed qualities of blockchain processing ensure security, transparency, reliability, and authenticity. The NFC tag combined with blockchain technology strengthens the trustworthiness of the tequila’s supply chain.
“We are excited to work with Identiv and OTACA Tequila to create a consumer engagement platform built on transparency and authentication by unifying the benefits of NFC and blockchain,” said Martin Kaczynski, Director of Product, SUKU. “NFC tags and blockchain in tandem provide several unique benefits, including a medium for blockchain to interact with the physical world. Through the use of NFC tags and blockchain, we are enabling OTACA to elevate its customer’s post-purchase experience, including a way to verify the authenticity of its products.”
Identiv’s NFC-enabled solutions feature a complete portfolio of tags and form factors allowing customers and partners to create their own NFC products, ecosystems, and experiences.