With global smartphone usage expected to top 2.5 billion by the end of 2018 the enormous potential these devices unlock for marketing and branding opportunities are allowing packaging to be more integrally involved in the fast changing landscape of smart phone interaction. There have already been some great examples of different available technologies being exploited for some creative brand building opportunities:

QR or Quick Response codes, as we all know by now, are small barcodes that are readable by using your smartphone. They’re quick and easy to generate, they’re free, and can link to websites, email addresses, phone numbers and more. Due to their simplicity and ease of use, they’re found almost anywhere – from product packaging to printed advertisements and storefront displays. They’re a means of bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds. They can be used more creatively too. Qkies, for example, prints edible QR codes on cookies. Customers can order cookies with customizable messages embedded on them in the form of a QR code. When scanned with a smartphone, the cookies reveal their hidden message.

NFC OR Near-Field Communication is similar to Bluetooth in nature. It allows brands to push information to smartphones, but without the need for devices to pair with one another. Instead, a consumer would simply “tap” their device against an NFC receiver. This information can span anything from a website link to a video.

NFC chips are relatively cheap, small and flexible as to where they can be applied. Remy Martin plans to release a new type of bottle this year that utilizes this technology. The bottle’s lid contains an NFC chip that is activated as soon as it’s opened. Any NFC device or smartphone will be able to determine information relating to when the bottle was opened and whether it has been resealed since then. Click here to read more.

AR or Augmented reality allows packaging companies to create intricate 3D worlds that come to life on consumers’ screens with nothing more than an app and a camera-equipped smartphone. Usually, these virtual worlds are fully interactive.

Companies that have embraced augmented reality in their marketing strategies include Blippar and Pepsi MAX, who teamed up to bring interactive gaming to every Pepsi MAX can and bottle. Using a free app, customers could unlock exclusive Pepsi video content – including behind-the-scenes footage and an interactive augmented reality football game directly from the pack.

Touchcode is an invisible electronic code that can be printed onto paper, cardboard, labels or files with nothing more than an ordinary printer. Its invisible and interactive and while  is similar to that of QR codes, the main difference is that Touchcodes are recyclable, environmentally friendly and very easy to produce.

The technology is extremely versatile in its use ranging from authenticity confirmation of products/brands to adding multimedia content to mass media publications. Touchcodes have already been printed onto pizza boxes to provide information on whether the product remained frozen during shipping and has also been used on over the counter medicine to allow dosage instructions to be read aloud once activated by the smartphone. Very useful for the visually impaired. For more information about Touchcode and its many uses, go to http://www.touchcode.de/ .

But it is not only smart phones that are opening up creative packaging opportunities. With previously expensive technology becoming much more commercially viable, secondary packaging can become intelligent too!

Our talking box contains a hidden voice-chip, activated by a light sensor on opening, which enables the box to deliver impactful audio messages to consumers.

The parrot box offers purchasers the opportunity to send a gift accompanied by a personal message delivered in their own voices. The easy-to-use controls facilitate recording either directly or remotely through an audio file sent by email (for gifts purchased online).

The aroma or “nose” of a fine spirit is a highly underrated attribute. Our aroma box brings this feature to life by applying prints of aroma-impregnated friction-release varnish into the interior of the box. As an alternative, the sensory experience can be triggered on opening by means of a vapour spray.

Our temperature box, with its constant readings of the ambient temperature, enables consumers to create an optimal drinking experience so that whiskeys and fine spirits are enjoyed at the correct temperature.

The video box is the full package with the ability to communicate both by video and audio sophisticated brand, product and category messages to consumers (and potential consumers), especially for more premium offerings where the depth of value is not immediately evident.

The light box, illuminates its contents using an LED light when it is opened.

The music box amplifies music played from a phone or an MP3 player, creating an impromptu sound system for any occasion – at the bar, at a picnic, or whenever people are casually sharing a drink together.

Ultimately, smartphone and other technologies available to the packaging world are not a one-step solution to launching and maintaining a successful product but they do have the potential to springboard brands above their competition.