An NFC “dream”: Guala Closures Director imagines a connective future for every bottle

11 Oct 2019 --- Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is widely used in our day-to-day lives, such as in credit cards and computer technology. Italy’s Guala Closures, a non-refillable closures producer specializing in anti-counterfeiting technologies, is bringing NFC technology to new levels by incorporating it into its wide range of bottle closures. PackagingInsights spoke with Paolo Ferrari, Chief Marketing Officer and M&A Director at Guala Closures, to discover more about NFC closure advancements, its advantages for consumers and brands and the company’s future ambitions.

“This is a new era where we want to develop our business. We have international exposure through our vast network of companies and we would like to introduce our NFC closures all over the world,” says Ferrari. He notes that Guala Closures has its production sites spread globally, including New Zealand, Chile, the US and European countries, with its eye on a future presence in Africa.

Personalized packaging trend
NFC technology represents a bold step forward in the current product-personalization trend in packaging. With a single tap of your smartphone to any connected cap, NFC can provide consumers with access to product information, tasting tips, games, offers and social media. Guala Closures NěSTGATE cap

From a consumer perspective, this means that shoppers can quickly and easily read about, for example, the grapes a particular wine brand uses, its history, and wine-based recipes. Ferrari notes that Californian wine brand Böen, one of its major US clients, integrated information about its winery’s family-based history and values within the connected caps. This information is not something that the winery could not have elaborated on in detail on traditional business card-sized neck tags.

Producers, on the other hand, are increasingly conceptualizing packaging as a promotional tool, rather than just a functional one. NFC tags help producers understand consumer preferences and establish more direct connections with their targeted customers. In relation to the personalization trend, producers can offer NFC technology as a tool to tailor products to individual customers. Consequently, each customer can feel personally informed about product usage and brand developments, Ferrari notes.

“We believe that NFC technology can solve how we communicate with consumers. We are no longer in traditional printed media with information on the product on printed paper. NFC tags offer a digital solution, and all this is enabled in a screw cap. In the future, consumers can have a positive impact on the environment through information acquired via digital solutions rather than neck tags or product information in printed brochures, Ferrari explains.

Guala Closures NěSTGATE capOther benefits include facilitated transportation and easy product usage. The bottle cap is easily transportable due to its small size and the relatively small distances between Guala Closure’s production sites and its customers, says Ferrari. Likewise, NFC technology does not require the download of any apps as it uses the same kind of close-range connective technology featured in contactless payment systems such as credit cards.

Environmentally-conscious consumers can rest at ease when it comes to the recyclability of NFC-enabled closures. “There is no major difference between closures with NFC tags and aluminum caps. They are recycled in the same systems in every country,” Ferrari adds. Moreover, the technology replaces traditional paper neckties and printing ink, which is a significant sustainability benefit.

Barriers to commercialization
Despite all of its advantages and future potential, Guala Closures still faces major obstacles before it can bring NFC to the mainstream. Developing the technology, for one, takes considerable time. Ferrari explains that Guala Closures has been working on NFC closures for the last three years in its production site in Luxembourg. The company needs to guarantee that its NFC technology works flawlessly and that every tap responds to each closure. This, he says, continues to be a very “time-consuming problem.”

While there may be ample consumer interest in NFC closures, there is still a lack of awareness and information for this kind of technology. Such difficulties are mainly due to the novel nature of connective packaging technologies and the industry’s unfamiliarity with its capabilities.

Guala Closures NěSTGATE capFerrari also notes that local marketing and implementation within the customers’ production line remain additional challenges.

What’s next?
Ferrari says it would be “a dream” for all packaged goods to come equipped with some sort of connective packaging technology.

As a company mainly active in the wine and spirits sector, Guala Closures demonstrated the potential of its connective technology by powering Malibu rum bottle closures with its innovative cap NFC technology this summer.

Soon after, Guala Closures built upon this success with a partnership with Californian wine brand Böen, part of Copper Cane Wines & Provisions by Joseph Wagner. This move made Böen the first wine brand in the US to deploy full-scale, NFC technology.

“We are already in contact with some small wineries in Europe, mainly Italy, and have established some connections with French wineries on an interest-level. Our technology is suitable for these kinds of small wineries but also larger ones as well,” adds Ferrari.

Outside of the wine and spirits sectors, Guala Closures also has its eye on the olive oil sector, which similarly has a strong consumer-based interest in olive production, agricultural history and consumer preference.

By Anni Schleicher

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