Security Label Solutions Protecting the Consumer & Your Brand
Dear reader, Do you want to protect your brand and consumers at the same time? You know you need to incorporate some form of security layer to your packaging, but you just don’t know which one or you want to learn more. Our wide range of security solutions cover all your needs and more. We don’t prioritize one security solution over the other. We prioritize the challenges your brand faces and the trends we see in the industry to provide you with unique, tailored security solutions. Throughout this whitepaper, we will cover topics that include the benefits of adding security features to your packaging, how to overcome challenges your brand faces and go into detail about the security solutions we can offer. You will discover different uses of security features and how your brand can benefit from them. After reading this, you will understand why counterfeiters can’t stand MCC! The MCC Home Care & Laundry team
In this issue 3
The Need for Security Solutions
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What Challenges Do You Have?
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Covering Every Layer of Your Packaging
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Prevent the Casual Theft of Your Products With EAS Tags
10 RFID Labels Helps Fight Crime
Visit our website www.mcclabel.com to discover more on how our premium label solutions can meet your needs.
“Security Label Solutions. Protecting the Consumer & Your Brand” is a publication of MCC.
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Copyright © by MCC. All rights reserved. The content of this document, including all copy, images, and attachment(s) are property of MCC and should be treated as confidential. It cannot be shared with or forwarded to third parties and cannot be published without MCC’s prior permission. If you have any questions regarding the use of this document, please email marketing@mcclabel.com.
The Need for Security Solutions Security solutions are extremely important for your brand, especially in today’s world. More and more consumers are shopping online for products, which speeds up your brands need for authentication features to ensure the genuineness of their purchases. MCC wants to help you protect your product by adding layers of security.
What are the benefits? • Protect your brand image • Control the supply chain and defend your revenues • Ensure trust and safety for your end consumers How can MCC help? Our security experts determine which solutions are right for your brand. Don’t worry, your brand is in the right hands. • Effective solutions against any tampering, counterfeiting or market diversion attempts. • Customized solutions for each client to ensure an ultimate protection (no standardized solutions) covering authentication (proof of genuineness and integrity of the product) and identification (product sold in the intended market).
• Providing solutions that can be authenticated by the consumer with their smart phones instead of specific devices. • Dashboard for analytics (big data), supply chain visibility and control and notifications management. • Smart packaging combination to engage consumer to scan to collect data and build business intelligence. • Overt and Covert methods available for your label/decoration types. Overt methods to quickly assess brand authentication by either brand teams or consumers. Covert methods, unknown to counterfeiters and consumers.
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What Challenges Do You Have? 4
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We will work with you to find a tailored solution that incorporates authentication and identification features to provide you and consumers the best possible solution.” Yann Quinche, Smart and Security Solutions Expert at MCC
Is your brand facing one of the following challenges? Counterfeiting; Tampering; Product Diversion; Packaging Reuse/Refilling; Product Dilution; Product Contamination/Adulteration; Product Substitution; Parallel Market How can we address this? With security label solutions that combine Authentication and Identification features. Authentication features To ensure end users that the product they purchase and will use have not been tampered or counterfeited by anyone. Not being able to offer such warranties could divert some consumers to other brands offering such authentication measures. Identification features Consumers need to be sure the product they buy or consume is sold in the intended market. Supply chain visibility and integrity are at the heart of ensuring consumers trust and safety. You might ask yourself: Is my product sold in the intended market? Do I face any grey market activities? Is my supply chain reliable? A robust track & trace solution is central for collecting data and build business intelligence to take actions.
Anti-counterfeiting Guarantee the proof of genuineness of your product thanks to multi-layer security features. If you only do one, counterfeiters can crack your security of what you are doing. After having chosen the right substrate construction to meet the requested anti-tampering properties, comes the question of the security layers to be integrated into the design. Depending on the scope of the project and specific requirements, MCC will build the right security design to meet your goals and guarantee the genuineness of your product to your end consumers. Thanks to our wide portfolio of security inks & foils combines with unbreakable security graphics MCC can ensure the robustness of all its solutions. Mix these following solutions together for ultimate protection: • Security inks/foils - Color-shifting inks, invisibles inks, reactive inks, taggant inks, diffractive effects are just an example of what could be integrated into your next generation of security label. • Security graphics - Even less advanced security inks can become unbreakable if combined with a strong security graphic. Imagine if combined with the most robust inks/foils! Microstructure, hidden pattern, latent image, invisible structure, specular effects are just a few examples within our portfolio.
Security solutions to integrate into your label MCC approaches security solutions as a step by step approach, understanding your needs and collaborating with your team to provide the best possible solutions. Tamper evidence Safeguard the integrity of your product against any tampering / refilling attempts. You can have the most advanced and secured features on the market, but if the tamper evidence is not right, the complete solution will collapse as the integrity of the product cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, at MCC, selecting the right material construction is the starting point of all our solutions. Destructible papers and films or void constructions combined with special adhesive formulas as well as security micro cuts are part of our DNA. Tamper band
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Connectivity Allow your product journey tracking to have full visibility and control on your supply chain and engage your consumers. The digital transformation is underway and brand owners must take advantage of it in their
security strategy. Empowering consumers will enable you to strengthen your relationship with your consumers (attraction & decision making, information, marketing campaign) while collecting data, build business intelligence and take actions.
Brand
Distribution
Retail
Client
• Direct and personalized communication with end-customer • Anti-refilling and brand protection • Loyalty to the brand • Leverage innovation in brand’s image
• Product’s authenticity verification • Grey Market Activities prevention • Expiration date control • Track&trace
• Always up-to-date promotions • Sales activation through digital channels • POS control and management • Out of stock monitoring
• Real-time benefits to purchase activation • Personalized content • Safe product confirmation • Extended label
At MCC, we can make your product interactive either via optical recognition (image recognition, secured barcode and QR code) or thanks to radio frequency. We have options in these two possibilities to connect your product with the consumer.
time a universal must-have. Barcode can also offer extended product information on a generic level. If combined with a special security graphic, onedimensional code can also be used for product authentication using proprietary apps.
Add these smart packaging solutions to your label:
Secured QR Code / Data Matrix Secured QR code / Data matrix is a two-dimensional barcode allowing faster readability and greater storage capacity in comparison with standard barcodes. Benefits include single product identification, marketing campaigns as well as track & trace options. Nevertheless, authentication cannot be guaranteed without the addition of an extra security element to prevent the copy and replicability of the code. Consumers scan the code to instantly receiving information about the product and the next steps to authenticate it. Using proprietary apps, the consumers will get access to the authentication tool and additional info about the product and its journey.
Optical Recognition Secured Barcode A barcode is a linear one-dimensional code that can be scanned by optical scanners or smartphones equipped with a camera. Historically used to automate supermarket checkouts, barcodes has become over
Digimarc Digimarc Barcode is a machine-readable digital identity that can contain the same data as UPC/EAN symbols or carry similar information to QR and DataMatrix codes. Digimarc is a seamless element of the packaging artwork itself, unobtrusively doing more than visible codes can. Some unique benefits include improving visibility of supply chain, streamlining data capture operations across the supply chain, assists with meeting sustainability goals and is applied at the point of printing which makes it difficult to counterfeit.
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OPTICAL RECOGNITION REQUIREMENTS Consumer Engagement Extended Product Information Marketing Campaigns Real-Time Promotion One-to-One Communication Single Product Personalization Product Authentication Product Identification Shoplifting Simple Logistic Management Mass Scale Logistic Management Supply Chain Control Inventory Management POS Control and Management Out of Stock Monitoring Sensors
Secured Barcode X
X
Secured QR-Code X X X X X X X X
RADIO FREQUENCY EAS
NFC X X X X X X X X
RFID
X X
Bi-Frequency X X X X X X X X
X X2 X
X1 X2 X X X X X
X X X X X X X
X X
X X
X3 X3 X4
X1 – RFID can also be used for a simple case with handheld readers X2 – RFID is the best option here even if NFC might be used for special cases (i.e. liquids, consumer comm). Bi-Frequency tags are the best of both but comes with price. X3 – Smart shelf uses NFC for monitoring X4 – Some sensors also available with NFC (i.e. temperature data logger - you can read the output with a smartphone)
Radio Frequency EAS Electronic article surveillance tags are used to prevent shoplifting. The antenna-based tags are directly applied to the merchandise and are deactivated by the cashier during the checkout operation. If not deactivated, the tag will detonate when passing through the store’s electronic detection systems alerting the staff of the attempted theft. EAS RFID Ultra high frequency and EAS tag combined together to provide you with track and trace and security solutions.
to high secured goals. Thanks to the new generations of NFC-enabled smartphones, this technology is rapidly gaining market share because of its multiple advantages and easy to use mode. Bi-Frequency Combine the benefits of an RFID and NFC in one single tag.
Want to discover more about our security solutions? Contact an expert today!
RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags will require a reader device to transfer data. This communication protocol offers major benefits for large scale logistic management and supply chain control as unlike barcode, the tag can be read without being in the sight of the reader and from a long distance allowing automatic identification and tracking. This type of serialization also deters distributors of the product from selling product on websites such as Ebay and Amazon. Brands are aware of exactly which serialized codes were shipped to which distributors. NFC Near-Field Communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols allowing contactless data exchange and communication between two electronic devices over a short distance, typically a few centimeters. Derivative of RFID technology, NFC can be used for various purposes from pure marketing aims 7
Covering Every Layer of Your Packaging From the outside to the core of your package, our security solutions are here to protect your brand. Acting as a technology integrator, MCC offers a unique range of security solutions to meet all your requirements in each security level.
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Overt
Semi-Covert
Covert & Forensic
Type: easily recognized by consumers / untrained inspectors Device: human senses of sight and touch (no specific device) Target group: man-in-the-street
Type: security features visible with the required device Device: standard authentication equipment available commercially (Smartphone, UV lamp, IR detector, blue light, etc.) Target group: agents-controllers
Type: security features completely hidden Device: sophisticated and specific authentication equipment Target group: trained inspectors & laboratory
Prevent the Casual Theft of Your Products With EAS Tags EAS tag Your new product is going to be a sought-after. Therefore, people are going to try to steal it from stores. To minimize this problem, MCC will apply an EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance) tag that is buried into the label. In some cases, like a candle, its located on
the bottom, placed underneath the warning label. EAS tags cannot be removed and will trigger an alarm at the store’s door if the product is stolen. The EAS tag is a requirement from retailers to prevent thieves. Protect your product from being stolen and counterfeited today!
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RFID Labels Helps Fight Crime Counterfeiting attempts by criminals around the world are at an all-time high. Brands are frequently searching for ways to improve their product security. One way they can do this is by embedding an RFID tag in a label. Let’s focus on why your brand would want to do this and the benefits! Checking outlet prices One reason a brand might want to implement an RFID is because there are concerns that their product is being sold in some outlets where they shouldn’t be. For a short-term fix, that brand could purchase the product online to see if it went through proper distribution. Adding an RFID is the long-term solution. It can help track their product through the supply chain after it leaves their warehouse. Introducing the RFID tag MCC can apply an RFID tag buried underneath your pressure sensitive or shrink sleeve label so the graphics are not affected. This enables companies to scan every single product using an RFID scanner leaving their warehouse without having to unpack the shipping boxes. In addition to adding it to your packaging, MCC will educate your team about RFID’s. Our label experts will explain everything related to RFID’s and teach them about the technical aspects. MCC is committed to sharing knowledge with our customers to ensure a successful project.
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Uncovering stolen merchandise Now that you have an RFID added to your label, you can now search for your product online to check if sellers are charging the right prices or if they are in the right market. If there was a listing that was suspicious, they could buy the product, and scan it again when it arrived. This would reveal if it went through the proper channel and allow them to warn proper resellers of their agreed pricing. RFID’s enable you to uncover issues like your product was supposed to be in an entirely different channel and was stolen. This is happening more and more today with organized crime. Criminals are ‘smashing and grabbing’ retail stores for typically high dollar volume items that they can resell online for double or triple their retail value. This gives your brand evidence to contact these online sites and, in some cases, prosecute these people for selling stolen merchandise. After adding an RFID tag, your company is now able to efficiently monitor your outlets and shut down any illegal operations they find.
Our customers see great results from implementing an RFID tag, especially in improvements in their supply chain. They are a great way to ensure your brand is being protected from anti-counterfeiting attempts.” Shayne Kitts, Home Care & Laundry Sales Director at MCC
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3 Reasons to Get In Touch With Our Security Experts Around the Globe
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Protect your brand image.
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Control your supply chain and defend your revenues.
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Ensure trust and safety for your end consumers.
Our Security Solutions Expert, Yann Quinche Contact: marketing@mcclabel.com
Visit our website www.mcclabel.com to discover more on how our premium label solutions can meet your needs.
