According to a case study, single malt whisky manufacturer Kilchoman Distillery cooperated with NFC (Near field Communications) marketing provider, Thinfilm launched an activity to encourage consumers join in. Kilholman replaced the traditional whiskey bottle labels with Thinfilm’s NFC stickers, which allow consumers to check more product details, profiles, brand information and factory information with their smartphones.
This NFC related activity has made consumers’ participation achieved 6.5%, which surpassed the traditional digital marketing channels. The analysis also revealed some insights, such as the participation details in 13 European countries; the participation rate of IOS app users of Kilchoman is 22%; average “ship to shelf” time is 7 weeks.
For some brands, the use of NFC is gradually surpassing the testing phase and becomes a more complete part of its marketing strategy. Embedding NFC in the bottle label can help Kilchoman drive continued consumer engagement, before the NFC label is removed. In order to make sure this strategy success, the brand needs to keep updating the content that customers link to.
Mobile technology enables alcohol ads reach young people who are tech-savvy. These young people are less loyal to the brand and are more willing to try out a variety of drinks on different occasions. A study by Simmons shows that millennials tend to drink more liquor and less beer than their predecessors did at their age. When they drink, they look for a variety of wines in craft beers, wines and spirits.
Kilchoman plans to integrate Thinfilm’s NFC chip directly into their whisky bottle labels to replace the bottleneck labels.