Italian olive oil brands Buonamici, La Ranocchiaia, SPO and Il Cavallino are integrating NFC tags into their product lines to enable authentication and enhance consumer engagement, by delivering product information and other relevant content to customers’ smartphones.
The platform will be enabled through iOlive’s mobile app, which catalogues data on more than 150 of Tuscany’s extra virgin olive oils, using NFC SpeedTap tags from Thinfilm.
These thin, flexible devices integrate with product packaging and can be read with the tap of an NFC-enabled smartphone. Each tag is uniquely identifiable and is virtually impossible to clone, Thinfilm says.
Deceit protection
“Italy’s olive oil industry has had many fraud scandals,” Thinfilm says. “The damage caused by the deceit has been tremendous, not only to the industry and brands but to consumer trust.”
“We are very excited to deliver our NFC tags to Tuscany and help brands in this prestigious region protect customers, educate consumers, and grow their businesses,” adds Davor Sutija, Thinfilm CEO. “The iOlive app is an impressive tool and one that is very much needed anywhere olive oil is produced and enjoyed.”
Simple data
“The olive oil industry is very similar to the wine industry in that each has a rich heritage that is centuries old,” says iOlive founder Pietro Barachini. “But, the wine industry has done a much better job of educating customers on how to evaluate, buy and enjoy wine.
“Professional tasters use our platform to digitally capture their evaluations — including sensory analysis — and consumers are able to view that information through the iOlive app. The SpeedTap tags make accessing the data simple, instantaneous and seamless.”