Protecting a Brand with Tamper-evident and Authentication Labels
I came away from LabelExpo this year with a new appreciation for one of the most important trends in label design – authentication and tamper-evident labels. Customers want to be and should be confident that the products they buy have not been tampered with or counterfeited. If you purchase a high-end brand, you should be sure the product inside the box or the bottle is authentic. Knock-off perfumes and handbags can pretty easily replicate a brand’s packaging. Unscrupulous suppliers might be able to substitute an inferior vodka for a top-shelf option, but a specialty label can make it very easy for the consumer to tell that the product may not be what it seems. Combining the destructive nature of a tamper evident label and the trust of an authentication label would ensure higher brand protection. This got us thinking that our self-shredding label fills this void.
Tamper-evident labeling has application across the entire supply chain. Brands can use a solution like our self-shredding label to secure individual products, whether in boxes or bottles, and distributors can use a similar solution to protect shipping cartons. If a package is opened at any point prior to sale, the self-shredding label not only shows that product was tampered with, it can completely remove a brand’s signature identifying mark, thereby immediately indicating to the consumer that the product they are about to purchase may not be authentic.
Different industries may need several types of protection, so integrating other high-tech solutions including holographic labels, non-sequential serialization, multi-layered construction, and color shifting “void” adhesive films would further secure the product and make it very hard to counterfeit. For example, the solutions needed in the pharmaceutical industry are different from the luxury goods industry or the auto parts industry, but any brand concerned with quality and product integrity should consider at least a basic authentication or tamper-evident label product.
LabelExpo made me realize that authentication and tamper-evident labels are important considerations for industries concerned with protecting their products and brand integrity. The incremental cost of a good evidence or authentication label is a great insurance policy to ensure consumers aren’t ripped off and reputations aren’t tarnished. We’re excited to be discovering new, unique use cases like this for our patented self-shredding label and will be working with the industry’s most innovative label providers to bring new brand protection solutions to market.
If you’d like to learn more about our products, check us out at www.invaluableinventions.com or email me at kemaal@invaluableinventions.com.