Premium Tasmanian cherry exporter Reid Fruits will once again deploy Laava Smart Fingerprints for the fourth consecutive cherry season, delivering authentication and connectivity at pack level.
The Laava Smart Fingerprint provides Reid Fruits with a secure on-product gateway for brand protection and consumer engagement.
Printed by Peacock Bros. using digital label printing and finishing technologies, Laava Smart Fingerprints uses images uniquely generated to each individual product, as well as proprietary optical scanning technology, which Laava said is much more secure than a QR code.
When a counterfeit Reid Fruits cherry box is scanned by a customer, a ‘Suspected Counterfeit’ message will appear on the smartphone, alerting the consumer that the product is not authentic, and then will be provided with support information from Reid on what should be done next.
Since first approaching Laava in 2019 for its innovative counterfeit prevention technology to protect and enhance its brand in key export markets, Reid Fruits has seen a dramatic reduction in counterfeit attempts.
In 2020-21, Laava incorporated additional forensic and traceability capabilities with partners and saw a further 60 per cent reduction in counterfeit attempts.
In the same period, Laava rolled out a complete connected packaging solution for Reid, which included counterfeit prevention, brand protection, digital storytelling and customer engagement capabilities, and document security through Laava-supported certificates of authenticity supplied to licensed distributors.
The complete solution resulted in zero counterfeit attempts identified across the 2021-22 cherry season.
“In the 2018/19 season in China, the counterfeiters had made a complete digital copy of our carton. We were using highly intricate laser-cut stickers affixed to our carton lids at that time – a new and different sticker design at the start of each season – as an anti-counterfeit measure. The copy carton included a digital image of the new sticker for the 2018/19 season,” explained Tony Coad, manager marketing and sales, Reid Fruits.
“At that point, we had also been using a printed card inserted within each carton with the cherries with a QR code linked to a Reid Fruits website for customers to check authenticity through the QR code. The counterfeiters had also copied this card incorporating their own QR card linked back to their own fake Reid Fruits website to verify the carton as authentic.
“We were also using carton liners printed with the Reid Fruits logo and carton bases a with a watermark printed Reid Fruits logo – this was also copied. All this happened within a week of our product arriving in the market in the 2018/19 season.
“In the cherry season just gone (2021/22) we didn’t receive any reports of counterfeit products in market or any sign of attempts to counterfeit our cartons or labels.”
As a further show of its commitment to its supply chain partners, Reid Fruits supplied its licensed distributors with a certificate of authenticity featuring a Laava Smart Fingerprint. The certificates are provided to wholesalers, retailers and related parties, who could scan Laava's Global Mark of Trust to verify the on-sellers’ legitimacy – a document integrity measure that could only strengthen the brand reputation.
“This year, the certificates were mainly taken up in the China market where distributor interest was especially strong and consumers are particularly concerned about knowing how to verify and purchase genuine product,” Coad said.
“One of the things we know is that customers and consumers are very interested in knowing where they can buy genuine and authentic Reid Fruits premium cherries.
“The new and secure authorised certificates this season with their own individual Laava Smart Fingerprint enabled our importers and their distributors to verify to customers they were authorised to sell genuine Reid Fruits product.
“I would highly recommend that businesses explore the opportunities and benefits that the Laava solution has to offer.”
Moving forward, 2023 will yet again see Reid Fruits partners with Laava, along with marketing and advertising agency RLG, for the ‘Born a Sweetheart’ campaign.
Details on the latest campaign are still to come, so watch this space.
