Many high-end products are easy targets for counterfeiters because it’s easy to clone not just the products themselves, but also their packaging. For luxury brands facing counterfeiting issues and want packaging that acts as a deterrent, the answer may lie with these two solutions.

Recently presented in various European packaging exhibitions, Clarifoil’s cellulose acetate film technology provides high-quality printing and luxury packaging applications. Based in Derby, U.K., Clarifoil is the leading global manufacturer of cast cellulose acetate films used for packaging of luxury goods, beauty and healthcare products - all of which are easy targets for counterfeit pirates. According to the company, Clarifoil can be easily differentiated from lower-quality plastic films by simply touching it or performing a basic chemical test.

Acetate film technicians at Clarifoil's Derby (UK) development and production facility have formulated a range of devices which define real products from pirate copies, including micro-embossed surfaces and micro-logos contained within a visible branding mark.

The range also includes films with a concealed but "scannable" barcode and films containing additives, such as thermo-chromic or photo-chromic dyes to help detect and track counterfeit goods.

A Clarifoil film developed for pharmaceutical packaging, Cameleon, enables a product to be checked for authenticity with a touch from a color-positive pen. A genuine product produces a clearly visible pink color, which can then be erased with a touch from a second neutralizing pen.

According to the company, the security features can be used as a film lamination carton board, or as a pressure-sensitive label or seal applied to the product or pack.

ORBID’s Unique Identity (UID) solutions can be used by luxury goods manufacturers to covertly mark their products to manage diversion and support their brand protection strategy throughout their worldwide distribution channel. The company utilizes the ORBID 2DMI (2 Dimensional Marker Identification) - a patented marker solution that has the appearance of pickup sticks being randomly thrown into a square. It is a software application which enables two-dimensional (encrypted) coding of products to provide a unique identification for both overt and covert purposes on any type of surface.

In a case study in which a luxury goods manufacturer suspected that significant grey market activities were occurring within their distribution channel, the use of covert markers on the product and overt markers on the packaging (the ORBID 2DMI mark software)  was implemented together with these components:

·         Industry standard lasers and labelers to create the mark on the product and shipping label

·         Customized tracking software to collate the unique numbers and marks with the customer shipments

·         Industry standard microscopic optical readers for reading the mark

The ORBID solution – tiny enough for a covert application and flexible enough to be able to place the mark internally or externally – was able to identify the source of diversion in the distribution and manufacturing channels.

In a market where image is everything, Clarifoil and ORBID's UID solutions – tried and proven technologies – are certainly giving brand owners cause for celebration.