The Wine and spirits industry can be notoriously difficult to connect with consumers. Not only are you competing with dozens — if not hundreds — of other bottles on the shelf in the store to be the one that catches consumers’ attention. You also must figure out how to convey your unique brand history and the rich story of the wine or spirit itself.

Wine and spirits brands were once limited to the physical space on the label to share the details of the farming, harvesting, aging, bottling of the spirit and more. However, with connected wine and spirits bottles, that’s no longer the case.

The Value Connected Bottles Give to Brands and Consumers

Consumers less familiar with the world of wine and spirits may not know what they want in a drink. They may rely solely on a label or recommendation from a sales associate in the store when choosing a bottle.

Meanwhile, someone more experienced may know that they like Syrahs and Cabernet Sauvignon — but struggle to learn enough about what’s inside the bottle from the label itself.

With a single tap of a connected bottle, brands are empowered to share all consumers would want to know in an immersive, engaging experience.

How Bottles Are Connected

Wine and spirits bottles can be connected in a few different ways. The two most common are done with quick-response (QR) codes and near-field communication (NFC) tags.

QR: A QR code can be printed on the product label itself or added via an external hang tag.

NFC: An NFC tag can be embedded in multiple places, including the neck of the bottle, the cap, the seal, the label or via an external sticker tab over the closure.

Upon learning about the QR code or NFC tag, the consumer scans or taps it with their phone, launching the engaging mobile experience.

What Can Be Included in Experiences

With connected digitalized experiences, there are near-limitless opportunities for what brands can do to excite, engage and delight consumers.

Share Brand and Spirit Details

Consumers no longer have to wonder about the specifics of what’s inside the bottle.

Brands are empowered to share information like:

• Harvest and bottling dates
• Brand story
• Tasting notes
• Techniques to make the wine or spirit
• And more

You can also repurpose existing content from your brand into the experience, making it easy to use what you already have.

Incentivize Purchases

Encourage consumers to sign up and stay in touch by offering a coupon after they fill out an email capture form.

This not only incentivizes them to make a purchase but also empowers brands to stay in touch and update consumers with new products and other information. You can also entice consumers with exclusive content that’s only available post-purchase.

With loyalty programs, you also excite consumers with different tiers based on their history, getting them excited to make repeat purchases with your brand.

Value-Added Content

Consumers like brands that work to establish authentic connections.

Go beyond typical wine and spirit variety and brand information with other value-added content, like:

• Behind the scenes of your brand and how the wine and/or spirits are made
• A pairing guide with recipes for consumers to enjoy with their drink
• More opportunities to create unique experiences with consumers and your brand
• And more

Consumers like to see that brands see them as more than just a sale. They want brands that establish genuine relationships and show them the unique flavors of their wine or spirit, and how they can fit any meal or special occasion.

Ingredients and Sustainability Information

Increasingly, consumers want to know what goes into making their favorite wine and spirits and how the brand that made it works to make the planet a better place.

Share what goes into the making of your wine or spirit — with details on farming — including:

• Organic ingredients
• Any sustainability steps your brand may take, like recycling water, offsetting carbon emissions, etc.
• And more

Brands are also empowered to encourage consumers to recycle, reuse or repurpose spirits bottles to do their part in the sustainability story.

Go Beyond the Label to Enhance Packaging

Wine and spirits bottles have extremely limited space to convey their brand's story. However, connected bottles empower brands to simplify the label, keeping it clutter-free.

Instead of picking and choosing what information can be included — being forced to limit what you can share with consumers — brands can share everything they want about their wine or spirit with a connected bottle.

Brands can focus on the artistic design of the label and keep it simple with just the basic information consumers need to know, enhancing the design. Then with a tap or scan, consumers are immersed in informative experiences to go above and beyond the physical packaging itself. 

Create Digitalized Experiences

QR codes and NFC tags once linked to static web pages. However, that’s no longer the case with connected bottles.

Brands are empowered with Blue Bite’s digitalized Experiences to create engaging connections with consumers.

Instead of linking to a static webpage, you could open with a 20-second clip with a virtual tour of the fields where the barley for your Scotch is grown, a shot of the distilling process and a view of the barrels where the spirits are aged.

Wine and spirits companies are also empowered to use gamification, interactive elements and more to keep consumers immersed in the brand and product story. For example, you could include a quiz to help consumers find their ideal variety of your brand’s wine or spirit based on the occasion, their personal preferences and more.

Share New Products and Innovations

Whether it’s as they’re standing in the store, after they’ve enjoyed the bottle at a friend’s house, or a year after they've enjoyed their first bottle from your company, it’s easy to share new products and innovations with consumers.

Wine and spirits brands can do this through email capture and sharing updates when a person who has previously interacted with a connected bottle scans or taps it again.

Regardless of when a customer first or last interacted with a bottle, brands have a way to stay continually connected with consumers and keep them excited and engaged with new product offerings. 

The Role of Connected Bottles for Wine & Spirits Brands

For wine and spirits brands, connected bottles simplify labels and empower them to engage, inform and excite consumers in a way that was never before possible.

Connected bottles transcend the limits set by the physical space on a bottle. With a simple scan or tap, wine and spirits are empowered to:

• Share their brand story
• Enlighten and inform consumers with specifics on the wine or spirit within the bottle
• Provide value-added content
• Establish continued connections and incentivize purchases
• Make each product a direct point of sale
• Expand your product's experience beyond the physical
• And more

It’s an all-in-one immersive Experience to draw in both new and existing customers and keep them continually coming back for more.