On June 22nd, BeeGraphic celebrated with 10 collaborators, partners and industry friends, its 10 years of activity, characterized by the introduction on the market of packaging and labels of strongly innovative solutions and destined to change market paradigms
Ten 10 years have passed since 2009, when Goliardo Butti decided to put to use his experiences and skills accumulated in great multinationals in the graphic industry, and give life to an adventure of his own that saw the birth of BeeGraphic, founded together with Patrizia Borgonovo, the first step towards the realization of a dream as ambitious as complex: proposing to the market of packaging labels highly innovative solutions able to stand out on the market.
It was soon clear that to pursue innovation it was necessary to focus on solutions with high added value. “The first agreement was signed with Founder, a company owned by the University of Beijing that invoices 8 billion dollars in the IT market, for the package of PaSharp solutions dedicated to graphic design of labels and packaging”, says Goliardo Butti . By now the focus of BeeGraphic is in the graphic design of labels and packaging, and it is precisely in this sector that the changing point happens about 4 years ago.
The data mantra: the turning point with StealthCode®
Several software solutions are part of the range of products offered by BeeGraphic, which however today is universally recognized for StealthCode® technology, which has revolutionized the concept of product promotion and communication for customer engagement, brand loyalty and big data management, anticipating what would become a very strong trend in the sector. Today several projects have been carried out, with far-sighted packaging printing companies, capable of glimpsing in this innovative solution a powerful means of communication and marketing towards their customers. StealthCode® is also used as an anti-counterfeiting system in textiles and as a replacement for packaging barcodes for reading in supermarket optical boxes, even if the best of this solution is offered in terms of communication and engagement with the consumer.
“StealthCode® is the technology, developed by BeeGraphic and based on Digimarc, in which I strongly believed from the very beginning; it was the innovation we aspired to when we founded BeeGraphic”, says Goliardo, who before presenting the solution, did some press tests with the most important Italian printing machine manufacturers”, because I wanted to be sure that the solution could be reproduced with the printing techniques commonly used in the packaging and label market”. The results were positive, and indeed in some cases we went further, so that today in addition to paper, cardboard, plastic films and self-adhesive materials, the technology has also been applied to commercial printing, textile materials, 3D thermoformed materials, laminates and any product printed in general, opening up new possibilities for various applications in different commodity sectors.
What is StealthCode®, how does it work and what are its pluses?
Digimarc provides the unique codes that are marketed in the world through certified partner companies, and BeeGraphic is undoubtedly one of the most important, because it has developed what is to be considered the true added value: StealthCode® solutions (App and “back- end”) essential to collect valuable data and information about consumption habits.
The unique codes are invisible on the printed matter, they do not impact on the graphic layout in which they are inserted during the preparation of the layout, and what differentiates them from a normal QR code or bar code is that the url page to which the code is linked can be changed at any time from the desktop, opening up a series of opportunities for direct contact between brand owner/GDO and consumer, which instead a QR Code, not perceived as a means of communication and easily duplicable, cannot offer.
BeeGraphic certifies the entire supply chain linked to the production process by providing verification and control systems, as well as its own professional advice, to ensure that the codes printed on the products are compliant.
“We have created a procedure for entering the code in the layout that guarantees the entire supply chain, including guidelines for the manufacturer of the printing plates and the printers. Every actor in the process must guarantee for his own phase”, says Butti.
Through the StealthCode® App, available for both iOS and Android, by framing the printed zone within which the unique code is inserted, you can access to dedicated websites, effectively starting a communication process with the customer-user. “The concept is to change the paradigms of the packaging world and of communication from static to dynamic. Even this technology can also be applied to audio and video files. There are several applications fields, all aimed at customer loyalty”, adds Butti.
Perhaps one of the main problems is just encouraging the consumer to download the App and use it; to solve this, too, which could represent an obstacle, BeeGraphic can integrate its technologies into the customers App, facilitating the use.
“The watchword is customer-engagement, that is all those actions that I can direct towards the customer-consumer to loyalize him. In these terms we are experiencing a great interest from the GDO to track product readings, know the habits of customers, offer dedicated discounts or special promotions, customized, profiled, through a push message, obviously with the client’s consent, inviting him to enter a specific point of sale when the customer is close to the store”, says Goliardo.
The strength of this solution lies in its dynamism, which requires a certain type of programming work to create events, schedules, dedicated promotions in order to obtain the maximum in terms of customer-engagement. “The limitation in the application of this technology is only the imagination, we are available and open to develop new projects with the customers to grow together on the market. With this solution companies can anticipate the market, presenting themselves as innovators to their customers. For 3 years we have been participating in Brand Revolution Lab, in synergy with agencies, brands and printers, innovative projects that will soon be industrialized”, concludes Goliardo Butti, sure that in the coming months, after the introduction of these solutions in some great central and northern European retail chains, the wave will also arrive in Italy and companies that have not yet done, they will necessarily have to adapt.
