Counterfeit pharmaceuticals pose risks to the reputation of manufacturers as well as to the health of consumers. Most protective measures take considerable time, effort and expense to implement. The answer lies in a product that involves complex technology to deter counterfeiters, but is easy to apply and simple to use.
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| Microscopic view of the new JDSU taggant material for printing inks, Charms, between colour-shifting pigment particles. |
'People do not have time to learn things that are too complicated’ – this golden rule, which is not unique to brand protection, and has been proven many times in so many fields, may be one of the major challenges in the business of brand protection. Even so, it is a challenge that is not recognised as such by most players in this industry. This may be because brand security will always inherently have some form of complexity; without it counterfeiters would not be deterred.
Challenge of complexity
The specific challenge for vendors in brand protection is to deliver products that are completely asymmetric when it comes to complexity. The vendor is forced to deal with all the complexities yet produce a secure product that is uncomplicated to deal with for both brand owners and consumers. Without this, the golden rule will stop the ‘silver bullet’ solution.
Being a brand owner is not a simple task; markets and brand dynamics are complex issues to deal with. The last thing that brand owners have time for is mastering additional brand protection complexities. Brand owners are looking for products that are easy to integrate and simple to deal with. Complexity adds layers of operational costs and
lowers production yields.
It impedes effectiveness,
and there is no willingness to devote financial resources to deal with the complexity in the first place.
Many current products in the brand protection market fail on this golden rule. It is important to apply this rule during the concept stage and throughout the entire implementation phase of a brand protection product. What needs to be added to
a product and how? How
is a product authenticated? What skills or equipment
are required to authenticate the product? What ongoing effort is required for effectiveness? In reality
the real success and effectiveness of products in the brand protection market is mostly determined by
the ease of implementation and the simplicity of use
and convenience.
Winning with Charms
During the past 25 years
in the business of brand protection and document authentication, JDSU has built a solid foundation
on this golden rule.
Colour shifting security pigments are extremely
hard to produce and
require complex equipment, but at the same time
these pigments are easy
to add to existing production processes.
Every end user is able to verify the presence of colour shift. It does not take skills, time or effort. The same strategy was used in the new covert product introduced by JDSU – micro flakes with customer specific graphics known as Charms™. While the product represents tremendous complexity from JDSU, once it is with the customer it acts as a pigment in the ink that runs on a standard printing press. All that is needed for authentication is the optical magnification of a relatively simple and low cost portable microscope. Even the typical complexity of secret covert features are removed.
The product relies on complexity based on the JDSU technology for protection effectiveness. It successfully removes the complexity of managing a shared secret for the brand owner. Counterfeiters are allowed to know about the presence of Charms on products. They too live by that golden rule.
Company profile
Based in Milpitas, California, US, JDSU is a leading provider of innovative optical solutions for medical/environmental instrumentation, semiconductor processing, display, brand authentication, aerospace and defence and decorative applications. Visit: www.jdsu.com
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