New scannable logo helps verify New Zealand products

fernmark1In a bid to counteract counterfeiters and promote New Zealand and its premium products to the rest of the world, FernMark has incorporated augmented reality into its logo to help verify products.

The FernMark is featured on the products of 22 of New Zealand exporters. When it is scanned, consumers, using a Blippar app, can see a video or “blipp” that features scenes of food, wine, fish and snow-topped mountains, and values that New Zealand Story uses to promote the country as a brand.

“We have designed the FernMark Licence Programme to promote, protect and showcase New Zealand products on a global scale,” FernMark stated on their website.

It also stated that any business carrying the FernMark on its products plays the important role of helping, “build the New Zealand brand through individual excellence and collective storytelling”.

“The FernMark was born out of the increasing demand of consumers to know where products are coming from,” said Sarah Morgan, FernMark Licence Programme marketing manager, according to an article on The Register.

Alongside the video is a link that brings a consumer to the FernMark website where a list of the licence-holders are posted, as well as a description about each of them and links to the companies’ individual sites.

Morgan said if the product is not found on the list, it can be reported as counterfeit.

According to her, there is a two-step process to qualify for a FernMark. First, a brand needs to be checked how it is connected to New Zealand through an examination of its ownership, governance, shareholders and employees. If it passes that test, the company should then show the product is either grown, made or designed in New Zealand.

Morgan said they chose the Blippar app as it was used by a number of companies around the world.

“We needed the capability that we knew would have that reach around the globe and this app had an established reach with 50 million interactions a year,” she said.

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