Huhtamaki launches digitally enabled, heat-sensitive cup

Finnish packager Huhtamaki has launched a new digitally enabled paper cup for coffee shops and similar retailers.

The new Adtone cup, from Huhtamaki Foodservice Europe-Asia-Oceania, is a single-use paper cup with a digitalised connection. It comes with a heat-activated label and a QR code that links to the customer’s website.

When the QR code is scanned with a smart device, consumers are taken to a pre-programmed landing page on their own website. The thermochromic properties of the label mean that the QR code only appears when the cup is filled with hot liquid, making it easier for retailers to ensure that consumers make a purchase before being given access to promotional content. What’s more, each code can only be used once.

The heat-sensitive label means that the QR code only shows up when the cup is filled.

Huhtamaki said that it was an ideal use for food-to-go packaging, as consumers interact with their cup whilst they drink the contents inside, providing brands with a number of opportunities for promotional marketing.

“The Adtone cup delivers the message effectively while enhancing the customer experience with fun and relevant digital content,” the company said.

Earlier this month, the Finnish-headquartered outfit invested in its paper cup manufacturing facility in Kiev, Ukraine, which it said would allow it to ‘better serve both its local and global customers’.

It follows a number of key investments to grow its business in 2016, including the opening of a new factory in the US.

In October, it introduced its first fully renewable paper cup for hot and cold beverages, ice cream and takeout food.