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Beyond the label

The SmartLabel digital platform allows Hershey to provide consumers with the detailed product information they crave that can’t typically fit on traditional packaging.

The Hershey Company uses the SmartLabel digital platform to provide consumers with detailed product information, such as nutritional data, allergen information, sourcing practices and third-party certifications. Photo courtesy of the Hershey Company.
The Hershey Company uses the SmartLabel digital platform to provide consumers with detailed product information, such as nutritional data, allergen information, sourcing practices and third-party certifications. Photo courtesy of the Hershey Company.

Consumers are more conscientious about what they eat and drink than ever before, demanding more information about the products they buy and consume. The Hershey Company has been at the forefront of catering to those demands. The candy and snack maker was the first company to use SmartLabel, a digital labeling tool that allows consumers to access detailed information about products at their fingertips that isn’t typically available on traditional packaging — creating transparency with their consumers and helping them make informed decisions.

Hershey has been using SmartLabel for three years to conveniently and instantaneously deliver a plethora of information about its products to consumers. The digital platform involves Hershey printing QR codes on its products’ packaging. Consumers use their smartphones to scan the QR codes, which take them to an online landing page. The web page contains information about that product’s attributes, including nutritional data, ingredients, allergens and sourcing practices, such as whether the product uses genetically modified ingredients. For those consumers who don’t own smartphones, they can access the landing pages by conducting a search on the web, accessing web links on the company or brand's website, or visiting SmartLabel.org.

Effective communication

According to Deb Arcoleo, director of product transparency at Hershey, the SmartLabel digital technology accommodates the way people shop today while making it easy for CPGs to publish a large amount of information about their products and update it regularly. A 2016 Pew Research Center study found that 77 percent of Americans own smartphones. According to Deloitte’s 2015 American Pantry Study, 55 percent of consumers conduct product research online or through mobile apps. With SmartLabel, CPGs are able to satisfy consumer demand for more comprehensive product information, such as third-party certifications and whether the product is produced in a sustainable way — information that is difficult to convey on the limited space of product packaging, Arcoleo says.

“The whole premise of SmartLabel is to go beyond the label,” Arcoleo explains. “You can share much more information on the SmartLabel landing pages than you can print on the space on the package.”

“[CPGs] really rely on packaging to do all the communication about what’s in a product, and the amount of information consumers want to know is increasing rapidly,” she adds. “The package just isn’t a good communication vehicle. Meanwhile everybody’s walking around with phones in their pockets. We thought, ‘Isn’t there a way that we could leverage mobile phones to deliver product information to consumers at the point of sale?’”

Arcoleo and her team at Hershey developed the prototype for SmartLabel in 2014 in anticipation of the federal government passing a law about GMO disclosure labeling. After creating the prototype, Hershey worked with the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and its CPG member companies to further develop the technology and program guidelines for a wide range of products: food, beverage, personal care, household and pet care.

INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast