New technologies are quickly being adopted by businesses throughout the world, and even companies with centuries of tradition are finding benefits. Such is the case with Bodegas Barbadillo, a winery founded in 1821. Barbadillo is one of the 10 oldest family-owned businesses in Spain.

“Barbadillo produces and sells top quality wines, and as a world leader in sherry production, the company has received numerous awards, including having a wine listed in the 100 Best Wines of the World by Wine Spectator and being the first sherry winery to get 100 Parker points,” said Alvaro Alés, director of marketing and communications at Barbadillo. The company also owns the Vega Real winery in D.O. Ribera del Duero and Bodega Pirineos in D.O. Somontano, with an array of quality wines from each.

In February 2016, Barbadillo was looking for a way to enhance the consumer’s experience with its Versos 1891 ultra-premium sherry. Collaborating with Thin Film Electronics, Barbadillo added NFC tags to its Versos 1891 sherry.

“With the introduction of Versos 1891, we had three main objectives,” said Alés. “Pay homage to Manuel Barbadillo, one of the most important figures in the winery’s history, elevate awareness of the Barbadillo brand, since only the winery with the oldest and finest sherry could launch such an oenological jewel, and position the brand in the ultra-luxury category within the drinks industry.”

For Barbadillo, showing the authenticity of the sherry was the key benefit of using NFC technology.

“The main benefit for consumers is that it gives anyone with a smartphone or mobile device the ability to determine if the bottle is authentic or has been opened previously, among other details,” he added. “As a result of the collaboration, Barbadillo had a reliable way to ensure the authenticity of this venerable wine.”

Barbadillo is now incorporating Thinfilm’s SpeedTap NFC printed flexible labels on its Castillo de San Diego wine, which the company reports are the most widely sold white wine in Spain. This national campaign will include 126,000 NFC-enabled “smart” bottles of Castillo de San Diego; the bottles are being sold through 15 major supermarket chains and superstores. The CNECT Brand Analytics SaaS Platform will help Barbadillo gain insights into consumers’ buying decisions.

Alés sees numerous benefits to this campaign.
 
“For a year now, Barbadillo has been working on a complete digital transformation of the company, using ‘inbound marketing’ as a key component within its digital marketing strategy,” Alés observed. “Thanks to our Dando en el Blanco campaign (which loosely translates to ‘Hitting the Target’), we are collecting valuable consumer data, such as which areas of Spain are responding more positively to the promotion and the key moments when consumers prefer to participate in the dandoenelblanco.es competition.”
 
Each tag is unique and does not require the use of an app. It can be read using an NFC-enabled smartphone or device. When the consumer opens the bottle, they will find a unique code printed on the cork. Once entered into the field displayed on their smartphone, it will show if they won one of the 12 €1,000 prizes.

“For this campaign, we have launched 126,000 ‘smart’ bottles with an NFC-enabled neck collar that instructs the consumers how to tap with their smartphones to learn more about the promotion, which offers the chance to win cash prizes,” Alés added.
 
Alés said that the response has been excellent.

“To date, the Spanish consumer only associated NFC to contactless technology available for payments in credit cards. Thanks to this campaign, they are discovering that NFC is also in their mobile phones,” Alés concluded. “ By turning Castillo de San Diego bottles into smart bottles, we are reaching a wider range of consumers with this brand. We are getting a high level of participants and more than 50% of prizes have been issued thus far.”