What happens next Where's my refund? Best CD rates this month Shop and save 🤑
MONEY
Diageo

Diageo's "smart" Johnnie Walker bottle

Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY
The Johnnie Walker Blue Label "smart bottle" will make it possible to send consumers targeted and timely marketing messages, whether at retail or after purchase, such as promotional offers, cocktail recipes and exclusive content. [Via MerlinFTP Drop]

There's the smart phone. And the smart refrigerator. There's even the smart toothbrush.

Now alcoholic beverage giant Diageo, with the help of a digital technology specialist., has created something even more unlikely: the "smart" Johnnie Walker Blue Label bottle.

How smart? Well, smart enough -- with the help of a smart phone -- to detect if the it's been opened or not, and then send to relevant, personalized messages to consumers who read the bottle's sensor tags with their smart phones.

"Until recently, a bottle has been a container for liquid," says Venky Balakrishnan, global vice president of digital innovation at Diageo. "We see the possibility for the bottle to do something much more before, during and after purchase."

When the bottle is unopened: The digital messaging might try to entice shoppers with special deals.

When the bottle has been opened: The digital message might offer special serving suggestions.

This, without having to read an often hard-to-scan QR code. For the technology to work, the smartphone only needs to be waved near the bottle, not over a specific part of it.

While this bottle isn't on store shelves just yet, its prototype will be introduced next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Mobile marketing -- though often tricky to execute and sometimes confusing -- is on a growth tear. Gartner, the technology research specialist, estimates it reached $18 billion in 2014 and could rocket to nearly $42 billion by 2017.

The "smart bottle" innovation was created by Thin Film Electronics in collaboration with Diageo Technology Ventures. A special technology allows Diageo to track bottle movements across the supply chain to the point of consumption. With the tap of a smartphone, it also can detect if the bottle is still sealed or open.

"People are increasingly expecting more out of their devices," says Balakrishnan. "When the environment our are bottles are in gets more intelligent, our bottles have to rise to that level of intelligence."

But how smart is too smart? Even some consumers who opt in, so to speak, might be put off by a Scotch whisky bottle that can specifically target them in its messaging.

But Balakrishnan insists the bottle never spams consumers with any messaging they don't specifically request. Even after consumers initiate the marketing -- by taking their smart phones near the bottles -- they also must actively opt-in and then, confirm that they are of legal drinking age.

So, just how far is Diageo from stocking these "smart" bottles on store shelves?

Within about three years, Balakrishnan says, the "smart" bottles could become "routine."

But not everyone's impressed.

"Seems really gimmicky," says Eric A. Litman, Chairman & CEO, Medialets, a mobile ad measuring platform. "Looks like a great way for parents to see if their kids are nipping at the liquor cabinet."

Featured Weekly Ad