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A multilayer approach to brand protection

Using combinations of consumer and channel-targeted tools, including packaging, help reduce counterfeiting--and build customer relationships.

JDSU authentication label
JDSU authentication label

Suddenly, your product returns are going through the roof. Customers are complaining that your 4 GB flash drives only hold 512 MB—how can this be? You have analyzed the returned drives, and they are genuine products—but some components have been tampered with, possibly within your own sales channel. How can you trace exactly where the product was diverted, and where it got back into distribution?

Counterfeiting, tampering, diversion, and other sophisticated fraud is often at the root of expensive and disruptive product returns that negatively impact manufacturers and consumers alike.  Fortunately, the tools to reduce this fraud—authentication and brand-protection products—are getting increasingly sophisticated and, more importantly, accessible for wide use in a broad range of industries.

Some of these tools are consumer facing while others work behind the scenes, each targeting a different facet of the problem. A multilayer approach that uses a variety of tools at different points in the channel can also drive both customer loyalty and sales.

The consumer and the channel

If somebody picks up a high-end handbag and the handle falls off, they walk away. On the other hand, if a consumer sees sophisticated, hard-to-reproduce packaging, they are apt to trust that what is inside the box is genuine. The consumer is the first line of defense against counterfeiting and tampering. They can visually evaluate the product’s overt characteristics and, to a degree, authenticate it using their own judgment.

Much of the problem, however, involves diversion long before the consumer touches the product. Diversion occurs when authentic products are sold outside the legitimate channel. For example, a contract manufacturer makes 11,000 units instead of 10,000, delivers 10,000 to the proper channel, and slips 1,000 out the back door to his uncle who sells them off on the Web. Accurately tracking and tracing these units requires covert and digital solutions monitored by professionals rather than by the consumer.

Tools for the consumer

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