Konvoy hits the road with its IoT keg tracking technology Bingo on a Bottle for Hobson’s

Hobsons Brewery wanted to produce something special for its 30th Birthday, which would not only taste great, but also catch people’s attention and get everyone involved in the celebrations.

The company was inspired to create a Bingo themed label, having selected the name of ‘Dirty Gertie’, the traditional bingo callers name for number 30, and so worked with the print and data specialists at Mercian Labels to create a unique ‘interactive’ label, incorporating numerous design elements which celebrate the 30th, whilst staying true to the brand

Starting with a sustainable Forest Film label in line with the company’s environmental aims, the design included Silver Foil to showcase the Dirty Gertie

Manchester and London Craft Beer Festivals

Christian Barden, Konvoy’s CEO for UK & Europe, said: “The brewing industry has keg problems – and we are unashamedly here to help solve them And we want to achieve that quickly, to give brewing and hospitality a chance to not only survive today’s challenges but to actually thrive

“We’re offering a way for brewers to become more efficient, more effective, more circular, more sustainable and more economical with their keg fleets and requirements But first, we all need to ‘hug the monster ’ and accept that whatever we’ve been doing for centuries with traditional keg tracking hasn’t worked

“Konvoy is confident its technology is game-changing – and can assure the industry that we’re here for your beer!”

Konvoy offers one of the world’s most sustainable keg fleets, spearheaded by a small tracking and data capture device fitted to each keg It is capable of sharing a multitude of real-time data with a central cloud network using a combination of Bluetooth, satellite, cellular and wireless technology

The device measures the temperature, location and motion of each keg as well as its precise orientation – all without the need for manual scanning or logging

The end result is real-time information to speed up the re-use of kegs through the supply chain, improved condition management, reduced labour and resource requirement and a significant removal of keg thefts and losses, which costs the global industry an estimated $300m-$500m per year

Konvoy has also launched a partnership with climate action platform Net Zero Now, in order to help brewery clients get a head start towards meeting the UK Government’s 2050 Net Zero target The company is already underway with its own global sustainability audit through Australian carbon and energy management specialists Pangolin Associates, in an effort to set the benchmark in sustainability for a logistics business name and number 30, a cream overprint, creating a pearlescent effect on the Hobsons logo, and pastel colours to highlight the bingo balls, traditional Hobsons’ hats and hop leaf icons, adding further interest and brand relevance.

To add sensory interest and extra grip on the bottle, Hobsons chose a rough sandpaper varnish and the ‘icing on the cake’ was the inclusion of variable data printing on the bingo balls, making the bottle an interactive game and allowing customers to win one of 30 prizes if the numbers on their bottle matched the winning combination The bingo numbers were printed in 8 positions and ranged from 1 to 90, as standard in bingo The data was generated with a random number being printed for each ball (position) using Mercian’s software and paginated for printing at 100 metres per minute at 600 dpi To ensure the majority of bottles were not winners, the number 30 was suppressed, leaving 89 to the power of 8 possible combinations The winning numbers were then added randomly to the output file to evenly distribute the winners

Hobsons Brewery Commercial Director, Kate Pearce, said, “Mercian Labels delivered a unique, eye-catching result as always, but the interactive bingo game on a bottle really took this to another level ”