Security Hologram Stickers

The flood of counterfeit goods into the United States from the Far East, and especially China and India, has reached all time highs and is creating significant economic damage at home.  This incredibly damaging, criminal activity is spurring the development of IP protective measures, such as security holograms.

No-one wins when counterfeit products reach the market – the consumer buys goods which are not what they thought they were, while there may be serious consumer safety issues involved. Meanwhile, the manufacturer reaps the adverse reward of negative press and consumer comments because the counterfeit clings like a parasite to their brand image and reputation.  The retail distributor finds they have goods they cannot sell and quite possibly, legal consequences of holding counterfeit products they ought not to have in the first instance.

The issue is how to protect your own brand and intellectual property in a cost effective manner, and at the same time, ensure security measures are in place which will deter counterfeiters from using your product as the basis for a counterfeit operation.  The analogy of a homeowner ensuring all the doors and windows are locked, whilst fitting a highly visible alarm system to deter opportunistic thieves, is very appropriate in this context.

By applying a low-cost security device, design detail or production element to your product, you are making it harder for counterfeiters to profitably reproduce your goods.  Security holograms provide an excellent method for separating your product from the competition, and counterfeiters will be assessing a range of products to see which is simpler, cheaper and most profitable for them to replicate.  Making it more difficult to create a good imitation of your product by the counterfeiters, reduces the risk your product will be targeted by to begin with.

Security holograms can be produced as 2D or 3D images, the design of which is extremely difficult and costly for a counterfeiter to copy.  You can use the hologram on the packaging (where it can act as a tamper evident safety feature) or place them on the actual product themselves.  The presence of a security hologram acts in exactly the same was as a homeowner’s alarm system – it warns potential thieves to steer clear and try their hand at another product which is easier (and cheaper) to counterfeit.

The reasons why security stickers with holograms are highly effective in acting as a deterrent to counterfeiting, are because they are cost effective, deliver multiple security functions and can be easily customized and applied to your products or to protect other intellectual property you own.

Security holograms provide a highly visible guarantee that the goods are genuine and are not seeking to hoodwink customers with fake branding; in this regard, holograms are powerful components of your brand identity if you include them.  Further security functions they perform include providing evidence the goods have not been tampered with and where they are used in conjunction with the brand image itself, they serve to protect the intellectual property which a brand represents.  The hologram itself can be subjected to fast and effective optical validation, which provides an additional layer of protection for your goods and reputation as well as being an additional mechanism to convey data such as stock and handling information.

Security holograms cannot be copied using photocopiers or computer scanners, which is a favorite technique utilized by counterfeiters.  It is also apparent when a hologram is real or not, given the ability to present a moving image to the viewer – the only way a counterfeiter can get around this security barrier is to source counterfeit holograms.  This is prohibitively expensive to do, or the alternative, to leave the hologram off their counterfeit products, quickly serves to mark them out as not genuine.

As counterfeit products rise and the ability of the fraudsters to deceive the consumer increases, it is vital for companies to protect their brand and reputation.  Security holograms are cheap to produce, and very simple to apply and manage through the distribution chain.  The simple presence of a security hologram is enough to deter many counterfeiters from even attempting to replicate your product, which makes it easier to target those counterfeiters who are attacking your intellectual property rights and reputation.

Lasers are needed to take the images used in constructing he hologram – in fact two laser beams are used in conjunction with a photographic plate – these combined images are then viewable as a hologram using normal light.  One laser beam hits the object from the side while the other hits the object from the front – the photographic plate collects both reflected images so the image collected is actually a dual-image on one photographic plate – this creates the holographic effect.

If this seems complicated, it’s because it is – and this is why hologram stickers are such an excellent security device – they are so very difficult to reproduce by counterfeiters.  If you wish to instill confidence in your customers that the products you are supplying to market are in fact made by you and covered by your warranties and guarantees, then a hologram sticker with your logo and brand stamped on them are an excellent way to do this.

So secure are hologram stickers that they are incorporated into credit and debit cards as well as formal identification cards used by companies and government agencies.  While hologram stickers are more expensive to produce and source than ordinary labels and stickers, the costs is still not prohibitive because modern print technology is capable of rendering the pieces at a very cost-effective price.  You can order hologram stickers in relatively small print runs but you will benefit from much greater cost efficiencies if you order larger print runs for the stickers.

Other hologram sticker applications include:

• Quality control marks on items which contain intellectual or performance property such as software, film and audio;
• Asset tracking labels to demonstrate ownership and equipment information (especially when combined with barcode tags);
• Tamper proof evidence by preventing sensitive items such as medication or baby foods from being opened or if they are opened, the end-user will have visual evidence of tampering;
• Vehicle registration and parking rights;
• Concert and event ticket anti-counterfeiting measures;
• Confidential document protection;
• Clothing hang tags;
• Original equipment manufacturer marks (OEM) for use in a wide range of applications including car and aircraft parts as well as widely used in software packaging; and
• Lottery ticket scratch cards.

Hologram labels lend themselves to a wide range of creative uses so it is simple to incorporate your brand name and logo or other customized design into the finished product.  Using hologram labels in connection with your branding lends a degree of unique differentiation to help your company products be more readily identifiable in the minds of the buying public and to get the most out of hologram labels you should consult with a print and design partner who is experienced in designing and producing them.