Herlé Carn, Sales & Marketing Director at ArjoWiggins Security

Are beauty products less concerned than before? According to Herlé Carn, Sales & Marketing Director at ArjoWiggins Security, taking a walk in the shopping streets of many countries is enough to prove that counterfeiting is far from having disappeared [1]. “Yet, the new techniques developed are fully reliable,” he told Premium Beauty News.

Premium Beauty News - What are these new techniques?

Herlé Carn - Prior to detailing the new techniques themselves, you must understand against what we are fighting ... One can distinguish four main plagues: counterfeiting, breaking in (the container to change the content), gray markets (or parallel markets), and, eventually, outright theft.

Regarding the fight against counterfeiting, our response requires elements of authentication on three levels:

 Level 1, visible and unambiguous elements for the consumer in the form of watermarks, holograms, optically variable inks.
 Level 2, elements that are invisible to the naked eye but which can be revealed with a simple tool like a magnifying glass or a UV lamp (used by customs), and that can take the form of fibers, fluoforms (invisible forms bearing the colors of the brand’s logo), hilites (pigments of different colors), threads, microtexts.
 Level 3, concealed elements, undetectable without a dedicated reader (taggants, rare earths, DNA, tracers).

Regarding the protection of the product itself in the sense of “evidence of tampering”, we can supply manufacturers or printers with what is called the “Synthetic Tamper Evident Substrate”, STES, which combines the function of evidence of tampering and authentication. It is impossible to remove the label without destroying it. The STES, which contains hidden security elements, allows authentication without destroying the packaging.

As far as traceability (Track & Trace) is concerned, it is used to enable a better management of flows of goods and also to fight parallel markets. In this case, there are numerous technologies for the management of flows, such as linear barcode (most used), the 2D barcode, the combined barcode, RFID, including other systems such as cryptography, OCR, magnetic stripe, coding, engraving, ... The only big problem is that most of these systems can be imitated or duplicated!

Premium Beauty News - If they can be imitated or duplicated, it is quite a nuisance!

Herlé Carn - You are right! And that is why we created SecuMatrix with the help of the Domino company, one of the global leaders in the inkjet printing industry.

SecuMatrix can secure a standard traceability system without disturbing the on line processes. You surely already have seen codes, often the date of manufacture or the expiry date, in small print on water bottles, soda cans, …Precisely that is industrial inkjet on production line. Well, without modifying the process, you just need to secure the ink. Authentication may then be carried out very discreetly on the field and, in the event of a hard blow, the brand holder will have an indisputable answer to assert whether the identified product was genuine or fake. It can also be the 2D code that is printed with security ink. It is undetectable without the appropriate reader and the chemical signature may be exclusive to the brand using it. This ink can be applied to any surface. Hundreds of millions of products are protected with this high security taggant but also banknotes or passports. We have not had a single counterfeit or a single "false positive" in 12 years, thanks to this chemical signature.

Combining multiple techniques is the key to protection. Counterfeiters will naturally focus on products with little or no protection. It you look at labels on laptops, they are real banknotes but they are only authenticating an operating system.

In all cases, we provide solutions - such as labels, notices, cardboards - suiting customized needs, and minimizing the impacts on the industrial line. The “anti- theft” device may also be embedded in an authenticating tag.

Premium Beauty News - Actually, only the combination of different techniques would be efficient.

Herlé Carn - Indeed. Let me give you two examples.

In the field of labels, you can combine functions with the STES, ensuring the consumer that he is the first to open the box and allowing the authorities to check to the naked eyes, for the presence of invisible security elements without having to open the box.

You may add the Bimetal, a great innovation in the world of holograms, which mixes alloys of aluminum and copper or gold, hence allowing a very innovative and extremely stylish authentication for perfumery and cosmetics. Combinations can even go further by mixing in the printing process of the logo the very concealed SpotTag. And why not a "uncopyable" Track & Trace system?

For a folding box, the manufacturer can choose the option Securepack, a standard carton coated on 1 or 2 sides, with stylish grooving or iridescence effects, etc., and with elements for authentication, at the heart of the material, invisible to the naked eye (2nd level for authorities) or very concealed (3rd level) for field inspectors. And why not a watermarked notice (+an option for instant verification using a white marker that will reflect a red trace)?

So, as you can see, the number of high security solutions available for brands wanting to protect themselves is impressive. It is our know-how accumulated during 200 years in banknotes that allow us to secure the forged manufacturer. And as you are about to raise the financial side of the subject, let me take the lead by telling you that security is not expensive and on the contrary can make you save a lot of money by limiting financial losses, eliminating the risks associated with the company’s image or by monitoring those related to public health.

We protect many reputable companies in virtually all sectors of activity (of course we will not give away any details to ensure the strictest confidentiality) and the cost often does not even equal 1 cent.