Holoflex of India and Kezzler AS of Norway have signed an agreement for exclusive collaboration in anti-counterfeiting and brand protection services. The ground-breaking Kezzler technology directly empowers consumers to verify the authenticity of their purchase by sending a simple code via SMS. Only genuine products will contain an authentic code, which will be verified by the SMS bounce-back message.

The agreement with Holoflex now allows brand owners to use the Kezzler technology in conjunction with holograms and other types of security labels.

There are many instances, however, where a consumer is either unable or unwilling to SMS a code. In such cases, the extra measure of security offered by holographic technology can still be used to verify a genuine product. Holoflex Limited, based in Kolkata, is one of the premier manufacturers of holographic labels in India. Holoflex will also serve as the exclusive supplier of a variety of other labels on which the Kezzler codes will be printed. Different brand owners are likely to adopt different product labelling possibilities, spanning simple to highly sophisticated solutions.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had recently evaluated the full range of technologies that are available to Indian brand owners to protect their products and consumers against counterfeiting. The ideal solution suggested by CII was to incorporate both mass encoding and security seals as a bundled technology. The agreement between Kezzler and Holoflex accomplishes exactly that goal by offering brand owners the power of the Kezzler mass encoding technology in tandem with the usage simplicity of holographic or other types of security labels.

"Brand owners now have the best of both worlds," commented Magnar Loken, chief executive officer of Kezzler. "They can now give their consumers a choice by allowing them to use our SMS service to authenticate their purchase or alternatively, rely on the hologram or other type of security feature contained in a custom-made label for their brands."

Ajit Kumar Surana, president, Holoflex Limited, said "We are very excited at the prospects of providing another potent security feature to thwart counterfeiters. The Digital Mass Encryption technology is a perfect foil to our wide range of anti-counterfeiting solutions and provides a host of value added possibilities in terms of direct consumer authentication and direct interaction with the consumer, which further opens up very interesting marketing and promotion opportunities as well".

"Kezzler has already made significant inroads as a new entrant to India, and we are extremely delighted with both our success thus far and the feedback from major brand owners who have decided to implement our technology," remarked Loken. "Our partnership with Holoflex now provides a total solution that, we feel, will effectively combat counterfeiting activity in India to those brand owners who are intent on protecting both their customers as well as their brand equity."