Avery Dennison Smartrac has launched its new AD Midas Flagtag EM4425 DF tag for metal surfaces, combining UHF and NFC functionality for enhanced tracking performance coupled with improved consumer engagement capabilities.

According to the company, the AD Midas Flagtag EM4425 DF is the first spacer-less tag on the market to offer dual-frequency capability (UHF and HF, ISO 18000-6c and ISO 15693) for on-metal applications, which will allow retailers, pharmaceutical companies and other industries to track difficult-to-tag products, as well as offer the opportunity to engage with customers using Near Field Communication (NFC).

The tag’s high-performance tracking capabilities stem from the proprietary Midas Flagtag design characteristics: the tag uses the metallic surface to create a high-performance monopole antenna, ensuring excellent performance in demanding physical environments while providing cost advantages over comparable alternative products on the market.

By enabling high-speed NFC encoding using the UHF infrastructure, it offers retailers and brands the ability to capture the benefits of consumer engagement. Creating the opportunity for an enhanced brand experience by linking consumers to product information, brand messaging, promotional material, product source and ingredient information and more through an NFC enabled smartphone.

According to Avery Dennison, the worlds of logistics and consumer goods retail has found tagging metal items a challenge to date, since on-metal tags like hard tags have generally been relatively expensive and unsuitable for smaller metallic items. AD Midas Flagtag EM4425 DF solves this problem with its small form factor and low cost.

As such, additional use cases can now benefit from RFID tagging such as homeware and consumer goods retail. AD Midas Flagtag EM4425 DF can be used to tag any metal items, and its NFC capability allows the end consumer to access assembly instructions, disclaimers, guarantee registration or spare parts orders with the touch of a NFC enabled smartphone, improving the customer experience and encouraging brand engagement and loyalty.

Currently available as 51mm x 34.5mm PET-based tags with the EM4425 V12 IC, AD Midas Flagtag EM4425 DF tags are compliant with ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management and ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management, which ensure a reliable product that meets a variety of application needs, especially in the retail environment.