Holograms have become the product of choice for branding and visual authentication. Used to define the DOVID (Diffractive Optically Variable Imaging Device) standard used by the U.S. Government, holograms offer incomparable visual authentication to passports, most U.S. drivers licenses and every Visa, Discover and MasterCard in the world. Of a more direct connection to cannabis, hologram labels are found on pharmaceutical packages, liquor bottles, tax stamps and untold products including virtually every sports memorabilia item and COA (certificate of authenticity). They have a direct tie to the cannabis industry.
I recently met Peter Scheir, a patent holder and 35 year veteran in the field of commercial display holography. Scheir gave me a crash course in the field and fended my incredulous “how do you make these” with a wry “lasers and magic.” It seemed trite, until I looked it up after the meeting and found a nobel award-winning science of opticals and a mathematical explanation describing the interference pattern of coherent light that simply glazed my eyes. Whatever they are, holograms are as intriguing as they are now commercially viable.
Besides admitting that he had been suspended from boarding school in the 9th grade after being caught with cannabis, Scheir told me that many holographers enjoy THC; the dark play with lasers and cool glowing imagery is a natural fit. At the age of just 22, deep image display holograms are what captivated his attention and caused him to invest his future in the industry, back when he was a jeweler in the Pike Place Market in Seattle. He began making jewelry findings for holograms. He then started Another Dimension Inc. which became one of the largest wholesalers of holograms to over 1,000 museum shops, specialty stores and other retailers.
By the late 1980s, Scheir shifted focus to commercial holography for advertising and promotion, producing millions of holograms on printed materials and products. In the 1990s, it became evident that holograms as an anti-counterfeiting measure (because they are virtually impossible to copy outside the labs in which they were created) was the most solid long-term use for the science come art.
Though a pioneer in leading edge custom holography, Scheir developed HoloBank (now HoloBrands) as the the world’s first selection of customizable stock image holograms to fill a void he saw in the market, making holograms available for projects with volumes too low or delivery requirements too quick for fully custom. Besides a majority of smaller accounts, his current company AuthentiBrand Inc. claims clients including Stanford University, PACSUN, HP, Steiner Sports, US Army and many more.
With proprietary licensed patented technologies, AuthentiBrand Inc. offers everything from low-level counterfeit protection as few as 500 labels produced as quickly as one business day, to the incorporation of state of the art DNA machine verifiable structures in holograms with QR codes and sequential numbers.
As California implements new cannabis standards, including Track and Trace as currently written into the bill, combining overt (visible) and covert (hidden) verifiable elements into a label with Track and Trace will give early adopters a huge one-up on their competition, as well make an emphatic statement about their investment in the authenticity and security of their product and brand. AuthentiBrand Inc. offers cost effective solutions for database building and Track and Trace turnkey solutions for all sized firms as well.
There’s no question about the sex-appeal of the flashy 3D little labels, or that their uses for visual branding and authentic verification of what’s inside are as unique as they are powerful. Mr. Scheir believes that holograms will adorn a wide variety of Cannabis products, from testing and certification labels (a perfect use of hologram technology!) to product containers and packages. “The cost effective ability to virtually guarantee to the distributor and consumer that what is in the package is as stated cannot be underestimated”.
