Holograms may today not enjoy the awareness they deserve, but considering the value they could add to your products and the overall branding by restricting adulteration and duplication, they are sure to become an indispensable mark of originality and quality in the years to come.

“Holograms are something that are put on products to indicate that they are genuine” blankly answers Ms Bijal, a designer with an IT firm. “Well I have heard about it but cannot exactly tell you”, adds another colleague of hers. Holograms have not really gained the exposure they enjoy in the western countries. They are merely seen as labels that are incorporated on the product packaging to prevent duplication or adulteration. Holograms are made with lasers using client-specified artwork/design. They have depth, movement /parallax and all colours seem to pass through them when viewed from different angles. Being three dimensional, they can have many varied informations in the intervening space. Holograms can not even be scanned or photocopied properly. They can not be duplicated and hence are used extensively all over the world as anti–counterfeit devices on various products, Documents, Share certificates, Credit cards, Passports and even currencies. Hologram masters are made as per Client Company’s artwork in three dimensions using lasers. They have depth, parallax and movement. Besides, all colours seem to pass through them when viewed from different angles. It is almost impossible to duplicate them. Holograms are available in different varieties depending on the utility and requirements. Because of the nature of their production, costing and procedures etc. only reputed, genuine manufacturers and Brand leaders in any field can and are using Holograms on their products/documents. Besides, Holograms being 3D, Colourful and having movement are a novelty and any product or document having them attracts a customer to the product. Unlike may other security features like UV printing & Bar Coding etc. a customer can identify a hologram visually without the help of any special device. Even if one is unfamiliar with a specific Hologram image components, generally it is well understood amongst the general public that such labels are seals of guaranty of original products. The moment they see a product/document with Hologram, they get the confidence that the manufacturer of these products wishes to ensure that they pay only for the genuine goods. No other security feature, devised, in use or presently known to be under development, has this capability. Depending upon the security needs of the client, varying degrees of security can be built into a Hologram e.g. a very high security Hologram for Banks/Visas etc could be made using a beam technology and can also have Kinetic effect, multi channel effect, multi-layers, laser readable code and micro text code, on tamper evident films or as Hot Stamping Holograms. An above average security Hologram, say for large corporate etc. could have dot matrix Technology with all the effects as enumerated above. Average Security Holograms for most of Companies could be made using normal 2D/3D laser Technology and could have limited kinetic effect, multi channel effect, multi levels and either a laser readable code or a micro text code. Obviously the higher the security level the higher the cost. In the war against counterfeiting Holograms can be and are used in various ways. Hologram Labels make an excellent check against duplication of packaging / products. These labels are tamper evident pressure sensitive and can be pasted like a normal sticker on any product or its packaging manually or machines depending upon volumes. Where as Hot stamped Holograms are embossed on hot stamping film and applied by punching with hot stamp machines on the product or its packaging. Holograms can also be used on labels with tamper evident Hologram pasted or hot stamped. These are generally used where normal Holograms are difficult to apply like on some parts of cloth,in this case holograms are applied on pressure sensitive paper labels. Hologram reels are popularly used in the pharma industries. These can be applied like ordinary packing tape or transferred on blister/ foil packing by a cold/hot pressure depending upon the type of Holograms. Simultaneously Hologram reels also find application on any pouch by a cold/hot wheel before the folding & sealing of the pouches or can also be applied like ordinary packaging. Hologram wads/ Induction seals are specially used on any plastic bottles or jar having liquid / semi-liquid material like coolants/ oils/ cream etc. Holo Neck / Shrink label sleeves find varied application because of their very nature. These are heat shrink sleeves having a hologram strip on it that can be applied on the inside of the sleeves. Apart from effective secure packaging Holograms can also be utilized for promotion purposes too. The Holo Scratch cards make ideal instruments for such applications. These holograms come in strips that can be scratched with a blade, coin or by rubbing over it. These find popular usage in local lotteries, prize boxes etc. Many large corporate too have effectively used them in their promotion. The usage in Britannia World Cup campaign being the latest and the most prominent. These days there is a lot of mis-information in the Country about the efficiency of Holograms as an anti-Counterfeit device. Some people try to compare them with Bar-Coding or use of special pigments for printing of packaging/labels. Ignorance of general public about Holography and the efforts of the counterfeiters are largely responsible for such mis-information. “However it may be noted that exact duplicates of Holograms can not be made. However, at times look alike labels could be possible.” informs Wg. Cdr AK Gupta (Retd.), Managing Director, HI Glo Holo Images. He further adds “But, the look-alike’ can be reasonably easily found out by even the marketing staff / distributors/ retailers etc of the user clients. Besides, there are organizations both at the national level as well as at the International level, which can assist the Hologram users in catching such counterfeiters”. Depending upon the client’s instructions such bodies carry out the investigations even up to the stage of collecting fool proof evidence for launching of suitable raids & legal cases against the duplicators. It may further be noted that though there are thousands of printers in each district who can print most types of labels/packaging/Bar Codes with computer scanning, the number of Hologram manufacturing units in the Country, rather in the whole world could be counted on fingers and hence, it is relatively very easy if some rogue Hologram manufacturer makes some similar Holograms for a duplicator. At the National level Hologram Manufacturers Association of India (HOMAI) and at the International level International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA) are organizations which can be approached by the Hologram users in such cases for help in interacting with suitable Brand protection/ anti-counterfeit detection/investigation agencies. Finally, as Mr. Sandeep Gupta, Director, HI Glo Holo Images rightly puts it, "It must be remembered that Holograms are not just labels but security labels. The users must check the credibility of the Hologram manufacturers in these terms besides their production/Technical Capability."