The value of tagging home entertainment products such as DVDs, games and music with radio frequency identification  (RFID) tags will be the topic of several sessions at the Second Annual Entertainment Supply Chain Academy (ESCA), June 27-28, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, in Los Angeles. 

"If P&G was a Hollywood studio making DVDs, those products would be in that top tier of (RFID) advantaged products,” said Procter & Gamble Vice President and RFID/EPC Leader Dick Cantwell, who will be speaking at ESCA.  “Not only are they time sensitive products that need to be on the shelves when advertising breaks, but they are a high-value purchase that can afford the cost of a tag on a display." 

EPCglobal, the worldwide, multi-industry RFID standards organization, has begun working with the Hollywood community to evaluate the technology's supply chain benefits to entertainment products.  In some cases, RFID tagging is in place for pallet shipments of DVDs to leading mass merchandisers.   

Promotional display and item-level tagging are the next frontiers.  Questions about the technology and its application to the entertainment category will be answered at ESCA by leading authorities, including:     
    Kori Belzer, COO, SPAR    
    Dick Cantwell, Vice President, Procter & Gamble
    Khaled Haram, Vice President, IT, Handleman    
    Dr. Sanjay Sarma, Professor, MIT, Member, Board of Governors, EPCGlobal
    John Seaner, Vice President, Industry Development, EPCGlobal USA    
    Phil Therrien, EPC Manager, Customer Supply Chain Strategy &       Development, Kimberly-Clark
    Vivian Underwood, Senior Project Analyst, Anderson Merchandisers      

Kori Belzer, COO of leading retail merchandiser SPAR, added, "Tracking promotions and managing products at the store level are our main focus, and RFID technology helps puts us ahead of the game.  We are taking the next step and making this investment to help our manufacturers and retail customers."  

In addition, the program will include an exclusive presentation by Kestrel Wireless, which has designed an RFID-like technology to thwart the theft of DVDs by disabling the media until the point of sale.

ESCA was founded in 2006 to inform entertainment senior management about changing dynamics and technologies in the supply chain for video, audio and games. The event is produced annually in cooperation with DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the forum for ongoing discussions about DVD and other emerging digital technologies.