Kellogg and Coke empower blind consumers with NaviLens technology on packaging

Kellogg Company is changing the way the almost 12 million adults in the U.S. who are blind or have low vision perform daily tasks, such as navigating a grocery store aisle or choosing one’s cereal at breakfast. To help create a place at the table, Kellogg is incorporating innovative NaviLens technology into the packaging of four of its iconic cereal brands: Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, Special K Original, Rice Krispies and Crispix.

Kellogg is incorporating innovative NaviLens technology into the packaging of four of its iconic cereal brands. The front and side of these cereal boxes will now feature a NaviLens optical smart code comprising high-contrast colorful squares on a black background that can be detected and read by the NaviLens and NaviLens GO apps. With the apps, consumers can locate the boxes from several feet away, navigate to them, and hear their names, package sizes, and nutritional information. The apps can communicate this information in up to 36 languages.

In addition to the cereal packaging, Kellogg has committed to incorporating NaviLens codes in all corporate facilities in the U.S. by the end of 2023, to make them more accessible and easier to navigate for blind and low-vision employees. The company has already installed codes in its global corporate headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich.

This initiative was brought to life through a partnership between Kellogg’s Ready-To-Eat-Cereal business unit and Kapable, the company’s business employee resource group that ensures Kellogg is a welcoming and inclusive environment for current and future employees with disabilities and their supporters.

Earler, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) GB’s Christmas can multipacks were also made more accessible for those who are partially sighted by becoming the first beverage company to include NaviLens codes on their packaging. By scanning the NaviLens code on the packaging or in-store signage using your mobile phone, people can get the information they need about the pack and find it within the store. The code, which can be detected from wide angles or up to four metres away, will make the products more accessible for people who are partially sighted, have limited reading ability, don’t speak English or have special dietary needs or allergies.