• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 13, 2015

Intel is taking its knowledge of supply chain manufacturing techniques and applying it to marketing strategies for brands that want to integrate beacons and sensors in their stores.

Using a spinoff from radio frequency identification technology, Intel uses a "smart antenna" so that retail stores and brands can collect data without stepping across the fine line of privacy.

"The pink shirt has no privacy or rights," said Daniel Gutwein, Intel director of retail analytics, speaking at SXSW. "There are ways to get the data without invading privacy."

Looking to his right at Sean Bartlett, the director of digital experience at Lowe's, wearing the pink shirt, Gutwein said most retailers want enough privacy to keep themselves out of the media papers. Privacy should never be an afterthought -- it should go into everything you do.

For example, Gutwein noted that there are more than 200 million beer kegs floating around the U.S. and the owners are not sure where they are located.

Intel created iKeg, an Intel app, to track them. The app tells the owner where the kegs are located and know much beer remains in each. Sensors identify the location and contents of the kegs. Gutwein told OMMA SXSW attendees Friday while talking about the Internet of things. It's a supply-chain application, similar to those used by brands to track goods and services from raw materials to manufacturing to retail store shelves.

It's about taking actionable insights, centralizing information and discarding the data that doesn't help the system perform.