Connected Packaging Solution Launched by WestRock, EVRYTHNG and Digimarc at NRF 2017

• Collaboration results in a cost effective, highly scalable, IoT-enabled platform for smart products via packaging, in-store signage, and displays
• Brings new levels of real-time intelligent interactivity to billions of paper-based consumer packages globally

NORCROSS, Ga., Jan. 12, 2017 -- WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK) today unveiled a connected packaging solution for smart products that combines Digimarc’s enabled barcode technology, with EVRYTHNG’s IoT Smart Products Platform to bring embedded, real time, connected digital intelligence to billons of WestRock packages, in-store signs and displays produced annually.

A graphic accompanying this press release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e9e9910d-862f-4678-946f-0d42cc51cc53

A video accompanying this press release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5f2ca508-f03c-4789-921a-31b944f9472d

WestRock’s Connected Packaging Solutions, developed through a collaboration between WestRock, EVRYTHNG and Digimarc, will be demonstrated in Digimarc’s booth (#4402) at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Annual Convention & EXPO, nicknamed "Retail's BIG Show”.

As part of this smart packaging collaboration for paper-based consumer packaged goods (CPG) products, WestRock, a leading provider of differentiated paper and packaging solutions, will print Digimarc Barcodes that can be scanned by smartphones, point of sale scanners, and other machine vision devices. Digimarc Barcodes are essentially invisible barcodes repeated across the entire surface of packages and other media. These ‘digital triggers’ are integrated with the EVRYTHNG market-leading IoT Platform, giving each physical package a unique Active Digital Identity (ADI) and data profile in the cloud.

“WestRock’s Connected Packaging Solutions brings new levels of real-time interactivity to paper based consumer packages globally,” said Craig Gunckel, President, WestRock’s Enterprise Solutions and Displays business segments. “The combination of smart packaging, powered by smart software in the cloud, makes literally billions of packaged goods more intelligent, more interactive, more trackable and more valuable to CPG companies, retailers and their customers.”

According to SmithersPira, the intelligent package market is expected to be worth over $2 billion by 2021, with expected growth to be at least 18% annually. Connected packaging offers many advantages over current conventional packaging, such as reduced counterfeiting, real-time product tracking and analytics, a direct digital path to the end consumer for ongoing relationships, easy implementation, extended shelf life, and increased safety coupled with low cost, among others.

"By digitally-enabling the smart product packaging at point of manufacture, we can add real-time connected intelligence to any physical product throughout its lifecycle,” explained Niall Murphy, Founder and Chief Executive Office of EVRYTHNG. “We’re building the world’s biggest ecosystem of strategic packaging and labeling partners across different material types and industries to realize our vision of consumer products that are #BornDigital™.” 

“Our collaboration with WestRock and EVRYTHNG is another step in delivering of our Intuitive Computing Platform based on Digimarc Barcode,” said Bruce Davis, CEO at Digimarc. “This collaboration will expedite development of interactive packaging for progressive brands, which will benefit from more accurate inventory tracking, faster retail sales, and direct communications with consumers.”

For more information on WestRock’s Connected Packaging Solutions, please contact your WestRock account representative, or visit www.westrock.com/connectedpackaging.

About WestRock

WestRock (NYSE:WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRock’s 39,000 team members support customers around the world from more than 250 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Learn more at westrock.com.

About Digimarc

Digimarc Corp. (NASDAQ:DMRC), based in Beaverton, Oregon, is the inventor of the Digimarc Discover® platform featuring the imperceptible Digimarc Barcodes for automatically identifying and interacting with virtually any media. The platform enables industrial scanners, smartphones, tablets and other computer interfaces to reliably, efficiently and economically identify traditional barcoded items, along with many other media objects. Digimarc Barcodes are imperceptible to people and do all that visible barcodes do, but perform better. They can be applied to virtually all forms of media. These remarkable capabilities have allowed Digimarc and its business partners to supply a wide range of patented consumer engagement, media management and security solutions across multiple consumer and government industry sectors. Digimarc owns an extensive intellectual property portfolio, with patents in digital watermarking, content identification and management, media object discovery, and intuitive computing more generally. For more information and the latest news, please visit www.digimarc.com and follow on Twitter at @Digimarc.

About EVRYTHNG

EVRYTHNG is the Internet of Things Smart Products Platform connecting consumer products to the Web, and managing real-time data to drive applications. The world’s leading consumer product manufacturers work with EVRYTHNG to manage billions of intelligent online identities in the cloud for their products, deliver real-time interactive experiences and support services to consumers, and connect with the ecosystem of other applications and products in their digital lives. To find out more about how EVRYTHNG’s award-winning IoT cloud platform delivers better consumer-product experiences and smarter product operations, please visit evrythng.com and follow @EVRYTHNG.