BEAVERTON, OR. – April 29, 2025 – Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC), a global leader in digital watermarking and product digitization technologies, today announced it will deploy one of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry's largest global implementations of GS1 Digital Link-enabled 2D barcodes with Unilever.
This rollout will put Unilever at the forefront of the retail industry’s preparation for Sunrise 2027, when 2D barcodes become standard at point-of-sale worldwide. It will also make Unilever one of the first companies to anticipate and adopt the European Union’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) regulation, reinforcing its commitment to sustainability and accessibility.
"We are proud to be leading the industry in pioneering how we help democratise access to product information," said Aaron Rajan, Vice President - Consumer Technology, Unilever. "Deploying innovative solutions such as Digimarc Engage means that our unmissably superior brands not only keep pace with technological advancements but also shape the future of retail. Unilever’s multi-phased rollout will ultimately integrate 2D barcodes across 45,000 products (SKUs), spanning iconic brands such as Dove, Vaseline, Hellmann’s and Knorr.”
2D barcodes, an advanced version of traditional barcodes, can store large amounts of data in a small, scannable and accessible format on packaging. Specifically, 2D barcodes have the potential to connect consumers to key resources online, including details on nutrition, recipes, and usage instructions. By adopting this innovative technology across its packaging, Unilever aims to improve product data accessibility and deliver superior experiences for both retail partners and shoppers. It also enables a future-ready solution to meet regulatory requirements and keep pace with industry shifts.
"Unilever sets a benchmark for the CPG and retail sectors. Beyond revolutionizing point-of-sale processes, these solutions empower brands to foster deeper consumer connections, build loyalty, and unlock transformative data insights in the era of AI-driven decision-making,” said Ken Sickles, Chief Product Officer, Digimarc. “This also paves the way to making products truly accessible for everyone.”
As a leader in the development of the GS1 Digital Link standard, Digimarc has been instrumental in advancing industry-wide adoption. Digimarc Engage, built on the Illuminate platform, integrates GS1 Digital Link capabilities with dynamic intelligence, enabling brands to create a direct, personalized communication channel with consumers. This innovation supports regulatory initiatives like Europe’s DPP while facilitating industry-wide transformations such as Sunrise 2027.
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) is the pioneer and global leader in digital watermarking technologies. For nearly 30 years, Digimarc innovations and intellectual property in digital watermarking have been deployed at a massive scale for the identification and the authentication of physical and digital items. A notable example is our partnership with a consortium of the world’s central banks to deter counterfeiting of global currency. Digimarc is also instrumental in supporting global industry standards efforts spanning both the physical and digital worlds. In 2023, Digimarc was named to the Fortune 2023 Change the World list and honored as a 2023 Fast Company World Changing Ideas finalist. Learn more at Digimarc.com.
About Unilever
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care, Foods and Ice Cream products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 3.4 billion people every day. We have 128,000 employees and generated sales of €60.8 billion in 2024.
For more information about Unilever and our brands, please visit www.unilever.com.
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Media Contact:
Tom Benton
Digimarc Corporation
509-469-4800
About Digimarc
Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) is the pioneer and global leader in digital watermarking technologies. For nearly 30 years, Digimarc innovations and intellectual property in digital watermarking have been deployed at massive scale for the identification and the authentication of physical and digital items. A notable example of this is our partnership with a consortium of the world’s central banks to deter counterfeiting of global currency. Digimarc is also instrumental in supporting global industry standards efforts spanning both the physical and digital worlds. In 2023, Digimarc was named to the Fortune 2023 Change the World list and honored as a 2023 Fast Company World Changing Ideas finalist. Learn more at Digimarc.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for historical information contained in this release, the matters described in this release contain various “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements include statements identified by terminology such as “will,” “should,” “expects,” “estimates,” “predicts” and “continue” or other derivations of these or other comparable terms. These forward-looking statements are statements of management’s opinion and are subject to various assumptions, risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied from the statements in this release as a result of changes in economic, business and regulatory factors. More detailed information about risk factors that may affect actual results are outlined in the company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and in subsequent periodic reports filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management’s opinions only as of the date of this release. Except as required by law, Digimarc undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This release contains the following non-GAAP financial measures: Non-GAAP gross profit, Non-GAAP gross profit margin, Non-GAAP operating expenses, Non-GAAP net loss, Non-GAAP loss per share (diluted), and free cash flow. See below for a reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure. These non-GAAP financial measures are an important measure of our operating performance because they allow management, investors and analysts to evaluate and assess our core operating results from period-to-period after removing non-cash and non-recurring activities that affect comparability. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in evaluating its financial and operational decision making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons.
Digimarc believes that providing these non-GAAP financial measures, together with the reconciliation to GAAP, helps management and investors make comparisons between us and other companies. In making any comparisons to other companies, investors need to be aware that companies use different non-GAAP measures to evaluate their financial performance. Investors should pay close attention to the specific definition being used and to the reconciliation between such measures and the corresponding GAAP measures provided by each company under applicable SEC rules. These non-GAAP financial measures are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under GAAP. In order to facilitate a clear understanding of its consolidated historical operating results, investors should examine Digimarc’s non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with its historical GAAP financial information, and investors should not consider non-GAAP financial measures in isolation or as substitutes for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed as supplemental to, and should not be considered as alternatives to, GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures may not be indicative of the historical operating results of the Company nor are they intended to be predictive of potential future results.
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