Merck teams up with BrandWatch for security products

By Kim Yoo-chul

Merck, a global leader in advanced industrial materials, has teamed with BrandWatch Technologies to collaborate in the sale and marketing of brand-protection products in the United States and European markets.

Merck said Wednesday the partnership calls for the company to extend its Securalic portfolio with a variety of new, hidden product security features as well as the associated readers.

In return, BrandWatch, a U.S.-based leading supplier in the field of security features, will tap into new distribution channels for its materials and detectors.

“With this agreement, we will strengthen our position in the security field,” said Michael Weiden, head of functional materials at Merck.

In recent years, Merck has made a name for itself as a global player in this sector. In place of easily copied standard solutions, Merck develops an individual security concept for each brand’s protection program.

The BrandWatch product range increases the array of possible combinations.

The hidden security solutions can be verified only by means of detectors. In this way, high-quality brand-name products can be protected against imitation and consumer protection is bolstered, Merck said.

The life-threatening product piracy of pharmaceuticals and their packaging is also made more difficult through the Securalic security concepts, Merck said.

They are part of an unbroken verification chain against product piracy and economic crime. Security pigments invisibly identify goods. Readers are used to make the hidden markings visible; one benefit of this is the ability along the supply chain to quickly and reliably differentiate high-quality originals from inferior copies that are damaging to business, Merck said.

“We’re pleased to have found a global partner who is represented in all target markets, has a good technical infrastructure and possesses many years of experience in the high-security sector, such as in protection against the forgery of banknotes and identification cards,” said Neil Ivey, CEO of BrandWatch Technologies.

“Merck is strengthening itself in one of its strategic growth fields with new, innovative security solutions that we develop exclusively for our customers,” said Michael Heckmeier, head of pigments and functional materials at Merck.