GRINGOTHE CAUSE BRAND

Basic Corporate Information

Firm: GRINGO, Lda. Location: Head Oficce : 1803, 25 setembro avenue, Maputo,

Mozambiqueo Liasion Ofice :Gurgaon, India.

Activities: To produce and sell GRINGO products and invest 50% of the net profit generated by this activity to the Cause Projects.

Number of employees: 43 at head office in Maputo, one in India Three outlets in Maputo Website : www.gringojeans.com Power Point

Presentation:www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=70036

Background

GRINGO, was born in Mozambique in 1997 as a brand idea and registered as a trademark in Mozambique and South Africa in 2000 for jeans that were yet to be produced. The vision of its owner Abdulla Abdul Karim, an early school leaver, was to create not only a Jeans brand with the quality and appeal of any international brand but also that it should stand for a cause; the cause of eradicating hunger and poverty in his country and ultimately the world. It should be a truly Mozambican brand that should appeal to its youth giving them a point of reference and motivating them towards education and training. Its immediate aim was to clothe Mozambican youth, whilst being a socially responsible company and to lead by example to change the existing entrepreneurial attitude in the country. Its core business is jeans and the first shop specialized in internationally renowned brand names of Jeans to open in Maputo.

GRINGO is now an established trademark in Mozambique and with an international presence having filed applications through the Madrid System in Lesotho, Namibia, Portugal, Swaziland and Zambia in 2006. “GNG" the artistic acronym of the trademark "GRINGO" whereby the last "G" is in backwards has also been filed in several countries through the Madrid System.

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The Cause

At the heart of the business strategy of GRINGO is its branding strategy and at the core of the branding strategy is “The Cause”. The vision of the owner and Executive Director of GRINGO, Mr. Abdul Karim Abdulla, was to create a brand that would appeal to Mozambican youth and which would inspire and motivate them but also one that would spearhead “The Cause” “the eradication of hunger and misery in the World, thru investment in education.” The company was not only contributing 50%of its profits to The Cause Projects. It was by doing that forcing society in general and policy makers in particular to look at the failure of society as a whole to address The Cause and, by example, compel action, solutions and ultimately results to win the global fight against poverty.

Cause Projects

Futescola Project - 2001 to 2007

The Hulene quarter with a population of 57,000 is located 20 kilometers from the City of Maputo. It is the location of Maputo’s rubbish dump, the only rubbish dump for an estimated population of 1.2m inhabitants of Maputo.

Futescola was a social project located in the Hulene quarter for the benefit of the children of that quarter. Its aim was to empower the children through football, feed them, educate them and integrate them into society in a way that would enable them to meaningfully contribute to the society in which they live. The Futescola Project – School of Football Players started in 2000 with the mobilization of 200 children all of them living in Hulene quarter. 60 children aged eight to eighteen with potential to play football were selected. They were provided with education, meals, medical check ups and training in football. Education meant not only supporting their school fees but also educating them on issues such as HIV AIDS and its prevention and health care in general as well as their place in society and their responsibility towards their society and country.

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While the immediate objective of the project was to train future football professionals with the attendant benefits of good health, physical strength, tactical skills as well as the importance of team play and collective action the benefits reached further than that. Through participation in the project the families were also impacted economically as well as in terms of their well being and sense of integration which in turn strengthened society as a whole. Unfortunately the Project ended in December 2007 due to the overall failure of the climate of aid in Africa.

Life Mozambique Project – 1st January 2008 to date

The most important project to which GRINGO has committed itself in connection with “The Cause” is the Life Mozambique Project inspired by Dr Noorjehan Abdul Magid. It was launched on January 1, 2008 as a pilot project. Its objective is to ensure milk to children under 7 years of age in Mozambican hospitals and children care centers. At the pilot stage the project focused on the regular supply of milk to children primarily associated with HIV and those suffering from cerebral paralysis. Subsequently orphans and street children cared for in another center were added. This project is independently managed, with GRINGO participating in financing and in the analysis of results. Given the success of the project, the financial allocation has increased from US$15,000 in 2008 to US$50,000 for 2010 and adding further child care units to bring the total number of units to seven.

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The Brand

By aligning The Cause with the Brand, thus creating The Cause Brand the objective was that each would nurture the other. The emotional appeal of the Brand would overflow into The Cause and vice versa, sustaining and strengthening each other. The Brand was focused on the youth of Mozambique and at its simplest and most direct expectation to clothe them and more importantly to inspire them and motivate them. Thus the brand personality was established; A strong, serene yet irreverent personality which encouraged social engagement as well as criticism and which advocated humanism, freedom and victory.

The Cause was also integral to the internal management of the company. The GRINGO Statement or the vision which guided the employees and management of the company was “Be a positive example, by giving to society, the society grows, and when society grows the market grows, and consequently the company.” A series of initiatives were implemented for the benefit of GRINGO employees and others focused on education. They included the GRINGO Education Program, which was a scholarship program for GRINGO employees but with no conditions imposed such as an obligation to work in the company for a stipulated time period. A library was created within the company for the benefit of the employees who were encouraged to read and improve their understanding of the business.

The strategy was to build up from the brand and to introduce the product at the last stage. At the time there was no clothing industry in Mozambique and as such there was no production of raw materials, nor local capacity for designing the products or in marketing. The company would thus sell branded international jeans in the GRINGO store which, with time, would create in the mind of the consumer an association of quality with the GRINGO brand. At the appropriate time the GRINGO product would be introduced by which time the consumer would already associate the GRINGO brand with a certain kind of product quality. The consumer would by then have a perception of the brand, its message and its identity. In this manner, associations were used to create the perceived quality and quality reference.

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From: 1997 GRINGO profile.

Thus the company focused its energies on building the brand in sync with the Cause so that the Cause would resonate in the brand. All of these efforts contributed to building the brand image of a company that was committed to it social responsibilities and saw the importance of education for social upliftment.

Cause Oriented Campaigns

The company also engaged in Cause oriented marketing campaigns. These involved media campaigns on HIV awareness, ethics, showcasing unknown talents, conservation of national culture, national pride, taking children out of poverty, providing food for children etc.. as well the powerful campaign in newspapers called Senso Comum. This involved 52 newspaper advertisements one for every week of the year social criticism, social responsibility, ethics, inspired by the teachings of the jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths. Three sample ads are provided below to illustrate the seamless joining of The Cause and the brand. The complete campaign is provided as an attachment.

Be fair, recognize other people’s efforts

Be responsible, admit your mistakes

Be ambitious, not envious

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Intellectual Property

IP Summary

TRADE MARK REGISTRATIONSMozambique : Trade Mark Registrations in 45 Classes.

Republic of South Africa : : Trade Mark Registration 2000/22350 , 2000/ 22351 – GRINGO in classes 25, 35.Trade Mark Registration 2007/17913 , 2007/17914, 2007/17915 – GNG in classes 3, 18, 25.

Madrid System : Trade Mark Registration 905730 – GRINGO in classes 3, 18, 25 Trade Mark Registration 922644 – GNG in classes 3, 18, 25

India : Trade Mark Aplications: 1571988, 1571989, 1571991 – GRINGO in classes 3, 18, 25.Trade Mark Aplications: 1593076, 1593077, 1593078 – GNG in classes 3, 18, 25.

INTERNET DOMAIN REGISTRATIONSwww.gringojeans.comwww.gringojeans.orgwww.gringojeans.netwww.gringojeans.bizwww.gringojeans.info

The company was mindful of the importance of intellectual property, particularly trademarks as the bedrock of the brand. It was aware that the brand needed to be protected from usurpers and counterfeiters. Steps were taken very early to register GRINGO as a trademark in Mozambique and Republic of South Africa and today, GRINGO is registered in 45 classes in Mozambique, and also owns copyright certificates for the slogans, symbols and publicity sentences. GRINGO is also registered internationally in five countries and GNG in 34 countries (including the 27 member countries of the European Union), through the Madrid System administered by WIPO. The company also benefited from the WIPO Least Development Countries Policy regarding international registration by paying only 10% of the registration fees.

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The main logo was created in 2001….. …with three main product lines.

The Black Art and Quality Eagle was designed, as quality logo, according to the following requirements:

Representing:Eagle wings: Artistic Freedom.Eagle claw: Quality Requirement.Eagle eye: Brand Vision.Eagle body: Agility in the Actions.Black Color: Mystery.

The GNG is GRINGO’s artistic acronym, designed in 2006, with the last G on the mirror effect making it unique and easily recognizable. It is flexible, neutral, not likely to have offensive connotations in potential export markets and thus has the ability to be registered in any country.

GRINGO Shops, Product and Tags

GRINGO Shops

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Ten years after the brand was created, on the 7th of September 2007, GRINGOJEANS were finally introduced and its website w ww.gringojeans.com was also launched on the same day.

GRINGOJEANS with Distinctive Signs.

The Cause is communicated in the product tags which inform the customer of its participation in The Cause by purchasing the product.

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Production and Future Development

At the outset the products were sourced from outside, mainly from South Africa from where 95% of the products were bought with a small percentage sourced from Portugal. There was no possibility of producing in Mozambique which had no developed industry. India was identified as the ideal production base given the skills (fashion designers, graphic designers, quality control team, supply chain know-how) which were available at competitive prices. The commercial potential of the Indian market was also a factor as was the compatibility of India with the Cause. In 2009, GRINGO was

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authorized to operate a Liaison Office in India for 3 years. Presently, 100% of GRINGO products are produced in India.

The company is now looking to exploit the value of its trademark even further by exploring licensing opportunities. It is looking for potential licensees who could take the product from production to market.

Problems and Challenges

Trademark Enforcement –

Despite the efforts made by the management of GRINGO to protect its mark in the domestic as well as the international market its success has not been without problems and challenges. Since 2006 GRINGO has been fighting in the Mozambican courts to prevent a soap factory from producing soap with a mark similar to GRINGO. To date there has been no resolution. This brings to the forefront a common problem faced by many small enterprises trying to use the intellectual property system; that of enforcement. These companies as with any business cannot afford the time and expense of trying to enforce their marks.

Environment Supportive of SME Growth –

Very few SMEs where ever they may be in the world can succeed without a policy environment that is conducive to SME growth. This is particularly so in a least developed country such as Mozambique where the policy framework, infrastructure and other facilities would be far less developed than elsewhere in the world. Thus GRINGO was faced with and continues to face an environment that is corrupt, that is obstructive (when it should be nurturing), that afford little or no facilities, notably credit and other incentives to support the growth of such a company. These problems are further compounded by political interference and pressure by various parties seeking benefits.

Recommendations to SME

Invest in Education. Invest in Intellectual Property. Use WIPO facilities and opportunities to reduce business risk and to grow. Join the Cause of eradicating global hunger and misery.

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Statements

Mr Abdulla Abdul Karim, Owner and Executive Director, GRINGO, Ltd.

Presently we are working in the GRINGO Academic and Political Interventions, we believe that, in parallel and simultaneously to financing and managing The Cause Projects, to win the global fight against poverty and misery, we have to convince the world policy makers about the need for change and urgency in the matter. We are going to find them and convince them, for sure.  We have the best team in the world

Mr. Guriqbal Singh Jaiya, Director, SME Division, WIPO

The unfolding story of GRINGO is unique for any business and much more so for a small business. It is indeed remarkable that one of the first major business steps of Mr. Abdul Karim was the development of a comprehensive branding strategy and that too much before he launched the brand. What is equally remarkable is the fact that he underpinned the branding effort by two trademarks: GRINGO and GNG, with the second G in its inverted image. That he took steps to have not one but two trademarks, just like MANGO and MNG, is a testimony to his foresight in anticipating a problem and dealing with it much before it arose. Unlike most businessmen, he also took into account the fact that the national IP office could take a long time to register the trademarks; therefore, he filed his trademark applications at the national IP office well in time so that by the time he was ready to launch his first product under the trademarks they were already registered in Mozambique. Even before I met with Mr. Karim in Maputo back in 2006, he had not only done all that I have listed above but also got a brand audit done. In other words, he had done a large number of very smart things, just like established companies do but after many years in business and more than what our training programs and guides could have taught. He already had a very distinctive trade dress for his shops which helped in creating in the potential customers an association and attachment for the (future) product(s). When GRINGO itself turned out to be not registrable in some countries, GNG filled the gap; GRINGO is protected in five countries and GNG in 34. From the very inception GRINGO was going to be an ethical business focused on alleviating poverty. The cause was worthy and aligned with the brand; as a result it has consistently added value to the brand. The brand thus became a cause brand. The GRINGO story has shown that a small business can leverage the IP system just as smartly as a multinational company. Hat's off to Mr. Karim and his philanthropic vision and total commitment to the cause and the brand in equal measure!

Mrs. Tamara Nanayakkara, Counsellor SMEs division (responsible for preparing this case study)

Mr. Karim asked me to say a few words as to what it was like to write this case study. I have to say that it was an enriching and humbling experience to try to communicate his vision for his company, for his country and the world. We met him in August 2006 in Maputo and since then have been regularly interacting with him,

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culminating in this case study which tries to capture the multifaceted person that he is, that manifests itself in GRINGO. He is an astute businessman who has intuitively and naturally used the IP system to its maximum advantage. More importantly, he sees his business as a means to fulfill his idealistic dreams of a world free of poverty and suffering. He sees himself as a citizen of the world who has a responsibility to give back to society and he has "put his money where his mouth is" contributing half the income generated by his business to social projects. We hope that by showcasing GRINGO we not only provide to other businesses an excellent example of how the IP system can add value to a business but also what it means to be an ethical business.

Annexes:

GRINGO - The Cause Brand (2008)GRINGO - Ali Faque Video Spot (2008)GRINGO - Senso Comum (Word) (PDF)

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