importance of brand creation & management & role of ip ... of brand creation...
TRANSCRIPT
Importance of Brand Creation & Management & Role of IP protection
Gaurav Miglani Intellectual Property Attorney LL.M (Concord, NH, USA)
We have all heard this…
A brand is one of the most valuable asset an organisation can today own.
Apple is valued at USD 154.1 billion
No shortage of statistics, how important brands are
Building and protecting brands is no longer a luxury but a necessity.
Indian picture
We have a huge market that every global brand wants to tap
Very few Indian companies that have understood importance of strategic brand development
There are successful Indian brands, none truly a global brand
Currently there’s no Indian brand in Interbrand top 100
Why brands have become important?
Because we live in an extremely competitive world
Without a brand, your product can just become a commodity without any differentiating factor, or
It can be driven out of the market and someone else with a stronger brand equity will take over.
Quintessential question
How do I build a strong brand?
Is it just about marketing?
Delivering quality products / services over time? Or is it something more?
Is it something that only the Coca Colas and Apples of the world can manage, or need to think about?
What is the Indian challenge?
Middle class
Global brands stand for status, are symbols of success
Challenge is to change the mindset
Our products and services are world-class
What exactly is a brand?Means different things for different people
Legally speaking - a name, mark, symbol, shape of goods, combination of colours, etc could all be trademarks.
Two requirements
Capable of being represented graphically
Capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one person from those of another.
What exactly is a brand?
For your CFO its an asset
For your marketing team its a promise.
Set of emotions and ideas consumers associate with your company.
Something that gives you an opportunity to connect emotionally with your customers.
How to create a strong brand?Select a mark that’s inherently strong
Tell your story consistently, over time, over years
Protect timely
Guard carefully
Create an emotionally empathetic experience with your customer
Push the boundaries, you define the limits
Brand selection
On the ladder of distinctiveness, brands can be broadly classified as:
Invented marks
Arbitrary marks
Suggestive marks
Descriptive marks
Generic
Strength of the mark
Inherent strength
Where the mark itself is strong
Capable of distinguishing the goods / services
Acquired strength
Acceptability it acquires over time
Comes to be associated with source, looses its primary meaning
Strength of the mark
Benefits of having an inherently strong trade mark
Less susceptible to unintentional copying / infringement
Almost a presumption of copying / easier to enforce
Strength of the markExamples
SUGAR FREE for low calorie sweetener v. SUGAR FREE for low calorie ice cream.
LOSORB for edible oil v. Low Absorb for edible oil.
SEPHORA for cosmetics v. SEPHORA for footwear.
Tell your story consistently
How do you build a strong brand?
Repetition
Brand value emerges as all messengers tell your story consistently
Tell your story consistently
No matter in which part of the world you visit a McDonald, you can be assured of a familiar experience.
Menu, food wrapping, quality of food, look and feel of outlet
Manner of use of trade marks, the logos, signage, colours, are all part of delivering the consistent image over time and hence brand building.
Tell your story consistently
Successful brands ensure they have a unified look and feel in all interactions with their consumers
Lay down brand identity guidelines and follow them rigorously
Protect timely
Rights in a brand are created by:
Use (common law countries)
Registration (civil law countries)
In India registration of a mark does not create any new rights but it facilitates a remedy and offers several other advantages
Evidence of ownership, prima facie
Recordal with customs to prevent import of infringing products
Protect timely
Best time to protect is when you conceive a brand
Register the mark on a proposed to be used basis
First to file jurisdictions, don't allow your competitors and distributors to beat you on filing date
Guard effectively
Use your brand in proper trade mark sense
Maintain proper quality controls in licensing
Enforce your rights against infringers
Not obliged to sue everyone
Acquiescence however defeat legal rights
Emotionally empathetic experience
Customers repeatedly engage with experiences that are effective and easy
Come back to experiences that are emotionally empathetic - “talk-to-me”.
Having a good product is not enough, you need to make a compelling story, that’s both emotional and rational.
Nike Story
Nike has used mobile apps to drive brand engagement
Not selling shoes on this
Inspiring people to be fitter
Nike story
Brand building in today’s world is no longer about celebrity endorsements
Connecting customers, enabling them to build and share their own stories
Aim was to create a community of people who are passionate about fitness
Gain information about such people, engage with them and eventually profit.
HIA story
Hamad International Airport, Qatar won the 2016 Skytrax World Airport awards
Considered to be one of the world’s most advanced airport
iBeacon app provides real time flight updates, sends push notifications of best deals as you walk past duty free stores
HIA story
Just another mobile app doing hyper localised marketing based on combination of big data analytical tools and IP geolocation technology?
Its a brand engaging with its customers, creating emotionally empathetic experiences
Experience relevant to their needs.
Push the boundaries
Story of Nando’s brand - “Peri-Peri”
Didn’t have cash to market much, made them innovative
Developed some really cheeky advertising campaigns, some of the ads were banned at that time
Brought of sense of irreverence to the brand
Peculiar Indian challenge
Mindset
Could Chaayos be the Indian Starbucks?
Could Tata sell its next car for INR 90 lakhs without buying another Jaguar?
Could Aditya Birla sell garments without giving them the ALLEN SOLLY or the PETER ENGLAND name?