What makes a defendable brand?

In my view Neil, it is one that is unique and distinctive. The whole purpose of a trade mark is to distinguish one’s goods and services from those other traders. It effectively acts as a ‘badge of origin’. From a legal perspective, the strongest brands you can have are invented words such as ‘Kodak’, ‘Xerox’ and ‘Kit Kat’.

I always advise my clients to be wary of using names that may be already in common use or descriptive. For example, common surnames that appear many times on the electoral role such as Jones and Smith may not be registrable as other people with that surname may need to use their own name. Geographical names can also be hard to get a trade mark for, if indeed the product can be produced in that geographical region. So ‘Queensland Bananas’ would be problematic, where as ‘North Pole bananas’ would be better, as bananas never grow in the North Pole!

At what stage in a naming project should the lawyer get involved?

Simply speaking, once you have come up with a new brand name, it’s important to get it legally checked out. My clients have been surprised time and time again on a name which they thought was completely unique had actually been taken by someone else.

Also, Neil, sometimes if someone uses or has requested a brand name that is too similar to your client’s proposed name even though it is not exactly the same that can stop the brand name from getting registered, or worse amount to trade mark infringement. The ‘Tsubi’ fashion label is a case on point. They had to change their name to Ksubi when they exported to the US after Tsubo challenged their name for being too similar.

So, clients also need to consider what countries that they may expand to in the future as well.

How long does it take until I can rely on a trade mark?

The answer to the question depends on whether the Trade Marks office raises issues with the mark. In some circumstances, you can apply for ‘expedited’ examination to speed matters up. In any event, the very minimum a trade mark can be registered in Australia is 8 months.

Is it true that you can register a sound?

Absolutely. Basically, anything that can function as a brand can be registered. This even includes colours, sounds, patterns and aspects of packaging. For example, Cadbury has recently protected certain shades of purple for chocolates and McCain has its well-known ping sound for ‘Ah McCain, You’ve done it again’ trade marked as well.

What are the main benefits of trade marking?

Trade mark registration gives you a monopoly over the mark Australia-wide. This means that you own the mark and can stop others from using it in the goods and services for which you have registered it for. You can also use the ‘®’ symbol as a ‘back-off’ sign. This is extremely valuable.

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The interview was held on 15 February 2012. Sharon’s focus is on turning ideas into assets and is more than happy to talk through ways of protecting your brand. Sharon Givoni Consulting: email sharon@iplegal.com.auor www.sharongivoni.com.au.

We’re always out there providing advice, feedback and giving our time so the younger, less-experienced people in our industry have valid, current and professional information to help them forge a career in design, advertising, branding or whatever field they choose to pursue.

From time to time we come across graduates who have been offered or just completed ‘work placement’ or ‘work experience’ or an ‘internship’; and often they are doing it for free.

It shocks me that there are creative agencies out there today that are exploiting students and young graduates by offering work placement completely unpaid or for a ‘nominal fee’.

To have someone work for you and not pay them at the very least, a minimum legal wage, is exploitation.

Our industry is filled with an outpouring of graduates each year vying for a very small number of positions. They are constantly told that ‘experience’ is what they need to ‘get a foot in the door’.

Most of these people go through their studies idolising some creative agencies for the work they do and for their thinking and philosophy on design and creativity.

At the same time our industry has businesses that exploit this idolisation of their own work and invite graduates to work for them for free under the guise of work experience or internship.

If you are a student, graduate or anyone considering doing unpaid work placement, here are four things I think you should consider when someone offers you an unpaid work placement/internship/experience.

1. If the studio is getting paid for the work you are doing for them, you should get paid too.
2. If the studio can afford to run a business and employ paid staff, you should get paid too.
3. If the studio can do great, sometimes award-winning work and get paid for it by clients, you deserve to get paid too.
4. If their business model leverages unpaid labour to make a profit, their business is built on invalid foundations.

It’s simple.

Never work for free.

But without a solid brand strategy then the notion of trying to build long-lasting relationships in any social media is ill-fated.

Start with the brand first, and then and only then move your attention towards the world of social.

Any communications team must be well versed on the core idea within a brand strategy to provide meaning and relevance within a social media campaign. They must understand the personality of the brand, what it believes in and values as well as the audience it is aiming to communicate with – without this, it’s largely a mad scramble.

Brand idea and brand strategy first – social second.

This small group of people – David Pidgeon, Brett Philliips, Michaela Webb, Stephen Banham, David Lancashire and Brendan McKnight – taught me something this week and it was something simple – as most things of a profound nature are.

– I learnt that learning never ends.

– I learnt that giving something back to your industry is something all of us should do. Sharing, collaborating and getting to know your peers and colleagues is an invaluable and enriching learning experience.

In my twenty years of experience I’ve always tried to learn something new every single day; from anyone.

Our involvement as professionals, in providing mentoring and education to young emerging talent in our industry, I see as an obligation and a privilege.

A simple thing to learn, but meaningful.

Interestingly, fixing these broken experiences is the best way to stand out. Often it is not costly or difficult to fix something. So why do so many companies let their clients or customers struggle with legacy processes and systems.

What is broken around you as you sit reading this post? Look around, for that is where the opportunities can be found.

At TANK, we often talk about touchpoints – how people come in contact with a brand. Often this has nothing to do with responding to a visual identity, brochure or advert.

Recently we organised an editorial piece for one of our clients, St Josephs College, a boys secondary school. It focused on the College celebrating the memory of Salesian’s founder St John (Don) Bosco, with the honour of having his statue visit the school as part of a world tour. The article has made an impact not just on enhancing the school’s brand within the local community, but also on the boy featured in the piece – Dimmy. So excited for him, the school has collected and laminated the article so he can take it back to his community in Alice Springs when next he visits.

It reinforced to me how a brand can be expressed and experienced in many different ways, and the various effects a brand can make on the organisations and people that form part of them.

Don Bosco pic.pdf Download this file

“We just want to sell some stuff, and move on to the next one; just make something up and give it a coat of paint and my sales guys will do the rest.”

I went home, had a shower and tried to wash away the slickness of her inspiring little rant.

When I look back at the projects I’ve worked on in my career, this one acts as a catalyst for me. This client had convinced my team of designers, writers and strategists that ‘deadlines had to be met, so just make it look good.” And as human nature is the way it is, we all scurried around to meet her demands of time, quality and meaning.

Around the same time I was at a BBQ with a group of somewhat new friends. One person whom I had never met asked me what I did for a living and then proceeded to tell me how ‘marketing and branding was just another way large companies were making consumers out of our children, and breeding a world of materialism.’

OK.

I’m not sure if this guy had any children, but I knew he had a shiny new pair of Nike’s on.

I got to thinking about the work that I do and how, in fact, there are many, too many people in marketing, graphic design and advertising who abuse the privilege they have as communicators, and spend far too much time creating junk mail, one-way communication – albeit, crap and lies – to win awards, please themselves, their peers and keep a client happy; I’m sure some do it just to keep a client full stop. I’m sure we’ve all done it and I’m sure that most are happy and oblivious in the bliss of receiving payment for work done on deadline.

So, I made some choices.

I decided that I didn’t want to be in the business of bullshit.

In the work that I do, and the clients whom I am lucky enough to work with, I feel there is no room for any slick, greasy pun that calls itself a ‘catchy headline’.

My clients are real people who have customers who are also real people. And real people see beyond a slick piece of advertising jargon and they switch off. We’re in the 21st century and we know all about ‘advertising’.

Real work will always connect with real people.

In the work that I do, I’m not going to spend half an hour talking to my client about why they should choose a typeface because of ‘balance and harmony’. I’d much rather talk to them about how a piece of communication is going to meet the goals of their business/product/service and truly connect with the audience they want to reach in a true and meaningful way.

Nor am I going to help them push a product that I just don’t believe in.

Naturally, this got me thinking about authenticity and meaning.

Whats wrong with an organisation just being itself? Really, why do so many companies resort to jargon to sell their product/service, and make Mr BBQ-man think he has some type of qualified opinion about the topic when he himself is as ‘consumer’ as they come?

Why do so many companies make assumptions about their customers and clients? Not all 16-24 year olds want the same thing!

What’s wrong with just asking your customers how to make your brand better, learning from their feedback and making some adjustments? Or God forbid, give them what they really want – an honest piece of communication.

It seems logical to me now and I hope that more and more clients develop a savviness and understanding that finding a truth and having a two-way conversation with their audience will actually reap bigger rewards, the better.

It might make a few people’s lives a whole lot better in the process and that isn’t such a bad thing now is it?

A name change is a strategic decision, based on your business plan. It should not come from an internal poll or survey as the feedback you receive rarely reflects a leadership or strategic objective. A name change is typically triggered by:

1. A merger
2. A split of the organisation
3. A repositioning
4. A trade mark issue
5. The need to unlink the company from its heritage (ie it has become irrelevant or something bad has happened)
6. A move into new markets where the name is inappropriate or has a different meaning.

None of these changes come about by a poll or internal survey. They are all clear and justified needs for the consideration of a new name.
Good luck with your review Jennifer. ]]> http://www.tankbranding.com.au/what-we-think/?feed=rss2&p=869 0 http://www.tankbranding.com.au/what-we-think/?p=868 http://www.tankbranding.com.au/what-we-think/?p=868#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:56:50 +0000 Neil Shewan http://www.tankbranding.com.au/what-we-think/?p=868

Just finished reading “The Steve Jobs Way”. I’m a sucker for Steve Jobs biographies. This one is particularly interesting as the author worked closely with Steve from the birth of the Mac to the mid 1990’s.
Great insights into running a creative and innovative firm – and how to motivate people to greatness.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The idea of taking an experience we all know, in this case online shopping, and turning it on its head is adventurous.
Agency B-Reel and 3 have worked together to create a new online shopping experience, allowing the user to see the salesperson in real team interacting with products and features on screen “minority report” style. The salesperson can drag a product onto the screen, show its features such as different colors and monthly cost and then drag it into the shopping cart. All this with just the touch of a finger.
The goal is to create an experience as close as possible to face-to-face interaction. User reaction to the new online experience will determine the success of this adventurous approach. From a brand viewpoint, 3 launched with the promise of bringing a fresh approach to the telecommunication space, and it is a positive sign to see them innovating again in the category.
To find out more visit http://www.b-reel.com/projects/3live-shop/ for a video.