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.

Every brand wants to be there

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

Indian challenge

Owned by LVMH

Grapes from Mumbai

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

JACUZZI

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

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

Harley Davidson manual

Correct usage

Incorrect usage

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?

–Richard Branson

“The brands that will thrive in the coming years are the ones that have a purpose beyond profit”