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Selecting the Right Name for Your Brand

Last Updated on March 20, 2019 by Jan Havmoeller Leave a Comment

One of the first challenges entrepreneurs face in building their brand, regardless of the industry, is selecting an appropriate name to identify and distinguish their products or services in the marketplace.

That is the principal function of trademarks – a unique identifier that signals to potential consumers the source of particular goods or services. Entrepreneurs and prospective business owners must be savvy from the start in choosing a name that not only accurately reflects their brand aesthetic but that also serves as a trademark, because all names are not created equal. There are some names that make excellent brand identifiers and work very well as trademarks, and others that do not work as well and may not qualify for trademark protection before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

So how do you select the right name for your brand? Here are a few Dos and Don’ts for choosing a truly distinctive trademark that will stand out among consumers and sail smoothly through the USPTO registration process.

1. Do Select a Fanciful or Arbitrary Mark: These types of trademarks are accorded the highest level of trademark protection by the USPTO because they are the most distinctive. Fanciful marks are picked right from one’s imagination, perhaps derived from another word or language or an amalgam of letters that have never been used before so they are novel in identifying any kind of goods or services. Arbitrary marks make use of known words or phrases to identify completely unrelated goods or services. These marks are highly distinctive and also work well as trademarks. Examples of fanciful and arbitrary marks include CLOROX® and APPLE®, respectively.

2. Don’t Choose a Merely Descriptive Mark: Words or phrases that simply describe your goods or services are not very effective as trademarks and are highly scrutinized before the USPTO. These marks are “merely descriptive” and often do not function as trademarks because they lack sufficient distinctiveness for consumers to associate the mark with one particular source of the goods or services. Consumers generally do not associate descriptive marks as a unique source identifier but rather as a description of what they are purchasing. Avoid marks that directly tell consumers what you’re offering. Don’t brand your highly innovative 360° rotating vacuum cleaner as “Rotating Ball Vacuum”, consider instead something like “DYSON®.”

3. Do Select a Suggestive Mark: One way to avoid a “merely descriptive” issue is to select a mark that is suggestive of what you are offering. These marks do not immediately call to mind what your goods or services are, but require some additional thought or leap of imagination. Suggestive marks are fairly strong trademarks and are generally allowed protection by the USPTO. Examples of suggestive marks include “RAYBAN®“ or “ALEVE®“.

4. Don’t Use Your Name or Names of Places: Proper names and surnames are generally not accepted as trademarks unless they have acquired distinctiveness for particular goods or services in the marketplace. This usually requires years of use and extensive marketing to establish the name as a brand and not merely a surname among consumers. Geographic names are also heavily scrutinized because the USPTO is reluctant to grant applicants exclusive rights in such names. Avoid marks that are geographically descriptive of your products, or, depending on the goods or services offered, marks that are geographically descriptive and likely to cause confusion among consumers as to the place of origin of the goods or services. Geographic marks are permissible when used in an arbitrary manner or otherwise unlikely to impact customer purchasing decisions regarding place of origin. Examples include “VINTAGE HAVANA®“ or “100% CAPRI”. The foregoing should not be confused with regional origin marks, such as “CHAMPAGNE” from France or “PARMA” ham.

Choose your brand name wisely. It is the means by which consumers will recognize and ultimately purchase what you are selling, whether it’s cars or canned fruit. Select a name that is unique, memorable and that stands out in the minds of your target customers. For more trademark insights and examples of fanciful, arbitrary, suggestive, descriptive and generic marks, visit the Frequently Asked Questions section at www.FlatFeeTrademark.com.

Myths about trademarks and the top 5 reasons to register your brand name and logo.

Last Updated on March 20, 2019 by Jan Havmoeller Leave a Comment

trademark

Myth no. 1 – Once you register a trademark you own it forever and for everything

Myth no. 2 – Registering a domain name offers all sorts of legal protection

Myth no. 3 – You can save money if you conduct the search yourselves.

Trademark Tip – Top 5 Reasons to Register Your Brand Name or Logo.

There a myriad reasons to protect your trademark, brand name, logo or slogan through federal trademark registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Here are just a few of the top reasons why you should seek federal protection for your mark:

1. Trademarks are a part of your company’s intellectual property portfolio. It could very well be one of your most valuable business assets, albeit an intangible one. Trademarks can be accorded a value separate and distinct from other assets in your company. To illustrate, the Coca-Cola® trademark alone is purportedly valued at $70 billion. This doesn’t include other assets such as trucks, manufacturing and bottling facilities, etc., just the Coke® brand. The value of a registered trademark may be listed as a line item asset for companies seeking to attract potential investors or obtain financing.

2. A federally registered trademark grants you nationwide priority claim of ownership to the mark. A registered trademark provides constructive notice to prospective users and potential infringers of your claim of ownership to the mark. In the event of  a dispute concerning rights to use a particular mark, the registered trademark owner will have the benefit of the doubt vis-à-vis a non-registered user of the same mark for similar or related products.

3. In the event of any unauthorized use or potential infringement of a registered trademark, the trademark owner is entitled to seek redress in federal court. The registered trademark owner can bring suit in federal court for trademark infringement and prohibit the alleged infringing mark from being used in commerce in a manner that causes confusion with the registered trademark. Moreover, trademark owners may seek three times their actual damages suffered as a result of the infringement (triple damages).

4. If you are interested in obtaining international trademark protection for your brand, you will need to first have a registered or pending application filed with the USPTO. A federally registered trademark is the basis for U.S. trademark owners to seek international trademark registration. Upon filing your application, the USPTO assigns your mark a serial number (or a registration number, once registered). This number is used to submit an international trademark application under the Madrid Protocol System for International Trademark Registration.

5. Registered trademarks may be filed with the U.S. Customs Service to prohibit the importation of infringing foreign goods that may bear your mark or something similar (“knock-offs”). Many illegal imports attempt to trade off the established brand value of famous or well-known marks. Trademark registrations may be placed on record with the Customs Service so infringing products entering the country may be flagged, seized and possibly destroyed.

So there you have it, the Top Five reasons to protect your brand name or logo through federal trademark registration. There are other reasons, of course, including protecting your brand value and hard earned marketing dollars. For more information concerning trademark law, the trademark registration process, or for questions concerning your particular mark or brand, please contact one of our FlatFee Trademark attorneys at 1.800.769.7790 or info@flatfeetrademark.com .

Chilean business incubators in the house…

Last Updated on April 5, 2019 by Jan Havmoeller Leave a Comment

The complementary nature of non-profit business incubators and for-profit incubators became quite apparent during our meeting with 5 Chilean government sponsored business incubators.

On May 16-19, 2010 the National Business Incubator Association, NBIA, celebrated its first 25 years by organizing the International Conference on Business Incubation in Orlando, Florida.   Amongst the more than 500 business incubators from all over the globe were 5 Chilean business incubators who all decided to visit Kompani Group to explore synergies between their non-profit incubator outfits and a for-profit business and strategy incubator like Kompani Group. The explorations trip for the 5 Chilean business incubators was funded by the Chilean Development Minister, and included Mr. Eduardo Aranda M from Gerente Incubadora de Negocios in Santiago, Mr. Etienne Choupay Magna from Pontificia Universidad Catolica De Valparaiso, Mr. Diego Gonza’lez Carvallo from Austral Incuba – Universidad Austral de Chile, Mr. Enrique Roma’n Gonza’lez from Penanova Incubadora De Negocios and finally Alvaro Bustos Torrebalance of SantiagoInnova.

For more information about the NBIA and this year’s International Conference on Business Incubation please visit http://www.nbia.org/events/conf2010/index.php , this year’s conference host University of Central Florida’s business incubation program at www.incubator.ucf.edu , or visit this year’s title sponsor Florida high tech Corridor Council www.floridahightech.com

Road America has signed a 12 month strategy, technology and marketing activations contract with Kompani Group

Last Updated on April 5, 2019 by Jan Havmoeller Leave a Comment

Road America

Road America is uniquely qualified to provide outstanding service to our clients and their valued customers.  This confidence is based upon the tremendous value we place on our relationship with clients, our comprehensive, specialized and rated service provider network, our long-standing and unparalleled experience providing 24-hour roadside assistance services, and our quality approach to servicing our clients and exceeding their business needs.

Corporate Strength

Road America is a wholly owned United States subsidiary of the MAPFRE Group (MAPFRE) the largest insurance group in Spain.   MAPFRE had revenues of over US $17.4 Billion in worldwide operations in 2006.  MAPFRE operates an extensive international assistance network through a specialized subsidiary, MAPFRE Asistencia, which is the direct parent company of Road America.

MAPFRE Asistencia is a leading international insurance conglomerate providing emergency roadside assistance, insurance, reinsurance and general assistance services worldwide throughout 52 countries and over 1000 corporate clients, including Renault, Infinity, Ford, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Toyota, Peugeot, and Volvo.  MAPFRE services 120 million beneficiaries worldwide, providing assistance on more than 2.5 million occasions and is rated A+ (superior) by the North American rating agency AM Best.

International Expertise and Experience

Our confidence is also based upon the significant experience and strength of our parent company, MAPFRE, within the assistance services industry.  In the field of emergency roadside assistance, MAPFRE has developed and operates an extensive direct provider network in 39 countries.

MAPFRE has developed proprietary software, procedures and know-how in the field of roadside assistance, and it has comprehensive experience in developing worldwide provider networks and call centers to service international roadside assistance programs for insurance companies, automobile manufacturers, financial service companies and other international corporations.

Flexibility and Responsiveness

Road America’s programs have been and are marketed successfully through a variety of marketing channels in the following industries: motorcycle OEM, automotive, associations, telecommunications (wireless and wireline), financial services, insurance, original manufacturers, motor club and utilities.  This diversity in experience has allowed Road America to perfect and enhance our service offerings and capabilities.

Road America’s strengths include the size and flexibility to customize our service offerings and the responsiveness to meet or surpass each client’s exact or unique marketing, service needs and culture.

Comprehensive Service Offerings & Capabilities

In addition to a complete array of benefits, including automotive, travel, security, and medical related services, Road America can provide a full range of support services including marketing and promotional support, fulfillment services, inbound sales and enrollment, membership tracking and renewals, and program administration.  Road America’s extensive list of services, innovative approach, and commitment to complete client satisfaction makes our service offering the most meaningful and comprehensive in the industry.

Ethical Business Practices

The nature of the MAPFRE Group demands enforcing a policy of ethical treatment of employees, clients, business partners and customers; social responsibility; respect of the legal framework; and a culture of sound business and accounting practices.  The MAPFRE Group requires the same strong ethical business practices from all of its subsidiaries within the MAPFRE Group.

Tested. Proven. Trusted®:

With more than 120 North American corporate clients and more than seven motorcycle OEM clients, Road America has proven sales and service results.

Road America’s 24-hour roadside and membership programs have been proven to:

  • Increase Brand Loyalty
  • Increase Customer Service Ratings
  • Increase Customer Referrals
  • Increase Customer Retention
  • Increase Customer Awareness
  • Increase Overall Client Profitability

Launching a pure Fighter Brand, 1/4

Last Updated on December 8, 2020 by Jan Havmoeller Leave a Comment

We are losing market share to our new competition. What can we do to reverse the trend?

China City Lights
Photo by Adi Constantin on Unsplash

This is the first of 4 posts about how to combat manufactures and distributors of inferior products that are being reverse engineered and produced in China and sold at much lower prices to your existing clients.

You are losing market share fast, and it is time to do something about it.

The economic strains are causing your end-users to trade down, resulting in that the mid-tier and premium brands are losing share to low-price rivals.

You face a classic strategic conundrum:

  • Do you tackle the threat head-on by reducing prices, knowing that will destroy profits in the short term and brand equity in the long term?
  • Or do you hold the line, hope for better times to return, and in the meantime lose customers who might never come back?

Given how unpalatable both of those alternatives are, you now must make a decision of how to combat manufacturers and distributors of lower priced and inferior products, to avoid losing additional market share and eroding margins.

There are four ways to battle your competition.

  1. Launching a true fighter brand
  2. Launching an endorsed sub-brand
  3. Launching a co-driver sub-brand or
  4. Launching a driver sub-brand

Definition of a fighter brand

A fighter brand is designed to combat, and ideally eliminate, low-price competitors while protecting an organization’s premium-price offerings. A fighter brand, however, is not easy to introduce. First creating a new brand-building awareness, establishing perceptions of identity and quality, developing distributions channels is expensive, often prohibitively so.

Business Buildings
Photo by Gonz DDL on Unsplash
  • Concerns about launching fighter brands
    • Will it cannibalize our premium offering?
    • Will it fail to bury the competition?
    • Will it lose money?
    • Will it miss the mark with end-users?
    • Will it consume too much management attention?
  • Other strategic questions to consider before launching at fighter brand
    • Determine whether another brand is truly necessary
    • Run the numbers, including what it will cost to build and sustain a new brand
    • Listen to your clients and customers, early and often
    • Reinvest in your core business and consistently calibrate between the two brands.
    • Is the market you are entering still growing

Examples of fighter brands

Saturn – B to C (General Motors) 1982

  • To combat the growing threat from fuel-efficient and affordable cars being launched into America from Japan, GM decided to launch of an “a different kind of car company” dubbed Saturn.
  • Despite the fact that Saturn won accolades for being one of the strongest brands in the U.S, Saturn proved to be a financial disaster with losses in excess of 10 billion dollars. With no budgetary discipline and so much focus on differentiating Saturn from the other GM brands, completely defeated the purpose of launching the brand in the first place.

Jetstar – (Quantas) 2004

  • To combat low-fare entrant Virgin Blue, Quantas decided to launch their own low-fare airline in 2003.
  • Since Quantas only had one single brand, it did not want to create a new brand unless it had to.
  • Exhaustive strategic sessions confirmed, however, that the Quantas brand was simply not in a position to combat Virgin Blue’s explosive growth. A fighter brand was the only option.
  • Quantas’ detailed projections showed that by offering no frills, its new airline could achieve a 20% cost advantage over its rival; thus allowing it to undercut Virgin Blue’s prices while sustaining a profit.
  • Quantum spent considerable time on focus groups across Australia and listening to their customers to validate the planned initiatives.
  • In 2004 Jetstar was launched with 14 planes flying to 14 destinations. The speed at which Jetstar attacked took Virgin Blue by surprise and knocked it off balance.
  • Jetstar took over the tourist routes that Quantas had lost money on. Because Jetstar proved profitable on those routes, it cannibalized only revenues, not profits.
  • Thanks to Jetstar, Quantas was able to refocus on its more profitable business routes and increase the frequency of its flights on those legs.
  • The subsequent boost in profits, along with Jetstar’s growing contribution, were reinvested in overhauls of Quantas’s business lounges and business class cabins – strengthening the Quantas brand and the distinction between it and Jetstar.
  • Jetstar has stopped the growth of Virgin Blue, and Quantas is now using the brand to fight other competitors in Asia and New Zealand.

Ambra – B to professional (IBM) 1992

  • To combat the growing threat from direct marketers of personal computers like Dell and Gateway and other IBM models.
  • The Ambra was sourced in Asia and marketed between 1992 and 1994 by mail order in Europe and the United States.
  • Due to lack of brand equity and distribution barriers the Ambra was cancelled 2 years after its birth.

Kompani Group’s Approach on Data-Driven Branding

Chef Michelle Bernstein, Michy’s and Sra Martinez are new Kompani Group clients

Last Updated on April 5, 2019 by Jan Havmoeller Leave a Comment

img1Kompani Group is proud to announce that Chef Michelle Bernstein is a new client. Michelle Bernstein, her husband David Martinez and other business partners own and run three restaurants in South Florida. Michy’s is located on Biscayne Boulevard, Sra Martinez and the third one is set to open next month in West Palm Beach. Kompani Group will be collaborating with Matt Cohen from CAT5 on the design of Chef Michelle Bernstein and her restaurants’ website. The new site will launch before September 15th. 2009. Apart form site architecture, coding and programming, Kompani Group will also deliver a robust and cost efficient online social marketing platform along other innovative marketing initiatives for the restaurants.

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