Thanks a billion: Making names pay

Words are free. Well, they start out free, anyway. When developing a new name for a product, service, or business, it's easy to window-shop, imagining how your brand might look wearing this word or that. Then the search gets serious, and you spend time and creative effort to find ones that represent your business accurately. An investment in linguistic and validation research follows, and the ever-important trademark registration. At what point, exactly, does a word transform from a handful of letters into a valuable asset that's synonymous with the brand it represents?

It takes time and investment to turn a word into a widely recognized brand, but it can pay off handsomely. Forbes noted that names can come to comprise a major portion of a business's total valuation: "'Google,' 'Walmart' and 'Microsoft'—all trademarked names—represent a significant chunk of their owners' overall worth." This means, potentially, billions of dollars.

And the equity in a name goes beyond dollar signs. It has the power to inspire, to differentiate, to help your audiences understand that you're the right choice. It's a simple sound, a few syllables, yet it can have the power to move markets.

So how did the journey from "apple" to Apple™ happen? A word becomes a billion-dollar asset when iconic products are combined with concerted brand-building efforts. This special mixture yields value—a value that's captured in the name. As that value grows, so does the need to protect the name from misuse and outright piracy. Enter trademark legal.

Brands and trademarks are often considered synonymous. They're related, but far from the same. You can register a trademark and not have a valuable brand, but it's impossible to build a valuable brand without owning its trademark.

Trademarks are the quickest, most cost-effective way to ensure your name is exclusively yours. As every brand owner knows, differentiation is key. As the value of your brand and name grows, it's the power of the trademark that keeps would-be infringers at bay. For this reason, "the strength of its trademark defines the power of your brand."

Owning a trademark doesn't guarantee your name or the brand behind it will become a billion-dollar asset. But it does provide the legal foundation on which you can build a free word into a prized aspect of your brand's identity.

This week's guest authors are Jerome McDonnell, Global Trademark Director, and Ilan Beesen, Senior Consultant, Verbal Identity.

“Bar” conjures thoughts of Friday night fun with friends, happy hour with colleagues and catching the game, cheering on the home team with fellow fans. A bar is that friendly neighborhood spot where everybody really does know your name.

A sense of fun and a tone of intimacy with customers can be elusive for brands looking to market their products and shape an image around being casual and social. Some businesses are leveraging the attributes of the neighborhood bar.

The trend may have kicked off with Apple’s Genius Bar, launched in their Apple Stores in 2001, but has continued to grow and expand into new categories of businesses. While some brands have adopted “bar” in their naming to convey a literal description, a la a salad bar of specific services or products, some of the new crop of bar brands are finding ways to be playful with the term.

Apple’s Genius Bar transforms how customers approach the computer store experience. While a crashing computer is a scary event, getting it fixed doesn’t have to be. At least that’s what the name suggests. The Genius Bar promises the intimacy of a bar with one-on-one attention and the playful “genius” term even makes it a little fun.

The Genius Bars are such a success they’ve inspired their own bar spinoffs – Apple’s iPod bar, for example. Microsoft now has its own Guru Bar, demonstrating “bar” in the technology sector is more than a fad.

Some brands are building on the ladies night element with feminine touches to the bar naming trend. The fashion and beauty industries, in fact, are increasingly embracing bar names. For these companies suggesting fun, quick, easy, social and casual is exactly what the average on-the-go woman needs in her life.

Take Dry Bar. It’s a national salon brand in the US that focuses solely on blowouts for women. Quick and easy, Dry Bar offers its services in its own bar menu inspired menu for straightforward browsing and choosing. The atmosphere is chic yet casual and social.

Another beauty business example is the Braid Bar in LA. The brand leverages the word bar to create a fun, young atmosphere.

Bar isn’t limited to the physical world anymore either. Fashion website Bauble Bar, which is dedicated to selling jewelry, brings the bar feeling into the virtual. They use the word bar to suggest the ease and fun of the user experience, highlighting the breadth and personalization of their offerings.

The popularity of the virtual Bauble Bar has inspired a brick and mortar Bauble Bar shop in the Garment District of New York City. The trendy jewelry boutique is complete with, yes, a bar, where customers can sip champagne and shop.

One sea foam chandelier necklace on the rocks please!

Katie Conneally is an Associate Consultant, Verbal Identity for Interbrand New York.

Photo of Boston's Cheers is by Wikipedia user MECU. 

Apple recently commemorated the first anniversary of the passing of its former CEO. On their website was a video of Steve Jobs’ memorable speeches, beginning with a classic photo of him with an old Macintosh computer. Now a year later without their visionary leader, many are wondering how the company has done and will do.

Apple is one of the top risers in Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2012. The brand saw a 129% rise in brand value and now ranked #2 from #8 in 2011.

Steve Jobs left us with an impressive array of iDevices, which are arguably his biggest contribution to this generation and the next. But products cannot exist without the brands that represent them. So let us look at Apple’s primary offerings and their trademarks. Everyone is aware that the first leg of Apple’s patent battle against Samsung is behind them, but how many trademark disputes has Apple had to endure?

First, Apple unveiled the iPod® in October 2001. Steve Jobs called it a hard drive that could put a thousand songs in your pocket. Mr. Joseph Grasso, sole proprietor of a company called Web Pods, Inc., for “public internet kiosk containing computer hardware,” initially owned the iPod mark. Mr. Grasso assigned the mark, for an undisclosed amount, to Apple in March 2005.

Six years later, Apple launched the iPhone®. Jobs said that with the iPhone, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. Apple sought to obtain a trademark for their iPhone, but the US trademark office refused their application because of possible confusion because of an existing registration for the same name.

The existing registration belonged to Cisco Technology, Inc., for “computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global information networks.” Cisco’s iPhone is a line of VoIP telephone handsets. Cisco’s use of their iPhone mark before Apple launched its iPhone was sporadic. They did file a Section 8 affidavit meaning they still want to keep the registration, but did not file a Section 15 affidavit, meaning they cannot show continuous use for five years.

Some called Apple a “trademark bully” as ownership of the mark remained unsure. Sometime in 2008, Cisco and Apple “contracted” out the confusion issue raised by the trademark office. Through a consent agreement signed in June 2009, Apple overcame the potential confusion with Cisco’s iPhone.

They agreed that their “respective uses of the mark IPHONE are not likely to cause confusion, mistake or deception.” This consent agreement was approved by the trademark office, which led to successful registration of “iPhone” by Apple. To date, the amount Apple paid Cisco remains undisclosed, and other terms of the agreement remain confidential. Both companies’ websites state that either can freely use the iPhone mark on their products throughout the world.

Before he died, Steve Jobs announced the iPad®. There was a pending application for registration of the iPad mark by Fujitsu Transaction Solutions, Inc. for a “handheld computing device for wireless networking in a retail environment.” Fujitsu failed to respond to the trademark office’s office action within six months, and it was considered abandoned, thus making it free for Apple’s registration.

Let’s not forget the infamous trademark battle Apple went through two decades before the first iPhone. Apple Computer (Apple Corporation’s former name) battled with Apple Corps (parent company of Apple Records, the Beatles’ recording company) for the Apple mark until they settled with the condition that Apple Computer cannot enter the music business while Apple Corps cannot enter the computer business. Apple Corps sued Apple Computer again in 2003 when iTunes was launched for breach of that settlement agreement, but the Court ruled in Apple Computer’s favor.

Icloud Communications sued Apple when Apple launched the iCloud service in June 2011, but the former voluntarily dropped the lawsuit and renamed its company Clear Digital Communications. The dispute between Apple and Amazon over use of “Appstore” is still pending, as is the application for registration of the Appstore mark by Apple, which in turn was opposed by Microsoft that claimed the term is “generic.”

Indeed, Apple has a very colorful trademark prosecution and litigation history and that might strike some as a habit of “name now, worry about trademarks later.” But perhaps the underlying thrust by Apple here is that when creating such iconic, innovative products, you also want the perfect name and brand for it: one that embodies the passion in its creation; the genius in its design and development; and the enjoyment and awe that every user experiences with the iDevices.

Interbrand's Best Global Brands 2012 report said it best: “Jobs understood that a brand is more than a logo…He also recognized that a brand is what connects a business with the hearts and minds of consumers. Simply put, Steve Jobs understood that a brand is uniquely capable of humanizing a business — and that is precisely why so many of us are Apple ambassadors today.”

Karla Aspiras is a Trademark Analyst at Interbrand NY.

In the world of logos, change is often necessary. Changing a logo introduces a new direction of a company or a brand. When times are constantly changing, companies are forced to keep up with new trends, sales and competition. The decision to alter a logo can come when it no longer fits the business market, an aspect of the design may no longer represent the company, or when a company is beginning a new era and looking for a new direction.

A logo identifies a company or product through the use of a symbol, mark or signature. The appearance of a logo can be as important as its meaning. Think of a logo as a first impression of a brand. To make the point clearer, think of a logo as a person. It may be quite difficult to remember a person’s name but a bit easier to remember the person as “the girl with the fluffy pink shirt and blue hair."

A logo can act as a badge of honor in a way, earning dominance. Take Nike, for example. Over the years Nike has chosen to use a symbol-only strategy, dropping the word Nike and just featuring a swoosh. Nike had become a dominant fixture in its category and can stand on its own with just a symbol through extensive marketing.

Having a distinctive or effective logo is important. A logo is used primarily to promote instant public recognition of a brand. Logos can give personality to a brand. First glance at a logo can give you a sense of the company’s character. Think of Disney’s logo, for example. Disney’s logo appears whimsical and magical, giving you the sense that it is a brand that is positioned around entertainment. A logo helps identify a business in its simplest form. When a consumer sees the famous golden arches, they automatically think of McDonald's.

Earlier this month Optimum launched a new logo, intended to align with their current change in brand strategy. According to Andrew Deitchman, Partner/co-Founder of Mother NY, “So our first campaign is about making Optimum's services as simple, seamless, and straightforward as they can be."

The new logo is clearer, cleaner and significantly simpler than the old logo. While the new logo may not seem very complex from a design perspective, it is effective. Optimum's logo change matters because it aligns with the company’s simplistic approach. The change is geared toward a new direction. Optimum took a somewhat more complicated design and simplified it, which is something they aim to do with their services.

Optimum launched a commercial to welcome their customers to the new logo. It helps customers understand the change and clarifies that Optimum still offers the same great TV, phone and internet, just with a new logo. It also introduces new good-humored brand voice. The commercial ends with a statement that Optimum wants their consumers to remember. “Those guys are really good at TV, phone and internet. And I don’t mind their logo.” It works because it has a fresh, modern feel, giving it appeal to younger consumers. In this case a new logo means a better, clearer, and simpler direction.

In August, Microsoft also released a new logo. The new logo represents a new beginning, according to Microsoft’s blog. Like Optimum, the new Microsoft logo is also effective for the company’s vision. The logo is symbolic of and is inspired by all of their different products wrapped into one, while it remains true to core values and design.

The new logo change comes in a year that is self-proclaimed as a new era for Microsoft. This year they are preparing to release new versions of all of their products. Change matters for Microsoft because it symbolizes growth in a new direction and the re-imaging of its identity. Microsoft’s re-imaging also represents distinction from its competitor Apple, which is known for its colorless grey palette.

“That’s why the new Microsoft logo takes its inspiration from our product design principles while drawing upon the heritage of our brand values, fonts and colors.” ~Microsoft

The Microsoft logo had transformed over the years. The new logo marks the first time a symbol has preceded the mark. Take a look at the new look in the video clip below.

In the world of logos, change matters. It allows a brand’s unique personality to stand out among the competition. Change is effective when its visual expression of the brand strategy is used to increase loyalty and mindshare of target audiences.

Starbucks has demonstrated that change is good. As the company mark its 40th year, they decided to roll out their new logo. The new logo makes Siren the heart of Starbucks, the welcoming face.

The logo celebrates the Siren in a vibrant way. Starbucks made the logo more prominent, while retaining its green circle and distinctive features. It is a new logo, but it is still clearly recognizable to consumers. This change was good and necessary, allowing for their visual identity to sit above the barriers of languages and to be known across the global by just a symbol, as seen with Apple and Nike.

What are some of your favorite logo transformations?

Nicole Briggs is an Associate Trademark Consultant for Interbrand.