Brand Security In A Modern World: How To Create A Brand

The key to having strong protection in place for your brand starts with the selection of the brand. The more distinctive your brand is, the stronger your exclusivity to that brand will be. The strongest brand name is one that is fanciful or a made-up word. These brands have no meaning other than the brand and there should be no reason for a third party to use the brand name at all unless it is a reference to the brand. Consumers may initially have to be educated as to what these brands relate to, but these marks are the easiest to enforce. An example of this type of mark is PEPSI or Kodak.

The next-best type of mark is one that is made up of a word that has a common meaning, but it is being applied to or used in relation to goods or services unrelated to that meaning. Think APPLE for technology products or SHELL for energy and petrochemical products. These marks can provide a broad scope of protection, especially after they have acquired goodwill through use.