- Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash One of my local stores has a huge selection of “As Seen on TV” products. In reviewing their offerings, it occurred to me that the brand names are almost all descriptive & highly functional names that make it very clear what the product does. I’m talking about names like the… Continue Reading
Duets Guest Blogger
As Seen On TV
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Television, TrademarksThe Hairy Underside of the Butt-Billboard Campaign
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts- James Mahoney, Razor’s Edge Communications Not long ago, Steve Baird posted a commentary on a colonoscopy campaign that featured attention-getting, humorous (to some) butt jokes. I liked ‘em. Thought they were clever and effective. Beyond making me think of my guts, though, they also brought to mind a conversation I had with a mentor a… Continue Reading
New Challenges for So-Called “Patent Trolls”
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Idea Protection, Infringement, Law Suits, Patents- Sri Sankaran, Patent Attorney, Winthrop & Weinstine Recent developments in executive, legislative, and judicial branches present new challenges for patent trolls (or less pejoratively “non-practicing entities” or “assertion entities”). The White House recently outlined a series of initiatives to address the impact that patent assertion entities have on the economy. The administration cited a… Continue Reading
Business Owner Burnout, 5 Steps to Fix It
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts— Neil F. Anderson, Founder & President, The Courage Group, Inc. Starting a company from scratch, bootstrapping it all the way, trying to grow your business on a dime (especially during touch economic times) is hard, to say the least. Not to mention the toll is can take on your well-being. All of which can… Continue Reading
How much is your IP worth? Don’t Ask Your Accountant
Posted in Famous Marks, FDA Approval, Guest Bloggers, Patents, Trademarks- Nick Olson; Summer Associate; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP In 1971, an assistant professor at Portland State University was trying to get his start-up company, then called “Blue Ribbon Sports,” up off the ground. While teaching a class on accounting, the professor noticed one of his students—Carolyn Davidson—had a gift for design,… Continue Reading
“Frankenstein” Class Action Suit Against YouTube Dies in Court…For Now
Posted in Copyrights, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology- Ryan Francis, Law Student, William Mitchell Law School vs. Is he alive? Not really, but the Manhattan Second District Court recently referenced the Frankenstein monster in The Football Ass’n Premiere League Ltd. v. YouTube Inc., No. 07 CIV. 3582 LLS, 2013 WL 2096411 (S.D.N.Y. May 15, 2013). In this case, plaintiffs alleged… Continue Reading
Is Product Placement Out of Place? Not Yet
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts- John Reinan, Senior Director, Media Relations, Fast Horse Steve Baird recently wrote about the use of real brand names on fictional products in entertainment. Branching off from that thought, I began wondering about the future of product placement in TV, movies and online entertainment (also known as embedded marketing). Product placement has been around… Continue Reading
A Question, a Funny and a Curiosity: Three Things Coming from a Trip to New York City
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of NutsFirst, the curiosity, when you see a gaggle of characters and then notice they all have “tip purses” in some form with their respective costumes, beware. In a visit with a media company in Times Square (Viacom specifically) we had to pass a few of these characters who were looking to have their photo taken… Continue Reading
Are TV & Digital Mutually Exclusive? Not at All: Why Multi-Channel Marketing Makes Sense
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology, Television- David Mitchel, Director of Marketing – Distribion, Inc. AdAge posted an article today featuring CBS CEO Les Moonves commenting why his network is a better fit for media buyers than digital media. One quote attributed to Moonves was: “If you need to reach a mass audience, you’re not going to get that online….We figured… Continue Reading
Farewell, Duets
Posted in Mixed Bag of Nuts–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney Well, Duets, I have some bad news. I’m hitting the road. It wasn’t anything you did, seriously. It really is me, not you. I’m relocating to Washington DC, and while I may pop up as a guest blogger, this may be the last time we see each other officially. It’s been almost… Continue Reading
Oh Ketchup…I’m Just Not That Into You: Understanding the Value of Fluid Trademarks
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Product Packaging, Trademarks- Jason Voiovich, Director of Corporate Marketing, Logic PD Don’t get me wrong. My two children elevate their weekly Heinz intake regimen to near Olympian discipline. But me? I enjoy a good dollop with pound of fries at the Lion’s Tap, but I haven’t given America’s second-favorite red condiment a second thought since John Kerry… Continue Reading
Protecting Non-Functional Product Design Features Through The Entire Life Cycle: From Conception to Grave
Posted in Branding, Contracts, Guest Bloggers, Idea Protection, Patents, USPTO- Jeffrey Stone, Patent Attorney, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. IP protection for product designs is typically found in a combination of one or more of the following protective mechanisms: 1. Contracts which are typically used with employees and 3rd parties to prevent loss of novelty as well as provide notice of ownership. Contractual protections such… Continue Reading
Evaluating Equations for Measuring Social Media ROI
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Social Media, Social Networking- David Mitchel, Director of Marketing – Distribion, Inc. At the end of my last guest post on this site, I promised that my next post would evaluate some mathematical equations for measuring social media ROI. Special thanks to Angie Schottmuller of Search Engine Watch for writing a detailed article entitled “Social Media ROI: 14… Continue Reading
Twitter Can Be a Brand Marketer’s Best Friend
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Search Engines, Social Media, Social Networking, Technology- Debbie Laskey, MBA If you’re a marketer, you probably spend a great deal of your day checking Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn. Depending on your industry, you may also spend time on YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, and any number of other peripheral sites. But did you know that Twitter can be your best friend… Continue Reading
The “Funnest” Brands In America
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts- Mark Prus, Principal, NameFlash As a professional name developer, I regularly work on exciting projects such as, “I need to develop a name for a new lice medicine.” I try to have fun with every project I do, but that one was tough! Someday I’d like to work in the “Funnest” brand name category… Continue Reading
Apple Store Design Now a Registered Trademark
Posted in Sight, Trademarks–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney Duets readers everywhere may recall my shock back in June 2011 when I encountered the first Microsoft brick-and-mortar store at the Mall of America. Now, about two years later, the store is still there, located right across the aisle from Apple . The crowd levels in the stores seemed close to the crowd… Continue Reading
Caribou Coffee’s Announcement and Handling of Closing Stores
Posted in Branding, Food, Guest Bloggers- Susan Hopp and Karl Schweikart, 45 Degrees/Minneapolis With all the brouhaha in the news lately, let’s just touch the tip of the iceberg with a few observations about branding. First of all, let me remind you that branding is all about managing customers’ expectations, building brand awareness and enhancing relationships to increase loyalty with… Continue Reading
What’s the Right Mindset for Social Media ROI?
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking- David Mitchel, Director of Marketing – Distribion, Inc. The topic of ROI in social media is one that seems to be constantly on the minds of marketers in a variety of industries. There is a deluge of information out there on the topic. “Social Media ROI” on Google brings up 24 million+ results and… Continue Reading
When Will We Run Out of Words to Trademark?
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Trademark Bullying, Trademarks-John Reinan, Senior Director, Media Relations, Fast Horse I’ve been thinking about trademark bullying, and I was all set to write a surprising piece standing up for the bullies. You know, the big companies that spend giant piles of money developing products and services, and then hiring marketing geniuses like me to name them, and… Continue Reading
Body Shaping Manufacturers Butting Heads Over Cami Designs
Posted in Guest Bloggers, Infringement, Law Suits, Patents- Jeffrey Stone, Patent Attorney, Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A. Two previously unrelated topics, Spanx and the Real Housewives television shows, are now connected by a legal dispute that is shaping up to be a real battle of the bulge (or muffin top) with neither party seemingly interested in smoothing things over. Thanks to recent, and ongoing, design patent… Continue Reading
The Most Incredible Naming Advice You’ll Read All Year
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts- Nancy Friedman, Wordworking A lot of people will tell you that creating a name for a company or product is hard work. I have a name for those people: suckers! Actually, all you need are a dozen rules, a couple of corollaries, and a sixth-grade reading ability. The Rules 1. Jump right in! Research is for… Continue Reading
The Names of MIT Media Lab: How to Describe an Innovation
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Technology- Anthony Shore, Operative Words There is nothing else quite like MIT Media Lab. Their mission to “invent a better future” has given us a better present. It’s Media Lab’s research and development that led to the Kindle and Nook, Rock Band and One Laptop Per Child. While their innovative projects receive and deserve recognition,… Continue Reading
The Most Important Shot in Trademark History
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Mixed Bag of Nuts, Sight, Trademarks- Draeke Weseman, Weseman Law Office, PLLC Pantone 278: Carolina Blue What I do remember about that evening is that stores for dozens of miles around must have sold out of light blue paint, because nearly everyone had a stash, which was dumped indiscriminately over friends and strangers in a precursor to the Gatorade… Continue Reading
Changing Your Brand Name: A Game of Whack-a-Mole and You’re the Mole
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Mixed Bag of Nuts- Dave Taylor, Owner, Taylor Brand Group One of the big decisions prospective parents face is the all-important choice of a first name for their child. It’s the name almost everyone will use to address the child throughout his or her life. The choice will reflect heavily on the parents based on how appropriate, respectful,… Continue Reading
