-Dave Taylor, Owner, Taylor Brand Group Dear Avis, 50 years is a long time to sustain a slogan. Imagine the cultural change it has to navigate. Just look at the changes in the rental car industry since 1962. Yet your recently retired slogan, We Try Harder, survived and at least kept you in the number… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: burger king
Hail to the King (of Beef)?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Famous Marks, Food, Marketing, TrademarksThese McDonald’s billboard signs are all over the place at the moment. For more examples check out I Saw An EyeSore Billboard. Maybe I think too much about the words “hail to the beef,” but it strikes me as an obvious play on the phrase “hail to the king” or perhaps “hail to the chief”… Continue Reading
Industry Color Clusters
Posted in Branding–Susan Perera, Attorney I recently read Nora Reed’s blog post, Locate your Brand on the Color Spectrum, on Logoblog. Nora identified a trend, which you may have noticed from time to time, that some industries tend to congregate in a specific color scheme. For example, fast food logos tend to be in the red/yellow category, while… Continue Reading
Sportscaster Speech Slaughter And The Need For Distinction
Posted in BrandingNow that my blood pressure has returned to near normal levels after my beloved Blue Devils barely eked out the NCAA basketball title (and I do mean barely), now feels like a good time to reflect on the daily bludgeoning the English language receives from sports telecasts. Seriously, is there any class of professionals doing… Continue Reading
Is Honesty the Best Policy?
Posted in AdvertisingBurger King’s latest commercial presents a new approach to advertising in the burger wars – honesty; admitting they “stole” McDonald’s breakfast sandwich idea. In the commercial, the creepy-looking King scales a fence and breaks into McDonald’s headquarters in the middle of the night to steal the recipe for the Sausage McMuffin with Egg breakfast sandwich. The commentator notes… Continue Reading
Brand Signals: The Building Blocks of Brand Identity
Posted in Branding, Guest Bloggers, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Packaging, Sight, Smell, Sound, Taste, Touch, TrademarksBrands communicate with the world through a series of message delivery systems such as broadcast advertising, web sites, company representatives and product interaction. These systems utilize brand signals to communicate. While these signals commonly take the form of brand names and logos, they can also extend into sight, sound, touch, taste, smell or even action… Continue Reading
From Trademark to Tin God: Long Live the King?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Food, Genericide, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Television, TrademarksA few years ago, the world was introduced to arguably the creepiest fast food mascot of all time: The King. For many of us, this introduction came courtesy of a frightening commercial suggesting that we "Wake Up With The King." Over the following years, TK expanded his popularity. He went from our bedrooms to our… Continue Reading
Duets Blog Authors
Steve Baird
Just so you know, I'm all about brands and the law, both professionally and personally. I regularly annoy family and friends in retail stores by focusing on product labels—not to buy the product, but to read the fine print and ask, "Who owns these brands" and "Did they really register those marks?" More...
Brent Lorentz
Although I wish I could say my path to the law was the result of a lifelong dream or calling, it was more the result mere curiosity and an affinity for leather-bound books. More...
Tiffany Blofield
Although my initial career path was to be one of the Supremes (not the musically talented ones with platform shoes and sequins, but rather, the nine wearing sensible shoes and pressed black robes in DC), I will likely stay in Minnesota as I have never lived anywhere else. More...
Brad Walz
My law career started on the ice…as a defensive hockey player (we’re not talking professionally…and if I were, I probably wouldn’t have gotten into law). More...
Derek Allen
In hindsight, writing about creativity and the law may have always been in the cards for me. I began training for a career in litigation at an early age by finding ways to disagree with pretty much anyone about pretty much anything. In my longest-running “case,” I argued with my middle school math teacher, Mrs. Jabs, for the better part of four years over whether, even if I got the right answer, I had to show my work to get full credit. More...
Martha Engel
Although my interest in gadgetry and my aptitude for math eventually led me to become an engineer, my ad executive father and artistically gifted mother fostered an appreciation for the creative from a young age. More...
Anjali Shankar
When I was in elementary and middle school, I loved writing short stories. Creativity and imagination seem to come naturally to people when they are young. More...
Timothy Sitzmann
I have always considered myself to be a creative person. Full disclosure: I'm not claiming that I've created anything good, merely that I have created things that exist.More...
Cathleen Dahl
Trademarks and I met through a small job advertisement in the back of a local newspaper, and little did I know that I would spend the next 18 years (and counting) deriving a living from their existence and importance. More...