Spring break brings my family to Las Vegas this year; when we made the plans, we never anticipated leaving behind better weather in Minneapolis, especially this time of year. Oh, well. At least it isn’t slowing down our hiking adventures in the amazing Red Rock Canyon area. Meanwhile, closer to the strip and all the… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Lower Case Letters
Webinar: Hot Marketing Topics with Trademark & Legal Implications
Posted in Branding, Genericide, Guest Bloggers, Look-For Ads, Loss of Rights, Marketing, Non-Traditional Trademarks, Product Configurations, Product Packaging, TrademarksLast week I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a ninety-minute webinar with my good friend, frequent and eloquent guest-blogger on DuetsBlog – Aaron Keller of Capsule – complete with some friendly banter on the following: "Hot Marketing Topics with Trademark and Legal Implications." Minnesota Continuing Legal Education has generously provided a link where the webinar can be viewed in its entirety, here. As you’ll… Continue Reading
Mayo Clinic Logo loses lower case visual identity
Posted in Branding, Famous Marks, Marketing, TrademarksWe’ve already written a bit here about the trend toward lower-case branding and visual identity: Although I’d like to invite and actually welcome the far more professional wisdom of our trusted visual identity brethren and other learned branding and marketing types, until then, I’m guessing this trend has at least something to do with wanting to position a… Continue Reading
i am ben
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Trademarks, TruncationThe ben of today’s post is not one of the many celebrities having the name, a truncated version of any number of other product and service brands, such as Bengay, Ben & Jerry’s, Ben Franklin, Benihana, or even dear old Uncle Ben. Today we’re talking paint, and this paint brand has at least two things going on here:… Continue Reading
Rapala Taunts a Monster?
Posted in Advertising, Branding, Fair Use, Marketing, TrademarksHappy Mother’s Day! So, it’s time again to talk a little fishing billboard branding, I guess. We have enjoyed discussing Rapala billboard ads over the last couple of years, the "attracting cats" billboard, the "More hits than Google" billboard, the "Whudjagiddumon" billboard, and now the "Do you believe in monsters?" billboard. Note the upper case "G"… Continue Reading
Think Harder Concrete Campaign Targets Soft Competition
Posted in Advertising, Domain Names, MarketingBut for seeing a billboard last week like the banner below, it would never have occurred to me that cement producers really needed to advertise, but the Portland Cement Association has impeccable timing, as it is pothole season in Minnesota, and billboards like this are up all around the pothole-ridden Twin Cities. The campaign takes… Continue Reading









