Duets Blog : Creativity and the Law: DuetsBlog

An open call for change. Change where it counts, in brands.

Don't read this if you have a closed mind and can't imagine a different future beyond tomorrow. You know who you are, this will make you cringe and we don't need that on our conscience.

For the remaining, take a minute to consider that a city government and a business are fairly similar. They have income, expenses and they provide services to a specific audience. They employ people and should be governed by the same natural economics that exist for all organizations (for profit, government or not-for-profit).

Now consider the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) as two similar organizations. They have a fair amount of duplication, providing similar services, having similar roles, similar physical proximity, similar missions, etc. Yet, to this day they are separate operating organizations.

Yes. The suggestion here is a merger of cities and a merger of brands. Minneapolis and St. Paul.

   

If you need examples, look to Budapest (Buda and Pest) and New York merging with Brooklyn. If you're wondering why there are no other modern examples, welcome to my world of wonderment.

Now, before your head starts to move back and forth, this doesn't mean we eliminate half the jobs. Though if you've been through a merger, there are efficiencies to be found in duplicate roles. It does mean someone has to figure out the brand strategy behind two merged brands. You could treat it like the two are still separate, but run them from one back office, creating the efficiencies of one government while still having two cities. Look to Byerly's and Lunds as a great example of how this could be accomplished. Or merge them in under an existing brand name (Twin Cities) would also be a good option. The last two options would be a new name entirely, which would be an interesting challenge if we involved voters in the naming decision. Lastly some smerging of the two names (Minnstpauleapolis) which would certainly not be our suggestion.

Whatever the strategy, the savings would be tremendous. This isn't savings to the organization, but rather savings to each citizen of these two great cities. If they were two businesses a merger would have occurred long ago.

 —Aaron Keller, Capsule

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (6)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A couple of hours ago Kare 11 News in Minneapolis reported "Lions Tap wins settlement with McDonalds."

Absolutely no details about the settlement were provided, so it's hard to understand how Kare 11 is able to pronounce this as a "win" for Lion's Tap over McDonalds, although it certainly plays into the seductive David and Goliath theme of the case. The attorney for Lion's Tap apparently is quoted as saying the parties reached a "mutually beneficial amicable resolution," and Kare 11 further reports that McDonalds did not "immediately return a phone message seeking a comment" today.

Perhaps even more troubling than the unsupported "win" characterization, is the repeated failure of the traditional media covering this story to get the facts straight -- facts easily discernible by reading the federal court complaint that is so often recited in the stories, but apparently very few actually have undertaken to read it. In case you're interested, here is another link to the actual complaint.

As we have documented before on DuetsBlog, Lion's Tap did not register the "Who's Your Patty" slogan until after McDonalds began use and only days before filing suit against McDonalds, and it did not register -- even in Minnesota -- four years ago, as repeatedly and incorrectly reported ad nauseam by the media.

In fairness, although local CBS affiliate WCCO also republished the significant error on the timing of Lion's Tap's Minnesota registration of the "Who's Your Patty" slogan, at least it didn't assume the settlement to be a "win" for the Tap: "Lion's Tap Settles With McD's Over Catchphrase."

Our coverage of this case is here (9/3/09), here (9/8/09), here (9/21/09), and here (10/17/09).

In case we have not heard the last word on this case, stay tuned, and we'll let you know more as we know more about this Lion's Tap "win" and "mutually beneficial" resolution.

UPDATE: Is the Star Tribune reading DuetsBlog? It appears so. A Google search shows the Star Tribune's original story title on the settlement was: "Lion's Tap wins trademark suit against McDonald's," but now the story is titled: "Lion's Tap settles trademark suit against McDonald's," with no mention of the Minnesota State registration.

Now we just need to get USAToday, NPR, Newstin, Daylife, and NewsSpider, on the bandwagon.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The Minneapolis Star Tribune finally reported on the Who's Your Patty? trademark infringement lawsuit filed in August by self-proclaimed "David" (Lion's Tap) against "Goliath" (McDonald's), here. Our previous coverage is here, here, and here.

The Star Tribune reports that McDonald's has not yet answered the complaint filed by Lion's Tap. That's true, but all that means is that Lion's Tap filed, but has not yet formally served the complaint on McDonald's. Had the complaint been formally served on McDonald's, as the rules require before an obligation to answer arises, then McDonald's would have twenty days in which to respond. So, the parties continue to negotiate for an amicable settlement. 

No doubt, "David" would prefer not to have to formally serve the complaint because that is when the federal court's machinery starts to turn and more significant money begins to be spent in pursuing the case. Of course, Lion's Tap will need to formally serve the complaint on McDonald's within 120 days of filing the complaint or risk the suit being dismissed, so, just before year end. We previously have discussed the strategy of filing, but not immediately serving federal court complaints, here.

The Star Tribune story also reports: "The Lion's Tap says it has been using the phrase for at least four years and has had it trademarked in Minnesota. It also has a federal trademark application submitted." The use of past tense "had" appears to repeat the same incorrect fact that most of the media ran with when the story originally broke, namely, that Lion's Tap had registered Who's Your Patty? as a trademark slogan before McDonald's began use of the same slogan, implying McDonald's knowingly "stole" something of Lion's Tap.

As you may recall, we already pointed out how nearly all the media outlets got this critical fact wrong, as Lion's Tap did not register until ten days before it filed suit against McDonald's, and well after McDonald's posted billboards bearing the slogan. All the Hamburglar references don't stick to McDonald's if it knew nothing about Lion's Tap's discrete prior use of the Who's Your Patty? slogan, an entirely plausible scenario, as we have already discussed, here.

Most interesting, at least to me, are the scores of reader comments to the Star Tribune story, here.

For the time being, they reveal that, for just about every enthusiastic Lion's Tap fan who loves to support the small fry and is cheering on "David" there is a pretty harsh critic of Lion's Tap, some even taking pot shots at the quality of its food. Indeed, it appears a substantial number would endorse Jason Voiovich's caution: "Here's the problem, instead of coming off as the victim (which you could argue Lion's Tap is), they come off as another coffee-in-the-crotch, show-me-the-money, lawsuit-happy opportunist." So, you might say that PR can cut both ways.

The comments also understandably reveal more confusion between Lion's Tap and Lyon's Pub than between David's and Goliath's respective uses of Who's Your Patty?

Also, I learned from the comments about another reportedly great burger joint that appears to be worth the extra drive: Hopper's Bar in Waconia. I'll make sure to let you know how that goes. So, beware, PR efforts can unintentionally inform even loyal patrons of competitive alternatives too!

More on the legal claims, after the jump, in case you're interested.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Earlier this week, while walking through the sky-way in downtown Minneapolis, I saw three people dressed in neon green bodysuits from head to toe. The green men were just milling around with people in line to catch a bus during the evening rush hour. I automatically thought it was a viral marketing stunt (see guest blogger Allison Checco’s post on viral marketing here), and a good one, given the attention-grabbing nature.  I asked just about everyone I saw for the next two days what it was all about, but no one knew.  A brief Internet search revealed a movement to randomly place a “Green Man” in public. There are a few websites selling the bodysuits and a blog that serves as “a venue to give news to fans and a connection seeking Green Man costumes” where people can post pictures and videos of green man sightings and stories.  There is even a map tracking Green Man sighting around the world. Thus, there appear to be green men all over the world who are not promoting anything other than fun.   Even though it was not the case, this was a lesson in how powerful viral marketing can be. 

If anyone saw the trio of green men in Minneapolis on Tuesday or has more details, please let me know.   

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

So what is viral marketing? The simple answer is: a marketing strategy that encourages people to pass along a marketing message. Some will argue it’s a fancy word for word-of-mouth marketing. Others insist it has to take place online—through blogs, Twitter and such. But no matter how you define it, the beauty of a well thought out and executed viral marketing campaign can help make a mountain out of a molehill. Or a beloved local icon out of a fiberglass sculpture—as was the case when the Lake Creature arrived in Minneapolis.

When the Lake Creature appeared in the waters of Lake Harriet, we knew it would cause a ripple among folks in the area. But it was the strategic viral marketing campaign that turned it from a ripple to a tidal wave among greater Minneapolis residents and area visitors.   As visitors to Lake Harriet took in the creature’s beauty, their imaginations ran wild: Who brought it here? And what it was doing in the community? For the first week, the only clue was a sign at the lake with the address to a non-branded micro site where, upon logging in, residents could continue the fun by helping build the mystical creature’s lore.

That same week, the chatter on Twitter proved people were taking their conversations about the creature from the shoreline to online. “There’s a creature in Minneapolis,” they said. “Lake Harriet has its very own Nessy.” Some passed along the microsite address, others just speculated as to what the creature was doing in the Cities and why. Within minutes of posting their tweets, the powerful influencers would receive a message from the Lake Creature inviting them to follow her on Twitter and help direct people to the microsite to submit photos and stories. 

So when the Minneapolis Parks Foundation stepped forward in mid-July to announce it was behind the project and hoped the creature’s presence would help enhance the lives of residents and bring awareness to Minneapolis’ beautiful parks, most would say “mission accomplished.” In the first week alone the Lake Creature gained more than 150 followers on Twitter; nearly 7,000 people visited her site and the effort generated more than 3 million media impressions. She even has her own Facebook fan page. Some would say that’s a viral marketing fairy tale—and we won’t disagree.

—Allison Checco, Fast Horse

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Best Buy, owner of the Geek Squad brand since 2002, has filed a federal trademark infringement complaint in Minnesota against a pair of individual defendants apparently located in Missouri and California, for allegedly registering and using <thegeekpatrol.biz> domain and the names "Geek Patrol," "Geek Squad," and "Geek Squad Patrol". Here is a copy of the Complaint, including Exhibit A (Trademark registrations), Exhibit B (DomainTools.com print out), Exhibit C (Tollfreeda.com print out), and Exhibit D (Superpages.com print out).

For those of you interested in great entrepreneurial stories, Robert Stephens founded Geek Squad while a student at the University of Minnesota, riding his bicycle around Minneapolis to make computer house calls. The stylish collection of branded Beetles permitted Stephens to cover much more ground when making house calls or office calls. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Robert Stephens and toured his humble first office located above Moose & Sadie's cafe and coffeehouse blocks from downtown Minneapolis. He gave me and my wife what are now vintage Geek Squad t-shirts, obviously we should have had them autographed at the time!

My early and initial observations of the Geek Squad trademark Complaint are below the jump.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Finally, here is a photo of Rapala's "More Hits Than Google" billboard ad discussed previously in my Monday post entitled: "Rapala Fishing Lures: More Hits Than Google? Or, More Cats Than You Can Shake a Stick At? " Sorry for the delay folks.

Anyone notice the exceedingly small print located in the lower right corner of the billboard ad?

OK, leaving your microscopes at the lab, three guesses what it reads:

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link