A brand right strategy is a purposeful and customized plan for managing brand rights based on the company’s resources. It is part of the company's brand strategy and develops along with it. What does a brand right strategy mean in practice, and why does every brand owner need at least a basic level brand right strategy? 

"Trademarks and other brand right matters are typically handled as individual, separate measures without systematics and an overall picture. At Kaulo & Partners, the strategic management of brand rights is at the core of our service, which we invest in and which we specifically specialize in," explains Jani Kaulo. We compiled a blog on why the systematic and strategic management of brand rights is important even for a small company. 

Brand rights are brand assets 

The value the customer experiences by purchasing the product or service determines the price set for such product or service. The customer is willing to pay a price corresponding to the perceived value. The brand, on the other hand, is the communication of this value to the customer. A brand consists of various elements, such as words, patterns, their combinations, slogans, the appearance of products and packaging, colours, sounds, music, scents, etc. Exclusive rights to these brand elements can be acquired by registering brand rights.

Brand rights include the company's official names, i.e. trade names and auxiliary trade names; product and service identifiers, i.e. trademarks; website addresses, i.e. domain names; designs of products or packaging, i.e. design rights; and content, i.e. copyright.

“The value of brand rights comes from the addition they give to the price. The higher the additional price generated by the brand elements is and the weaker they are protected by brand rights, the more they attract and enable competitors to profit by imitating or directly copying these brand elements”, says Jani Kaulo.

Brand right strategy means systematic care of brand rights

A brand right strategy is a purposeful and customized plan for managing the company's brand rights based on the company's resources. It is part of the company's brand strategy and develops along with it. To put it simply, a brand right strategy means the systematic management of brand rights, where all individual measures related to the protection, enforcement, maintenance, development, use and utilization of brand rights are based on a prepared strategy.

With a brand right strategy, decisions related to the company's brand rights, for example new registration applications, are converted from individual and isolated actions to systematic and strategic decisions supporting the long-term goals.

Every brand owner needs a brand right strategy

Every brand owner needs at least a basic level brand right strategy. For a large part of companies, brand rights form a significant part of their value and are thus a strategic asset of the company. Such companies need a more comprehensive brand right strategy.

The amount of brand rights also typically increases as the company's operations continue and grow. Some brand rights may lose their importance over time. Adding or abandoning brand rights should also be based on strategic decisions. Successful and efficient management of brand rights and the increase of their value are based on a prepared brand right strategy, which is implemented through practical measures based on it.

The brand right strategy answers the questions of how the company's brand rights are created, protected, utilized, used, enforced, maintained, and audited. The essential point of view is whether these measures are carried out consistently, systematically, efficiently, are properly targeted and support each other.

The benefits of a brand right strategy 

A brand right strategy enables systematic and consistent care of brand rights and increases their value. When the company has a clear plan and instructions on which brand elements should be protected, why, where, and how, it is possible to use the limited resources effectively to protect exactly those brand elements whose value to the company is the most central. The brand right strategy ensures that the protection will cover everything relevant for the business now and in the future, and that the registrations are implemented and maintained.

Further, clear instructions and a brand right strategy ensure that the trademark is also used correctly and in the form in which the brand rights are registered. In this way, the company avoids using its trademarks in a way that weakens the protection and, in the worst case, can lead to the loss of brand rights. The strategy also defines how the monitoring of the registered trademark is implemented to identify similar trademarks and infringements by competitors in time.

When a company creates new brand elements, the brand right strategy ensures that availability for use and registration of the new elements is secured in advance without the risk of infringing on someone else's earlier brand rights.

Brand rights to flourish

The brand right strategy is prepared in practical workshops in cooperation with the company's management. These workshops also serve as IP training tailored to the company.

“Over the past year and a half, we have carried out about a dozen educational brand right strategy workshops for brand owners, and new workshops for this spring have been scheduled. We have received good feedback from these very practical workshops. We have a broader understanding of brand rights than just from the perspective of protection or avoiding risks and errors. Brand rights are intended to be used to support business and/or to generate direct income, for example through licensing," Maria Puronvarsi reminds.

"Once the brand right strategy has been drawn up, we are best able to help the company in the cost-effective and value-adding management of brand rights, regardless of whether it concerns creating new brand rights, protecting them, using them correctly, utilizing them in commercial contracts, defending them or regularly auditing them."

Ask for more information!

Maria Puronvarsi, maria.puronvarsi@kaulopartners.fi, +358 40 669 0527
Jani Kaulo, jani.kaulo@kaulopartners.fi, +358 40 637 5442