BRANDED MEANS WANTED… AND PROTECTED!

What’s the buzzword in today’s branding world? Brand Protection.

Brands need to be protected because of the values that come with them, the tangible and the intangible. Their intangible values are measured based on strong profits that are consistently built through years of brand building exercises. When this happens, the brands are able to communicate effectively to their target audience the correct brand image. A unique brand name creates easy brand recall. So will a well-directed slogan, an eye-catching logo or colours that simply imprint themselves onto the minds of the audience so powerfully that they are associated immediately with the brand. Even an exciting packaging creates the correct impression to add to the intangible value of the brands. But this is not all.

Let’s look at the market today. The ever-expanding industries are offering a sea of choices with each new product launched resulting in stiffer competition. With so many brands that greet your eyes each time you engage in a casual stroll in leading retail outlets, the need to protect your brand presents itself as an important option to ensure its survival. One way to greater brand protection is through having more Unique Selling Propositions (USP). And the other way is by increasing its Emotional Selling Proposition (ESP). This way, it becomes increasingly difficult for other brands to successfully imitate the original brands. Simultaneously, these brands are able to communicate to their target audience their exclusive brand personality and image the brands are selling.

One good example is Royal Selangor. Founded in 1885, it now has a workforce of more than 600 highly skilled craftsmen. So, how did a company that started out making incense burners, candle stands and joss-stick holders become the most well-known brand in pewter and the largest pewter maker in the world? One way is by ensuring that its brand personality remains consistent. This being one of its intangible assets, its protection means that its brand is protected at the same time.

Maintaining a tradition by continuously creating timeless pieces that consumers have come to associate Royal Selangor with gains respect as people look up to Royal Selangor for being consistent with its distinguished brand personality. These items, being a piece of its heritage, have become part of its USP.

Today, Royal Selangor continues its tradition of creating masterpieces in designs and items each year. In doing so, the company has been successfully perceived as maintaining its brand consistency. When this happens, brand recall is achieved much quicker, making it easier to capture mind share and market share.

Royal Selangor protects its brand by creating pewter items of great beauty. These beautiful creations have come to be recognised as Malaysia’s gift to the world. With distinguished mastery, each piece crafted bears testament to the authenticity of design that has given the brand great prominence in the world of pewtery. It is no wonder that the then Sultan of Selangor, the late Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, impressed with the brand, decided to confer a royal warrant on the company in 1979. And thirteen years after its royal appointment, Selangor Pewter became Royal Selangor.

The brand name change has given Royal Selangor an excellent opportunity of redirecting its brand personality. With the new name, consumers are able to associate the brand with a lifestyle of elegance, opulence and luxury. In line with its new personality, the company introduced pewter items that represent that lifestyle. This of course increases its Emotional Selling Proposition (ESP) producing a brand of great and ever-increasing value.

When consumers purchase a Royal Selangor, they are not just purchasing a piece of pewter, but acquiring a taste that represents a lifestyle of elegance and sophistication. The brand’s USP and ESP have played an important part in its brand protection, making Royal Selangor No 29 in the Top 50 Asian Brands League (Asian Brand News 1999, www.asia-inc.com).

Brand protection is more than just protecting its intellectual property rights. Patenting, trademarking, copyrighting and protecting your trade secrets by law help to protect your brand. But they are no guarantee to creating a brand personality that is unique. The unique brand personality, achieved only when it becomes differentiated through its USP and ESP and other brand building activities is the result of a long-term ongoing brand building exercise. That’s why you should protect your brand so that it becomes wanted.

To protect your brand, talk2us@peopalove.com or call +604-2288 696.