Michal Pastier: Building a brand without legal protection is building a foreign brand
“Build, but protect,” so you started. Why this message?
Over the past 13 years we have accompanied more than 350 brand and naming projects. That's over 350 companies, founderies, founders and ideas that wanted to grow. At the same time, we were also at Nearly 80 rebrands, which arose not from ambition, but from necessity: firms were not prepared for expansion, did not have resolved rights, did not think ahead.
Therefore, we say: Think globally from the beginning..
If you are building a brand without legal protection, you are actually building a brand that someone can take away from you at any time.
At the conference, you also mentioned a very powerful story from practice.
Yes. One of our clients spent two years investing in product development, design, marketing.
Then he went to the fair in Berlin: a great moment, a great chance.
His booth was there exactly 12 minutes.
An American firm that had registered trademarks came to him and asked him to leave immediately.
He packed up and went home. Not because it doesn't have a good product. But because he was not protected.
You also talked about the “brand boom”. What do you mean by that?
Today, every third influencer has a brand.
Every e-shop wants to be a brand.
Every startup wants to be a lovebrand.
Only in the United States does it arise More than 6 million new businesses a year.
In 2021, more than 600,000 trademark applications.
It is registered worldwide today more than 3.5 million trademarks.
There is extreme overpressure. And in this chaos you have to get attention about two seconds.
That is why we constantly remind clients Principle of two-second.
What does this mean in practice?
Engage quickly and clearly.
You don't all have to save the world. It is enough that you understandable, distinguishable and memorable.
A beautiful example is the brand Scrub Daddy: smiling sponge with a simple claim “Scrubfree”.
In two seconds you know exactly what she is doing and why she is different.
But Scrub Daddy didn't do well just marketing.
Before entering the Shark Tank (with us Jama Levova), he had:
- registered patent,
- two more patent applications have been filed,
- and a trademark for the name.
The result?
In 2014 sales $1 billion. Without protection, this would never have happened.
In Slovakia, however, protection is often forgotten.
The approach still works here: “Somehow it will be”.
First we invent something, then we release it into the world, and we solve legal matters only when the problem arises.
But by then it is often too late. A great idea is not enough. Intervening in two seconds is not enough. It needs to be protected.
You also touched on the topic of copying.
This is the reality of the market.
You have a good product, you will be listed by Kaufland or Billa, and in two years you will discover that there is a very similar product lying next to you on the shelf.
You can't just copy the name. They are copied:
- paints,
- shapes,
- patterns,
- full brand codes.
Therefore, it is important to protect visual and sensory elements of the brand, not just the name.
Please explain the term “brand codes”.
In times of chaos, people are more likely to notice color, shape, symbol or characterthan a story.
Brand codes work even before storytelling.
A beautiful example is Ritter Esportes— square chocolate.
Milka has been trying for years to get this shape for herself, and She has lost a lawsuit twice..
You don't have to save the world, I repeat. Be indistinguishable. And if you have something unique, protect it.
You often say, “Don't fund a category, build a brand.”
Just like that.
That's why we did rebranding like:
- Cyclodress.sk → Holokolo
- Detskepostele.sk → Wilson
- Temponabytok.sk → Condela
Generic names fund a category, not your brand.
The same with expansion: test if the name will stand abroad.
For example, our client Meta Pharm.When entering Germany and Switzerland, he would be lost.
That is why the brand was created HelgeHeim.
The first reaction was:
“That sounds weird.”
Yes. And that's good.
Strange = different = memorable.
What would you say to the companies at the end?
Warren Buffett said it best:
“Brands are moats.”
The mark is a protective moat around the castle.
Strong brand brings:
- price power,
- defense against competition,
- Better negotiating position for retailers.
Building a brand is building future demand.
It is reducing the price sensitivity of future customers. Just like we see it with Apple.
Brands grow when they reach out new people.
So build brands.
But don't forget them protecting.
As soon as possible.
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