Let’s talk about Brand Protection.
If you missed Part 1 and 2 of our fighting the counterfeiters series, check them out here:
What makes catching counterfeit businesses feel like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole?
What makes it so hard is that counterfeit businesses are constantly evolving alongside legitimate businesses, with each supply chain crisscrossing the other with regular touch points.
It’s incredibly difficult to route out the scammers.
Why counterfeiters are targeting you
Your business is at risk of counterfeiting mainly because you sell successful products that are wanted, needed and desirable to your customers. This makes you uber-attractive to illicit traders who know how to copy and make money from your hard work.
But behind the ‘counterfeit business’ are people.
Greedy, selfish, dishonest people who know how to hide in the digital space.
But people none-the-less.
And no matter how clever they think they are, they can be brought out into the open, where they are vulnerable.
Why you need a Brand Protection Strategy
You can help unmask the counterfeiters by creating a strong brand protection strategy.
The first thing you need to do when creating yours is to:
- Keep it real and set goals that are achievable
It needs to be exclusively tailored to your business because when it comes to protection strategies, one size doesn’t fit all.
Big or small, it must reflect your business and its needs. Embraced top down with every element of the company on message. And that’s a tough one because there will be competing interests, depending on whether your strategy is lawyer-led or investigator-led.
A blend of both is probably the best way to go, but it should be capable of evolving in response to information gathered from various sources, including:
- KYCM Know Your Counterfeit Markets
- The infringers/counterfeiters
- Their MO
From experience where product safety is central to your strategy, seizing counterfeit products is of greater importance and impacts public authority engagement.
Where there is no obvious product safety, then Public Authority engagement can be tricky.
Implementing Brand Protection Programs (BBP)
Implementing your chosen strategy quickly and efficiently will depend on several things, including:
- What the problems are
- The level of response your organisation want to commit to
- Your budget
BBP’s have to evolve as well, which can be a challenge for any organisation, particularly one that has just set its plan in action or where it relies on a small number of people who may or may not have the experience or the authority.
Also, brand protection managers can come and go, which can disrupt the flow of a program. New ideas, new learning, different models, budgets and responses to the counterfeit problem all take time to work.
And when you add the dizzying array of solution providers, each with their areas of expertise, range of offerings, levels of skill and fee structures to the mix?
Well, it can result in you not following through and protecting your brand fully against the counterfeiters.