Ci Sense Blog

Who Wants to be a Fragrance Millionaire?

When it comes to non-conventional trademarks (such as sound, scents, shapes, colors and so forth), it’s interesting and, occasionally, a bit unsettling what companies will try to trademark. While perfume companies understandably want their particular carefully developed fragrances to be trademarkable, certain scents should be left alone.

“The olfactory memory is probably the most reliable memory that humans posses… Consequently, economic operators have a clear interest in using olfactory signs to identify their goods.”

Companies want you to follow your nose… And if the scent is trademarked, they figure your nose will lead you right to their doorstep.

So what kinds of scents do companies look to make theirs? Well, a Lithuanian company wanted to trademark the scent of pizza:

“Opinion polls show that many consumers in Lithuania identify the pleasure of eating pizza with our trade mark,” said Mindaugas Gumauskas, marketing director of the Cilija company. “This makes us believe that the scent of freshly baked pizza is a subject to our copyright.”

OK…

What I’d like to believe is that the smell of fresh fruit, such as strawberries or lemons, is sacred. Well, it is. For now…

Here’s hoping it stays that way.

Also, If you ever want to be a fragrance millionaire from your new cologne which smells like the beach, you’ll probably want to file for protection asap.

Come On, Everyone’s Doing It

When you look at trends in trademark filings, it can be surprising how many Individuals (as oppose to the usual corporate players) file trademarks. Here’s an example of that phenomenon in the beverage industry.

In 2008 Individuals (as opposed company entities) filed over 1900 trademark applications which cover the non-alcoholic beverage industry.

It seems like everyone’s developing their own line of energy drink or enhanced water these days. Perhaps it’s thanks to the number of private labeling, bottle manufacturing and custom flavor companies? Whatever the case, all you need these days is a good name and some money to spare and you’re well on your way to making a name for yourself in this hyper-caffeinated world.

Does Your Competitor Still Have a Pulse?

Is your competitor still ticking?

While glancing through recently filed trademarks, sometimes you’ll come across a trademark filing from your competitor who seems to have been dormant for awhile. Just seeing this indicates that they’re still alive and kicking (and have something in the works).

Of course, filing a trademark is not exactly a huge investment, and certainly some companies have filed a trademark and gone under shortly afterwards – but for the most part seeing a new filing indicates of a sign of life.

A sign you’d be wise to pick up on.

Trademark Filings & Brand Launches

At CI Sense, we often stress how trademark filings can give you insight into your competitor’s future plans and strategies. There is so much to be gleamed from what your competitor is filing.

For instance, here is an example of a timeline which shows how three trademark filings for a company predated any web mention or official launch.

In this case we also had the luxury of knowing ahead of time about a new slogan and Domain name (microsite) which made it clear what the company was going to push in their next marketing effort.

Had this been your competitor, having this information would have been far, far more beneficial than merely finding out about the new product launch. (Which would have meant, sadly: Game Over.)

Armed with the information above, you would be advised that something big was in the works, you’d have an idea of what that was and you’d be able to plan ahead, react, take action – and compete.

Confusion is Helpful? Who Knew?

While product packaging often makes use of distinct colors, color names themselves are an important element – and something to include in your trademark filing considerations. But to do so, you’ve got to come up with something better than “gold”, “green” or even “berry”.

But think hard – because you won’t be alone. And a company like Crayola isn’t the only one developing outlandish and original names for their colors. True, Crayola progressively moved away from generic-sounding colors such as “Green Blue” and “Yellow” into shades named “Cerulean” and “Unmellow Yellow” and have even gone with an “environmental” flavor for their recent: “giving tree”, but they are not the only ones seeking special color names.

How many outfits are of a “lemon” rather than “yellow” hue or a “sunset” rather than “orange” color? And the cosmetics industry truly seems to be taken with unique color names. You’d be hard-pressed to find a regular name like “red” or “pink” in a makeup bag (OK you’d be hard-pressed to find me near a makeup bag, but I think that’s best for everyone.)

“There are only so many colors for makeup, only so many reds and pinks — a red is a red is a red — but some of the names make them stand out,” says Nina Sisselman, vice president of creative development for High Maintenance, the company with the beauty license for Playboy. “If you’re in Sephora, with hundreds of choices in front of you, the name, the package and the color makes a difference.”

Color names are getting sexier and sexier – and weirder and weirder. While you can imagine what a color like “”Boudoir rouge” looks like, it may take more brainpower to figure out how red something like “Gash“ is, are whether you’d really want that on your eyes…

But odd and, dare I say, even repulsive color names, achieve a marketing coup. A Wharton study found that:

“when consumers spend more time thinking about a product, they form more connections to it and end up liking it better. Trusting souls that they are, shoppers believe marketers are trying to tell them something important with a name, an assumption she traces to the way people fill in the gaps in confusing conversations.”

I recall a Seinfeld episode where Elaine shows Jerry her nails which are painted “Toxic Waste Green” and remarks, “revulsion has now become a valid form of attraction”. I worry…

Get All the Information You Need to Stay Ahead

Dave Wieneke has recently written a compelling post on Useful Arts offering tips on how marketers can “stay ahead of their competitors”.

One of his suggestions is to “watch for new competitor trademark applications”. He correctly states that the government site USPTO is a good starting point, but should not be your only source, since it “can spot exact hits, but not close calls” and does not compile information from other sources (e.g, incorporation listings, company directories and product announcements).

Dave suggests supplementing with a service which allows you to search for trademarks and be alerted of new filings:

“…so that when a named competitor registers a new mark, you’ll be notified in time to plan opposition or a marketplace response. You can register to receive notices each time a named competitor files a mark, or when marks are filed in a specified industry.”

“Early Warning” competitive intelligence is critical. But while like Thomson Reuters and similar services provide good information – they can be quite limited, especially in terms of how data is reported and they tend to be very expensive.

We try to avoid tooting our own horn, but in this case we think CI Sense provides a better – and more comprehensive – solution. Rather than merely alerting you to new trademark filings, CI Sense presents and analyzes data in a clear way and provides you with unique information, in report form – making your job much, much easier.

So you can watch your competition, find new competitors, identify emerging industry trends and even get brainstorming ideas.

All this means you don’t simply find out what your competition is doing – but have real tools to “stay ahead”.