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Jump Start - Trademark StyleThis is an article about a way trademarks are used by business to gain rapid recognition in the marketplace. Many trademarks are selected to be memorable so that they will easily stick in the mind of a consumer. Hopefully, that trademark will convey a certain image about a product or service that quickly pops up in a consumer’s mind when the consumer is ready to make a buying decision. Many successful trademarks eventually become the basis for brands that cover a family of products. The family of products or services oftentimes extends far beyond the original product or service which includes a particular trademark. Users of products or services who have had a good experience with one product or service come to rely on a brand as indicating a certain level of quality when searching for another product or service. Interestingly, the company which first used a trademark or spent advertising dollars to build a brand may have been purchased, absorbed, or simply gone out of business. Yet, the reputation of the trademark or brand still remains in the minds of consumers. In the last twenty years, some businesses with particularly famous marks have allowed others to use those famous marks under a license agreement. One of the most well publicized license agreements was the right to use the famous Bayer cross in a circle trademark with other products. Many consumers associate the stylized Bayer trademark only with aspirin. These consumers will now find the famous stylized Bayer trademark on many products to include lawn fertilizer. For those buyers uncertain about which product to buy, the quality reputation associated with Bayer aspirin carries over to other products. Some believe that the use of a well-known or famous trademark on a large number of products is a perversion of what a trademark is supposed to do; that is, designate the manufacturer of a particular product. The fact is that now, more than ever before, famous trademarks are being used on many products and services. These famous trademarks have tremendous marketing power and are being used to grab the attention of either buyers for retail chains or consumers presented with an array of products. Specifically, when a consumer is confronted with a dizzying array of what appear to be similar products in a large warehouse store such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or Office Depot, many consumers will make their buying decision based on a familiarity with a well-known trademark when all product offerings appear to be the same. There is a lesson to be learned by businesses just starting up or businesses entering into a market for a new product or service. This lesson is that businesses are well advised to seek the use of a well-known trademark to obtain rapid market recognition. The vehicle to obtain the rights to use a well-known trademark is known as a trademark use license agreement. Many businesses have determined that an attribute of a product they sell is similar to an attribute of another product or service sold under a well-known trademark. For example, if a homeowner were asked about some type of chemical bug spray that was particularly effective in killing insects, that homeowner could probably quickly name a favored brand of insecticide. If another company were to develop a product which killed insects by the use of something other than a chemical spray, such as an electrical field, the use of the well-known brand with the chemical insecticide might provide an indication in the mind of the consumer that the expertise of the company knowledgeable in killing bugs with chemicals has been expanded into killing bugs with electricity. Launching a product and gaining market recognition is a difficult and challenging part of any business. Launching a product and gaining market recognition involves both advertising and consumer education. If the process of advertising and consumer education can be shortened by capitalizing on favorable impressions already in the mind of the consumer, then businesses should seek ways to tap into these favorable impressions. The way to bridge this gap is to seek a license for the use of a trademark which already occupies a favored place in the mind of a consumer. Many businesses do not realize that trademarks having a favored place in the mind of the consumer are available for use, but at a price. While at one time some businesses were reluctant to allow others to use their well-known brands, those days are rapidly passing away. The smart thing for a business to explore is to seek a license from the owner of a well-known brand for association with a new product or service being introduced into the marketplace. Such license may provide a jump-start at a cost significantly less than a major advertising or consumer education campaign.
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