Intangiblia™
Plain talk about Intellectual Property. Podcast of Intangible Law™
Intangiblia™
Shalini Sitamaran - Turning Brand Identity into Profit
Unlock the secrets to transforming your trademarks into lucrative assets with our latest episode of Intangiblia. Join me, Leticia Caminero, and our distinguished guest, Shalini Sitamaran, an IP law expert with a rich background in physics and finance. Together, we uncover the critical steps to crafting a comprehensive trademark strategy, emphasizing registration, monitoring, and the power of the Madrid Protocol to conquer global markets. By the end of this episode, you'll view intellectual property in a whole new light and be ready to leverage it like never before.
Our conversation navigates innovative pathways for monetizing trademarks beyond their traditional roles. Discover how licensing, brand extensions, and collaborations can propel your brand to new heights, using real-world examples from iconic brands. We explore the fascinating world of cross-branding and the potential of AR and VR technologies to offer immersive experiences that captivate audiences. With careful planning, these strategies can help your brand tap into diverse customer segments and elevate its market presence.
Finally, we tackle the exciting yet challenging landscape of influencer marketing and global trademark issues, sharing insights on maintaining brand integrity while maximizing reach. As we look ahead, we highlight the importance of staying adaptable in a rapidly evolving digital marketplace. From AI and data analytics to sustainability practices, learn how to anticipate changes and seize opportunities for continued brand success. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion that promises to reshape your approach to brand monetization.
So I think one way of dealing with these challenges would be to prioritize a comprehensive trademark protection strategy. So talk about trademark registration, of course, but also talk about monitoring, talk about enforcement, talk about Madrid Protocol, which allows you to enter into different markets at the same time, or through a one-stop shop, like I like to call it. Foster strong relationships, partnerships. Making partnerships online is so convenient these days.
Speaker 2:You are listening to Intangiblia, the podcast of intangible law plain talk about intellectual property. Please welcome your host, leticia Caminero.
Speaker 3:Well, registration is just one part of the story. For IP protection, for brand protection, trademark protection, you really have to understand the full realm of options that you have in order to monetize, in order to really take advantage of the fact that you have an exclusive property that was provided by the registration of the trademark, by the registration of your IP. So let's learn about it today.
Speaker 1:It's great to be here. I am Shalini. I am from India, but I have traveled and lived in the US for more than a decade and in a different lifetime. I used to be a physicist and then I turned to IP law because I realized that my researching skills, I might be better at protecting what researchers do than actually being a researcher myself. So I turned to IP law and from IP law life took a different turn because I realized that IP is not the obtaining a registration is not the end goal in itself, but it is actually to recognize them as assets and to commercialize the assets. So I switched, not switched. I am now in two boats IP law and I'm also in finance, where I talk about valuation and commercialization of IP. After I transitioned from physics to law and I have dedicated myself to helping individuals, businesses, universities to not only protect their innovative ideas through IP filing, but also take it one step forward and to benefit from that IP filing.
Speaker 3:So you had had many lives already, so, from physician, researcher to IP professional in finance, that's quite an interesting background and I think that enriches a lot of the work that you do, because you come from a different perspective, so you will have a wider angle to view the cases and to provide strategies.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I had a professor in law school who told us that to manage intellectual property you need to have three legs you need to have technology, you need to have law IP law specifically and you need to have management or finance. And until then your journey doesn't stop.
Speaker 3:Wow, yeah, I like that, the three that I like that. So let's dive into the topic. Trademark monetization. Can you explain what it is? What is to monetize a trademark and how is different from the traditional brand management and revenue generation strategies?
Speaker 1:Perfect. So you know, the mistake a lot of us make is that we view IP as something different than regular property. The moment we drop that barrier, we realize that anything I can use to monetize a traditional property, real property you know your land or gold or house or whatever it is I can use that to monetize my intellectual property. So let's take trademarks. Well, only difference is that in the case of intellectual property, because it is intangible, a trademark is intangible. You don't see it until you see the logo on some product or some service or on a billboard. Only then you realize it is a property. So it goes beyond traditional brand management. Trademark monetization goes beyond traditional brand management because we can now use trademarks to generate revenue streams strategically. So your traditional brand management, because we can now use trademarks to generate revenue streams strategically. So your traditional brand management. Right, it focuses on your reputation, loyalty, brand integrity and all those fancy words. But trademark monetization is very simple. We break it down to basics and say we want to extract value from these trademarks. That's it. How do I extract that?
Speaker 1:So I had a client at a tech startup that I worked with and we had and they had a fabulous software solution. Right. The product was innovative and we were filing a patent for them. And then they were wondering what do they do? How do they get onto the next level in their funding and pitching and so on? So I said, okay, let's look at your trademark.
Speaker 1:They had completely ignored that. For them, the trademark was just a name for what they were doing. They were not looking at it as an asset, as an entity in itself. So we talked about it. We made them realize that, look, your trademark is, it has market appeal. There are people who look at it and recognize you as somebody. So why not license it out to other companies? Why not license it out to in the same industry complementary industry, you know?
Speaker 1:And they did take that seriously. They looked into it and they went through a series of licensing agreements. They ended up adding uh, I'm not going to say a huge chunk, but substantial additional revenue to their existing portfolio. And, and this way because the brand was already there in the other markets when they entered, they were already known. They didn't have to set up separate marketing strategies for their products. They didn't have to do heavy investing now to create brand awareness and so on. So they had already entered the market without entering the market.
Speaker 1:So in this way, I think, trademark monetization, if we look at it as opposed to regular brand strategy, you have to. We are actively working on monetizing the brand's reputation, not just making a brand having beautiful, creatives and colorful pictures, but milking it for what it's worth that there is goodwill, there is reputation. Let's use that to create revenue streams. This was just an example of licensing, but we can also look at merchandising, franchising. For example. If you're a coffee brand, you can look at coffee cups, hats, beanies, so on and a bunch of other ways. So it is active versus a passive brand management approach.
Speaker 3:On that same thought, can you give us examples in which innovative strategies have been extremely successful for trademark monetization?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, it's just okay. For sure, it's just okay. So I think we should start with saying not look at the various intellectual properties as separate things, but look at it as one gigantic system, one gigantic organism. No like, let's not look at patents separately, trademarks separately, design separately, but one big sandwich which then tastes delicious because it has all these components and businesses. Of course, they are adopting a lot of creative strategy these days. They're trying to. You know, like we discussed in the previous segment about active brand management, so they are taking charge. But what we can also do and we've seen this in a number of cases is brand extension.
Speaker 1:I have, I'm a company, I have a brand. Let me expand my brand into new categories, new industries. You know why should I restrict myself to one? So, for example, I'm a fashion brand and I can tie up with a high-end hotel chain and, using my fashion, what is the something that sets me apart as my you know iconic designs, from my brand, from my portfolio. I can take it and apply it to hotel chains.
Speaker 1:But of course, everyone has to be on board with this. We cannot just take someone's iconic brand and a logo and stick it onto ours. There have been a couple of NFT cases in that realm. So, with everyone on board, this kind of collaboration will not only generate buzz and media attention. For example, we can have Taylor Swift and the Hiltons and or Starbucks and Kim Kardashian something like that where you have two iconic brands that bring their specific flavor to the table and this way they can now double their customer segments. So Starbucks has not only the Starbucks loyalists, but also Kim Kardashian's fans will now jump in to buy the Kardashian designed cup or drink, and this you know. So you're getting two for the price of one, and I think that is the game to be played, especially with. We have a Gen X, we have millennials, we have Gen Z. Each one has different preferences, different likes and dislikes, but by doing this cross branding, this kind of experience, this collaboration, I think we can now tap into markets of the different generations.
Speaker 1:And I think another trend that I have noticed in this experiential branding gosh, there's so much to say, I'm sorry, slow me down if I am too fast is that we can create immersive brand experiences. There was a chain of hotels that brought in the Disney feel, so that when you walk into the room, I think they have patented it as well and then they can now monet. They have patented it as well and then they can now monetize their trademarks as well with the Disney and the hotel chain where you can choose if you want to be the Little Mermaid, and then the AR VR thing makes the entire room like the Little Mermaid's room or her seabed, and then the same characters that are there in Little Mermaid's room or her seabed and then the same characters that are there in Little Mermaid. Now you can find AR VR versions of them on your wall and you can have like an interactive 3D bath time for your child and so on.
Speaker 1:So this kind of experiential branding it makes it something unique that people want to then splurge on. People want to come and experience it and, of course, if you bring in Disney, then you have the little kids involved in this customer experience as well. It forges an emotional brand, a connection with the brand, especially if you catch them young. And so I think if people are aware about this, they are getting increasingly creative in their approach to trademark monetization. They are open to exploring unconventional partnerships such as hotels and Disney and digital and AR VR kind of technology. So I think this kind of digital innovation is going to maximize brand value and it is going to really drive that revenue growth in the months to come.
Speaker 3:So it's unique partnerships, making sure that you take someone who is already excelling in their own field and looking for ways that you can excel together.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. This kind of collaboration then gets you twice the fun two for the price of one.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I love the hotel idea. My daughter she's only two, but she's a huge fan of Moana, the Disney princess, and, well, the daughter of the chief, because she's not a princess, so I think she will be she will never leave that room, ever.
Speaker 3:I will have to drag her out, yes, yes. So, on the same thought of maximizing the brands and making sure that you get the most of the, to make sure that you have your community, that your brand creates a community, that creates people that really identify themselves with it and it creates brand recognition. And how can you make the customers your village, in a way?
Speaker 1:So active supervision of how your brand is being used, how it is being portrayed in the media. A lot of times we have seen in the past where there has been trademark genocide, there has been trademark dilution, all because there's a very fine line between something becoming popular, becoming the buzzword or the trendsetter, and from there to becoming a generic word, or dilution is a very, very small step, like one nanomillimeter in that direction and you're gone. We have seen it with Xerox and we have seen it with Aspirin and Zipper. All of them have gone the generic side way. Of course, xerox did manage to make a comeback, but they still now, if you go to the Xerox website, they take active care in saying that do not use the word Xerox and we are monitoring it and so on.
Speaker 1:But in the end I think it is too little, too late, because where I live in Goa and when I grew up in Bombay, every street had, especially around schools and colleges and universities there were always little shops which even now say Xerox one rupee or two rupees or whatever it is, and for that customer, even though he is buying that machine from Xerox or probably now from Brother, which is a well-known brand, I think a Japanese brand. They are not aware, they are not conscious that there is something called a dilution or genocide. So I think if you are, if you are looking to make your customer base your village, your community, your tribe, you also have to deliver on the front, not only ideal products and services, which of course you are good at you are going to deliver it but also in letting them know that you have built a fence around that property and you are monitoring it and not anyone and everyone can trespass over it. You know if I'm making an analogy to real property. So I think you have to give that same respect to your customer base, to your consumer base, to let them know that we take this as seriously as you take.
Speaker 1:Because you know, as a customer, I know with a two-year-old child you must have that that they walk into the store and they want a particular cereal or they want a particular chocolate or you know, a particular toy. And why is that? It is there? Because the brand has taken all that effort to stick that product at that level of the child. You know they always put the interesting cereals, the sugar-loaded cereals, at the height of two-year-old kids and not at the eye level of the adults.
Speaker 3:Oh my God yes, and the shiniest colors and and with the cutest kind of uh, uh, pet or or images. Yeah, it's, oh no. And then she's like she, she loves chocolate. Yes, even when I was um pregnant with her, I would I'd never ate so much chocolate in my entire life, even today, so it was completely her from the womb. When we go to the supermarket, she says, because you cannot pronounce chocolate, she goes. She knows exactly what it is, she goes, takes it and then there's no force in human nature that can remove that chocolate from that hand.
Speaker 1:No, absolutely. And I like how very conveniently you blame that entire pregnancy of chocolates on her.
Speaker 2:I like how you snag her at it.
Speaker 1:Yes, of course you are but that is the thing, that kinder, joy and and whatever else these kids like they have created. That appeal right, but they also have to monitor it to make sure that, of course, your two-year-old won't. Won't mind, but you will be wary if there is someone like. I don't know if it's happening where you are right now, but in india we are seeing a lot of ripoffs on Ferrero Rocher, which is my favorite chocolate. But then I see a lot of boxes, same design and that gold, except that the chocolates are wrapped in shiny purple wrapper, royal purple. So it looks like, ooh, ferrero has come up with a different flavor or something you know.
Speaker 1:And then you look closely and even the writing is like perero rocher, but it you know two words, but it actually is something else which, if you're in a hurry and you're just picking up to put in your cart, it is, it's a. It's a trademark infringement and trade dress infringement. And if I I think that, no matter where, especially something like Ferrero Rocher, which has far reaching consumer base, you know, I think they should take an active participation in. If I am that loyal that when I go to someone's house I always give them a box of Ferrero Rocher, then they should also take into account that their trademark is being diluted and is being made generic, or they just don't care enough about this market, in which case I, as a consumer base, will wonder is this brand worth my loyalty?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's true, because it's a matter of do you value yourself enough in order to pursue any other confusion? Because if it is to the point that if you really have to look closely to make sure you don't make a mistake, then there's a very high risk of customer confusion. And well, I live in Switzerland now and yeah, I mean you know chocolate is like a very important industry here. But everything is about how you identify yourself and how customers can identify yourself. If they are driven to confusion, then they most likely going to be disappointed and they're going to end up even not using your brand, because they say well, every time I try to buy it, I get confused. I don't have the time to be so vigilant every time or to be always aware. Am I getting what I want or am I getting something else? So it can also exhaust the customer because you have to do like an extra legwork just to make sure that you are not being deceived.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. And we are seeing a lot of influx of such trademark infringements in Maggie, maggie noodles, which is a big you know a big student food thing. Here and outside schools and colleges you'll always find someone who's selling Maggie and Maggie and toast Maggie and omelet, all kinds of things and so. But when you go into the stores you see someone who has the same yellow packaging with something written in red and it's just not, it's not fun shopping. Then you know if you're going to have to weed out, like you said. It creates an added level of of inertia for me to jump over yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 3:That's why it's important to be vigilant. It's important to make sure that, uh, your, your customers, are happy and you are addressing any infringement or any confusion in the market.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And I want to go back and say one more thing about the collaboration we were talking about. Much as it sounds like I'm being, you know, at the risk of saying something incorrect and stepping on anyone's toes If you are at a particular, if you have a niche customer base like that is, one customer base of a particular class of society, then you should think of connecting with, like a cross section, a different cross section of society, in order you can't keep living in an ivory tower. You know that I'm at this level, rich, white male, let's say, or, you know, or African-American or Latina, but wealthy. You can't afford to restrict yourself to these classes anymore when you are servicing, of course, unless it is skin care, cosmetic cosmetics which, of course, as women you know, every there's different cosmetics that suit different skins and different hair products and skin products. Other than that, if I'm looking at food and and living and food and lifestyle kind of thing, then I should be open to experimenting with a different cross-section of society.
Speaker 2:You are listening to Intangiblia, the podcast of intangible law playing talk about intellectual property.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course, to make sure that you don't limit your trademark or your brand or your products just to one section. If you can, you can enrich it and have a further reach or further impact. And on the cosmetics, yes, it's extremely hard to find a brand with my exact skin color, because I'm very fortunate that I'm just in the middle of everything. I either get too light for me or too dark for me, so there's only very few brands that actually matches my skin color and some of them make me look orange. So you're the Goldilocks of the cosmetics world. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm lucky enough that's very interesting.
Speaker 1:so I have a friend who is finnish and so she's extremely pale skin, then pink lips, and I'm on the brown and with a yellow skin tone side. I bought a set of lipsticks like four lipsticks to try, you know, trial pack see which one suits me. The browns refused to even show up on my skin. It was like I was not wearing any makeup and then I had to. Then I gave her the browns and I kept the pinks for myself, even though I wanted something brown, you know a mocha shade or something, and we just had to divide it because it refuses to show up on my skin. So so, yeah, so the cosmetic thing is is very true what you said.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I remember growing up it was so hard to try to do because back then it was in magazines. You learn in magazines like the trends and then you would try to replicate them on you and, oh my God, I will never look like the girl in the magazine. Have you seen the smoky eyes? Oh no, I have to be very careful with smoky eyes because I look like I have like a woman in my head, like someone hit me in the face Right.
Speaker 1:I look like a raccoon when I try smoky eyes. But my fair skin friends, they go smoky eyes and they look so glamorous.
Speaker 3:Flawless. I have to. Actually, for me it's more like light in eyes. I have to put a lot of white, a lot of light colors in the eye area to make it pop, because if I put it too dark then I look like I was in a fight.
Speaker 1:I think we need to write to the cosmetic companies.
Speaker 3:Yeah, don't forget about brown girls please. Yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 3:So let's keep on the topic, and we're talking about trends. We're talking about, um, all this, this, uh, how we can uh take on trends and make it our own, um, like smoky eyes and so forth. And now we can talk about the big trend of this last 10, 15 years is the influencer life, the influencer marketing, the influencer impacts on customer and how they can really take advantage or take a positive step in order to have a good relationship with influencers, with the influencer marketing, and how can they make valuable collaborations and paradigms.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, 20 years ago, when I started in this field, when I started my career, there was no such thing as influencer, there was no such thing as social media. But in today's day and age, I don't think you can have a conversation without bringing in the word influencer or social media. You cannot have a conversation without it and word influencer or social media. You cannot have a conversation without it. And every time you go to Instagram or I got an account yesterday on Twitch and my kids are very amused at me for having an account on Twitch, but I got in there because there was a copyright issue on Twitch they are sending their influencers who violate copyright rules to copyright school, saying you're banned until you go and finish this copyright school that we are offering, and only if you clear it you can come back as an influencer. Only then will your account be restored. So I said, ok, this is a good chance to go and talk about copyrights on Twitch and I made an account and my kids are they're 13 and 15. And they say you don't know what Twitch is for, but but trademarks do. So you realize that even these, these platforms that are tailored for Gen Zs and Gen Zalpha, they are keeping in mind intellectual property, they are aware of it and whoever is advising them they're they're still enforcing it. So there is a huge opportunity for collaborative partnerships and sponsorship deals in this realm of influencer marketing.
Speaker 1:The brands are recognizing the value of aligning with influencers, and I was reading I don't know if you'd read about this there's this little girl who is now, I think, about four, four years old or something, but she started at two, uh, giving reviews about toys, and then Leo, and she had her own YouTube platform and Leo Mattel also signed her on and they would send her toys and she would review it uh kind of thing. So, uh, so they are. So brands even. You know, every brand has it's the right influencer for it, uh, where whose personal brands resonate with the target audience. So, for example, I I was advising this uh company, very small cosmetic company, and they wanted to grow their brand and uh, without spending too much in marketing. So what they did was I wasn't involved in this transaction, but they went on to tie up with a beauty influencer on Instagram to launch a limited edition makeup collection featuring that influencer's signature style. So the influencer was also not so big to be on a global scale. Neither was the cosmetic company. But at whatever level they were at, they did collaborate and by using each other's personal brand, the influencer's personal brand and their social media following, which, if you're a country like India, you know, and even if you're only localized to India, we have 1 billion people, so we can have a huge following, social media following. So it created a significant buzz, drove sales and the influencer also benefited from the increased exposure because the brand was advertising.
Speaker 1:The influencer and I also on a personal note note I also have a friend who is crazy about home decor, so she keeps buying curtains and and knickknacks and because of her shopping thing, these brands on Instagram started promoting her, started giving her products to review and to talk about and she makes short reels on them and now her house is filled with so she gives it off as gifts. She's got a house full of all these all these home, home decoration, interior decoration, things that she likes and she's. She's an influencer in her own right and she gets to promote all these brands. So they send her a box, she unboxes it and makes a whole video about it. It's a lot of fun. But in all of this they have to make sure that the trademark is visible, because that is ultimately the bulwark, the cornerstone for protecting the intellectual property right in these collaboration and and it of course, is justified that the that the brand requires the influencer to showcase the trademark. This way, both parties. They maintain control over their brand, brand identity and reputation. So the influencer's identity is her face or hands, whatever they like to show in the video, but at the same time showcasing the brand's trademark. So in this case, both to show in the video but at the same time showcasing the brand's trademark. So in this case, both are there in the center stage.
Speaker 1:And whether it is co-branded merchandise or sponsored content, endorsement, deals, unboxing something, you know, these trademarks they provide a very strong foundation for building this kind of successful partnerships, especially in a digital realm where nobody can, there's no way of going and verifying if something is true or not. But if there is the backing of an established brand behind the influencer, then there is some kind of integrity, there is some kind of truthfulness to what's happening. Otherwise, you know, I could be sitting here saying I am talking unboxing this bottle and this drink, a health beverage, and it's all it is is uh, filtered water. So that kind of uh backing by the, by the brand, by cosmetic brand or whatever it is that we're talking about here. It brings a sense of makes it kosher, makes it you. Okay, everything is in order and we are not being taken for a ride. As a customer, I know that they are both legitimate.
Speaker 3:Now, yeah, so it's making sure that you make the right collaborations with the right person as well, because it has to be an influencer or a person who is already in that field, in that industry, in the sector what you're talking about. I love the example of your friend that she made herself an influencer just because she was passionate about home decor and enhancing her home, and it sounds like she has a lovely home. So this is something to keep in mind that to make sure that it's not only collaborating with someone because they have a lot of followers. It's just someone that is really is true to the word. It's someone who has a good reputation. It's someone that is already in the same field as your brand, is someone that is already in the same field as your brand is that is going to give you positive, is going to collaborate with you positively. It's going to be someone who's going to contribute and not take from you.
Speaker 1:Perfect yeah, positive collaboration that should be the terminology collaboration.
Speaker 3:That should be the terminology, exactly, exactly. So talking about the bigger picture in the negative way. So we have talked about all the great opportunities, all the great ways in which you can actually enhance your brand and you can monetize your brand, but now let's talk about it in a way that what um challenges can you encounter in this um path of monetization? Um what, uh, what, what is typically or more commonly, um the challenges that someone faces in this, uh, in this way?
Speaker 1:okay, you know, the world has become hyper-competitive and every space you go is overcrowded for lack of a better word and irrespective of your geography, but mainly because we've also just collapsed into one large global digital village and there are no boundaries and any kind of boundaries in this digital village. So then the problem comes in monetizing the trademark, because every country so in the physical realm, where we are, or where we have boundaries and we have territories we have intellectual property is jurisdictional in nature, territorial in nature. So the laws that are there in India are valid in India, the laws that are there in Switzerland are valid in Switzerland, and they can. But what happens in this digital village? What happens when we take away all the boundaries? And then which laws do we follow? So for intellectual property? For as it is intellectual property or trademarks, they are intangible in nature. So that itself is the first problem. But now you take this intangible asset, you take this, something that we cannot touch, feel, hear, smell, and then now you put it in a world which doesn't have boundaries and which, also, we cannot touch, feel, hear, see, smell. Right, internet, what is the internet? So now the obstacle then becomes navigating the intellectual property laws and regulations which are significantly varying across jurisdiction. Now we have to treat the world as one, but having boundaries but not having boundaries.
Speaker 1:And so what do we do? So I remember we had this company that I was working with and they were having trouble with expanding their trademark licensing agreements in a different country in an international market, because every country has its own set of legal requirements and cultural nuances and compliance becomes an issue. What I'm used to as a legal practitioner in India maybe very different. What my day looks like here in India is very different from what your day looks like in Geneva. And so how do we protect our brands and how do we ensure compliance across these boundary lines? So one way to overcome this hurdle, what we did was we gave up control and we said now partner with local legal experts. We will advise you from this end, but for the local, for that place, let's find you a local partner. So I'll give you, I'll draw a parallel to it. I'm I don't know if you'll identify with it or not in India, about a few years till, about a few years ago, and we still do we have arranged marriages right.
Speaker 1:So in arranged marriage, the boy and the girl, the groom and the bride do not meet initially. So it's all happens at a very high level. There is a marriage broker here. There's a marriage broker here who are talking to the parents. So the parents, two sets of parents, are there, they have their own marriage brokers and the two marriage brokers are now talking to each other and they negotiate all the things like other qualities, matching, other horoscopes, matching, and the bride is this. Bride is qualified, groom is qualified, bride has a job, groom has a job geographical. Are they willing to move? What do they do? Are they willing to migrate? All that kind of things get sorted at that level of the brokers. So the bride and the groom they don't have to deal with all of this.
Speaker 1:So if I talk about the two companies in different countries as the bride and the groom, then the legal experts here and there become the marriage brokers. So they iron out, they know the cultural nuances, they know what could go wrong, they know what are the things that needs to be discussed, what are the terms and conditions that need to be ironed out, and they sought all that at their level. So we need that. The one way to overcome this hurdle would be to partner with a local legal expert who have a clearer understanding of the regulatory landscape. They can provide tailored, customized guidance for that market, rather than me trying to navigate the Switzerland legal system. You know, it would just be not reinventing the wheel, not be worth anyone's time.
Speaker 1:So the other problem these businesses could face in in this world is right now, uh, brand dilution, which we've already spoken about. Um, we have, uh, it's like I said, everything is highly competitive and consumer preferences are changing. Something is a trend today because of a meme or a YouTube or Instagram or TikTok reel, and then tomorrow it is no longer there in in the picture. So consumer preferences and our attention spans are decreasing very rapidly. So what we like today, we don't like tomorrow. So how do you maintain brand consistency? How do you enforce trademark rights? Across this scene that is evolving so rapidly, it becomes crucial to safeguard your brand's reputation, your market position.
Speaker 1:So I think one way of dealing with these challenges would be to prioritize a comprehensive trademark protection strategy.
Speaker 1:So talk about trademark registration, of course, but also talk about monitoring, talk about enforcement, talk about Madrid protocol, which allows you to enter into different markets at the same time, or through a one stop stop, like I like to call it foster strong relationships, partnerships. Making partnerships online is so, so convenient these days on LinkedIn, on and on any other social media I only stick to LinkedIn because I can't handle too much of social media but you have access to legal professionals, you have access to technology solutions for brand monitoring who's infringing your brand and how the brand is doing, and so on. We get data and statistics for every single thing that happens online today. So if you are really serious about it, we should make use of it, because these can help negate your risks or maybe not negate it totally, but at least mitigate it to an extent and ensure compliance across geographies. You know, then, we don't. We are not worried about what is happening in Switzerland or what's happening in Cambodia, for now, yeah.
Speaker 3:so it's important to have the right person on your court. So it's important to have the right support, the right professionals around you to make sure that you have all the information needed to do the steps that you need to do. So with that, let's talk about the future. So how can you prepare for such a hectic future? Because we know everything that is coming and is already changing so much. The way that we do business is constantly evolving.
Speaker 3:Now, with new technology, we have even more challenges. With AI, with enhanced reality as well, there's so many technical technology part that is already influencing on the business, but also there's more cry for, or request or demand for, cultural awareness, to make sure, as well, your brand is culturally aware, is respecting other people's rights or other people's way of living, and also you have even a political component sometime, according to the type of brand that you have. So all of these things that you need to be very careful to navigate to make sure that you use them in your advantage or in a way that doesn't affect negatively affect your brand. So what do you foresee to be the big changes and shape in our future?
Speaker 1:Let me get my crystal ball out.
Speaker 3:You don't have one we all have one.
Speaker 1:You know, leticia, it is a very interesting and important point. You brought out that there is cultural nuances that we need to be aware of. There was a trademark dispute a few years ago in India where someone was selling on Amazon India they were selling these doormats, bathroom mats, with gods and goddesses Indian, hindu gods and goddesses on it, and I don't know how familiar you are with the Indian culture, with the Hindu religion, but we don't even step on a piece of paper, because that is the goddess of learning. It goes to that extent. You cannot put your foot on a pen or a pencil or a piece of paper, or kick a book or anything. It is still the goddess of learning. So the bathroom mat with gods and goddesses on it and there were also bathroom slippers that they were selling, with gods and goddesses photo on it, and it was just so insensitive, and Amazon had to take it off the website within 24 hours. So you raise a very important point.
Speaker 1:The question is, though million dollar question is what do we do about it? How do we? There are so many people in this world and there are so many cultures, so many religions and so many languages, so many things. We don't know enough about, everything that is in the world. So so how do we navigate all that? And also with the next generation? So every other generation gap is getting smaller. Our time it used to be I don't know about your time, I'm very old it used to be 15 years and now every seven years is a new generation, so it's cut down to half its lifetime. So that means that the consumer preference, the thinking, the mentality, the technical advancements, like you mentioned, the emerging market trends everything is moving so rapidly that your parents' approach to brand monetization is not going to work anymore. Brand monetization is not going to work anymore. So we had this consumer goods company that was shifting from a brick and mortar store to e-commerce platform, and what they did was they revamped their trademark monetization strategy and started doing targeted digital media marketing campaigns, leveraging whatever user-generated content is there, online influencers, using all of these available tools to promote their product. So we, of course we are living in fantastic times that we are not relegated to a single mode of marketing, right? We are not.
Speaker 1:When I was growing up, it was either magazines, billboards, television or radio, and, if I'm not mistaken correct me if I'm wrong, but I think radio is still the most expensive platform to advertise on. But television has vanished, billboards have vanished and magazines have vanished. So what remains? And I don't know how many of the Gen Zs listen to radios, to the radio. But where have all our usual places, where we used to go look for advertisements? You know, I used to go to movies, movie halls 10 minutes in advance to watch the advertisements, and now those have vanished too. We barely get any ads. So now, I think because everyone else has left those realms and they've moved on to TikTok and whatever other platforms, instagram and so on. So this agile approach allows people, allows businesses, to capitalize on emerging trends. I think they just go where the new generation is going. They just follow them and see what they're doing.
Speaker 1:And to answer your question, if I gaze into my hypothetical crystal ball, I foresee several key trends that shape the future of brand monetization. This rise of AI, artificial intelligence and data analytics will enable brands to better understand consumer behavior, because you can do a lot with AI and data analytics. You can just throw a lot of unrelated data. Now, I'm not saying that all the correlation it makes is correct. You have to take it with a grain of salt. But if you have someone reasonably sharp behind who's operating all this AI, then they can tell you if this correlation that is drawn like whether there is a connection or there is no connection to draw some kind of a graph you know, correlation graph between them. So these kinds of studies will better enable brands to understand consumer behavior, personalize and have like a targeted marketing effort. Secondly, we can have there is there is this awareness of sustainable, growing awareness of sustainability, corporate social responsibility and so on. That is driving the demand now for brands to align with ethical values and have they know that people are getting conscious about climate change and they are willing to do something.
Speaker 1:And finally, the global markets. I hate to use the word expansion. I think it's expansion and collapse at the same time, because we are expanding in terms of size, but it's a collapse in terms of how close two people can get. I'm sitting in Goa, you're sitting in Geneva and here we are having this conversation. So it's collapsed in a way and not expanded.
Speaker 1:So this cross-border e-commerce is going to create many more opportunities for brands to reach diverse audiences that they could not have imagined in our parents' age and to monetize their trademarks on that scale. Now imagine how far-reaching and huge that impact is going to be. On the downside, though, I must tell you that I'm worried for the future of influencers. Though I must tell you that I'm worried for the future of influencers, social media influencers, again, with AI, there are all these AI influencers who have come in, and if they are willing to do the job for no cost, who is going to hire influencers so real influencers, and you can't tell the difference apart. I don't know if you've seen any of them, but they look so lifelike and in this. So, if I'm getting immaculate content and delivery without all the, all the diva and the and the Prima Dona.
Speaker 3:Without dealing with a person.
Speaker 1:Okay, you said it Without dealing with a person People. They said it Without dealing with a person People. They're just bags of chemicals.
Speaker 2:Right Now you take away the chemicals and you have everything else.
Speaker 1:I don't know what is going to happen to social media influencers. But, having said that, I think brands are going to be better positioned in the coming days because there's going to be better readability into the consumer's mindset, a better prediction of what people are going to go towards next, what is the next trend going to be. So, in that sense, brands are going to get be able to extrapolate that graph and get a jump on to how the behavior is going to be and target that, and so we better watch out be and target that, and so we better watch out.
Speaker 3:yeah, it's true, it's true, there's so many, so so many jobs and positions that ai is gonna make obsolete. Uh, so we, we need to be uh vigilant with that and also move accordingly and change accordingly and and adapt ourselves, because, uh, technology is not gonna stop, something that we have learned, learned from the beginning of history, from the beginning of humankind technology, innovation is never going to stop. We just need to adapt and make ourselves better thanks to the technology that we have at hand. So, thank you so much for your time, thank you so much for sharing with us. It's been an immense pleasure to get to know you, to understand better the great work that you do, and also, I would like to ask you if you can tell us where we can find you, if someone wants further information or someone wants to hire your services in India as well.
Speaker 1:Sure, I am there on LinkedIn a lot more than I would like to admit. You can find me on LinkedIn as Shalini Menezes and otherwise. All my information is available on LinkedIn, so you can just look me up there. I will share the link with you if you need. Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me here on this podcast, leticia. I enjoyed speaking to you.
Speaker 3:Thank you, it's my pleasure. We have reached the end of our episode. Greetings from Switzerland.
Speaker 2:Thank you for listening to Intangiblia, the podcast of intangible law plain talk about intellectual property. Did you like what we talked today? Please share with your network. Do you want to learn more about intellectual property? Subscribe now on your favorite podcast player. Follow us on Instagram, facebook, linkedin and Twitter. Visit our website wwwintangibliacom. Wwwintangibliacom. Copyright Leticia Caminero 2020. All rights reserved. This podcast is provided for information purposes only.