( ...continued RBC finds the comfort zone with BD-BrandProtect)
Buisson says that the next step in their strategy
was to get the reporting activities to a manageable level. “That’s where BD-BrandProtect
came into play. They helped us make decisions in order to narrow the parameters down to a manageable list for us to review. Now we don’t have to spend hours reading about every single infraction. We get a list of those activities that represent areas of concern for us. Items are flagged by BD-BrandProtect if a situation changes. Now when we see a report with 100 names we don’t worry because we know that anything that needs action will be flagged.”
“The main criterion for flagging is brand usage that encroaches on the bank’s reputation in its delivery of financial services. BD-BrandProtect immediately flagged and dealt with a bank in the North Sea region that had used our logo and positioned themselves with another name. When anyone misrepresents themselves as an affiliate of ours, it makes us very nervous.”
Where concerns are raised, RBC will take the appropriate measures, from issuing a polite request to the user to cease using their brand to initiating legal action. “In the vast majority of cases a polite letter is enough,” says Buisson.
BD-BrandProtect bringing comfort and peace of mind
Once a year RBC reviews its branding policies to ensure that the reports continue to reflect their top priorities. It has also established a number of policies to ensure that the appropriate follow-up measures are used when required. “If for example, we find advertising of our logo on a gambling site, we now have a policy about that,” she says. “Most of the time these are easy to manage”
Buisson says that as Internet activities continue to escalate, she has come to realize that the job of monitoring online brand activities properly would simply have been too much for departmental staff to handle. “Even though we don’t have a physical product out there, we have a big need to monitor what’s happening with our brands in Canada and around the world. If we had to do the monitoring ourselves we would have had to hire at least one additional person, as well as coordinate follow-up with fraud and legal authorities, online domain organizations and IT security specialists. To do the whole job would require five in-house people plus the technology costs.”
BD-BrandProtect alleviates a considerable amount of the pressure she says. “I’m a big proponent of going to the experts and sitting down and working with them. It’s very reassuring to work with a company that’s looking out for us. It certainly helps some of us sleep at night.”
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