KitchenAid tightens the reins on global branding with BD-BrandProtect

The Evolution of an American Icon

Although the KitchenAid stand mixer silhouette has been a registered trademark since the mid 1990s, it has been a well-recognized symbol since the current design was introduced in the 1930s. As one of only a handful of registered silhouettes (others include Mickey Mouse’s ears and the Coke bottle), the KitchenAid stand mixer image is now protected in more than a dozen countries around the world.

“The KitchenAid mixer is an incredible asset so it is important for us to protect both the name and the image from becoming generic,” says Brian Maynard, Director, Brand Marketing of KitchenAid, who reports that the equity of the brand has been estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Any kind of violations that go unnoticed can quickly erode that precious equity.

Then there is the challenge of maintaining trademark status. “Throughout history terms like escalator and aspirin have become generic simply because people did not do the work to protect them,” says Maynard. “To avoid that fate, you have to show the courts that you have put every effort into protecting your brand. If you don’t police your brand, courts will typically rule that the mark is no longer meaningful and has become ubiquitous.”

The Online Branding Jungle

The challenge of brand protection however, has grown exponentially for companies operating in the online world. Violations are more plentiful and harder to track. In addition, the nature of these violations can be far different from the typical ones found in more traditional media.

“With the advent of the Internet a few things happened,” explains Maynard. “Everyone in the world could now see the mixer so the potential for misuse of our trademark became greater. Because it is so well known, there was more risk of companies creating knock-off products and marketing them under other names. So it was even more important than ever to prove that we were putting every effort into protecting the brand and our trademarks.”

Other types of violations also surfaced as KitchenAid’s online policing activities grew. Some, such as sites using the logo without permission, were minor and could be easily fixed with a warning letter. Others were not so innocent, such as using the logo to create links to illegal sites. “We spent a lot of time training people and policing online activities,” says Maynard. “Even though we were catching some violations, we knew we could do a better job, we just didn’t know how, until we met BD-BrandProtect.”

Better Protection Means Better Business

BD-BrandProtect is a managed service that enables organizations to maintain the integrity of their corporate identity, reputation and brand online. It uses a combination of advanced technology, round-the-clock monitoring, proven best practices and exhaustive human analysis to uncover threats that put an organization and its customers at risk.

BD-BrandProtect goes beyond the detection of infractions. It categorizes risks according to their severity, and then initiates proactive and escalating response protocols to effectively mitigate threats.

“When I heard about the solution I didn’t even realize there was anything like that out there,” says Maynard. “I saw right away that it solved a problem I didn’t even realize existed.”

He adds, “BD-BrandProtect educated us in terms of other things going on in the virtual world that we might want to be aware of. That was extremely valuable to us, because consumer trust is so integral to our brand reputation. We can’t afford to be associated with online scams.”

(Continue)