Research attests to the fact that enterprises to date have been relatively slow in addressing the issue of online brand protection. However, as search and mitigation technologies and processes evolve, enterprises now have affordable and flexible access to resources that can play a key role in staying on top of online brand usage. While Gartner says in a September 2007 report “Evaluating Brand Monitoring and Anti-Phishing Services”, that the market for brand monitoring and anti-phishing services is small to date (less than US$50-million a year), “early detection capabilities will become increasingly useful to enterprises during the next two years, as online threats escalate.” With millions of dollars of brand equity at stake – and the prospect of ever-increasing online threats - it is evident that enterprises can no longer afford to be reactive in their brand monitoring and protection activities.
Steps to proper brand protection:
Step 1 - Measure
Perform a thorough analysis of an enterprise’s online presence including internal brand protection procedures, history and analysis of threats, customer opinions
Step 2 - Monitor
Continuously scan the Internet to uncover threats that put an organization’s reputation at risk; and then verify, category and prioritize each threat.
Step 3 - Manage
Apply human filtering to create detailed and actionable reports that provide insight into the highest priority and most relevant infractions; issue immediate alerts for severe infractions upon detection; initiate and escalate response protocols where required.
Step 4 – Mitigate
Collaborate with law enforcement agencies and other relevant third parties to take proactive measures to mitigate risks and brand infractions, including cease and desist letters, take downs of offending sites, and follow up.
What it takes to police branding on the Internet The BD-BrandProtect Internet map includes the following:
Brand rankings for 2007
Top 10 Global Brands
| Rank | Brand |
|
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
Coca-Cola Microsoft Citi Wal-Mart IBM HSBC GE Bank of America Hewlwtt-Packard Marloboro |
Largest Brand Contribution to Enterprise Value
| Brand Value | Enterprise Value % |
Nike |
84% 77% 71% 68% 68% 66% 61% 60% 58% 56% |