Have you trademarked your shop's slogan?
This digital stuff moves fast, even the catchphrases. That's why it's important to stake your claims. I got an e-mail from R/GA that included something unusual. Its standard phrase introducing the shop as "R/GA, the agency for the digital age" suddenly included a trademark symbol on the end of it. It turns out R/GA trademarked the phrase "the agency for the digital age" earlier this year. In fact, I was wondering which agency was the one for the digital age. Just to be sure, I asked Google. R/GA doesn't show up in the first few pages of results in searches for "agency for the digital age." Alas. R/GA's not the only one looking to grab futurey catchphrases. Avenue A/Razorfish has trademarked the phrase "social influence marketing." I can't help but wonder if this kind of stuff is really worth the time and effort. One Twitter user under the moniker MrT_TheAngel has his doubts: "'T' thinks those suckas should have a trademark on dumbass." —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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September 30, 2008 in Morrissey, R/GA, Razorfish | Permalink |
Comments
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So, what happens when the "digital age" becomes some other age soon. And what happened to RGA not wanting to be defined as an agency? Sounds like they're fast becoming to the BDA of the digital age.
Posted by: Frumpy | Sep 30, 2008 8:12:05 PM
I love how some shops claim they're not advertising agencies at all. They do everything that advertising agencies do: TV, print, web, outdoor, PR, etc., but they're not an advertising agency. And when they try to rally the troops in a creative department meeting, they tell us how we're going to beat or "be the next Crispin" (an ad agency) and how we're gonna take Cannes. But they don't realize how amazingly inept they sound. THIS IS ADVERTISING!
Posted by: Whatever | Sep 30, 2008 8:27:04 PM
Why would anybody waste their time trademarking something as banal as that? Agencies are funny that way. I remember one that trademarked "The Power of One." Which is the kind of phrase you'll find painted in the locker rooms of half the high school football teams in America. Agencies can be so fucking stupid.
Posted by: pete best | Sep 30, 2008 9:34:27 PM
The slogan "The Other White Milk" found to be not confusing, which we think is unlikely, this slogan nevertheless damages National Pork Board's rights in the famous mark THE OTHER WHITE MEAT@ because the slogan significantly dilutes the distinctiveness of National Pork Board's mark. In addition, your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of National Pork Board's mark in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption, such as with the following slogans on your website in close proximity to the slogan "The Other White Milk": "Dairy Diva," "Nursing, Nature's Own Breast Enhancement," "Eat at Mom's, fast-fresh-from the breast," and "My Milk is the Breast.
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ages
www.drivenwide.com
Posted by: ages | Oct 1, 2008 1:53:56 AM
The TM world has gone mad. It's understandable that I would want to trade mark my brand name; understandable if I invent something that's a bit special. But nowadays we see ads with the most banal phrases having TM attached and it looks as if they've suffered an attack of TM dermatitis.
So it says more about the hubris of the trade marker than their inventiveness...or lack thereof.
Posted by: Graham Thomas TM | Oct 1, 2008 6:27:11 AM
Brian, interesting post. I must admit that this stuff goes beyond tag lines though. Here at Avenue A | Razorfish we defined a series of concepts around influence in marketing that didn’t really have a name for them earlier. We defined , explained and in some forums also highlighted its intellectual roots. We felt we had to go the trademark angle after we noticed that the concept was starting to be used by others with them highlighting that it was their own thinking.
Now, I’m certainly not a lawyer and not an expert in these things but trade marking has a place especially if it goes beyond a tag line. We don’t care who uses social influence marketing and how much they use it as long as they don’t claim credit for all the thinking. Even if they don’t refer to us that’s fine. They just shouldn’t act as if its their unique perspective. Is that fair?
Posted by: Shiv Singh | Oct 1, 2008 8:41:43 PM
