Talking About IP to “Non-IP” Audiences
Demystifying and challenging misconceptions around IP among internal and external audiences requires open and honest communication, as Maura O’Malley finds out.
There is a lingering perception that intellectual property (IP) and legal are a cost center or, perhaps even worse, the people who say no to creative ideas.
Yet, the evidence proving IP’s mounting value grows year on year. According to study from consultancy, Ocean Tomo, between 1995 and 2020 the share of intangible asset market value in companies in the S&P 500 increased from 68 percent to 90 percent, with brand-related value and trademarks forming a large subsection of those intangibles. Furthermore, brand value has become a dominant feature in the marketing world, with yearly brand value rankings now high-profile media events.
So how can brand professionals communicate the ever growing importance and complexity of IP and brands to their “non-IP” colleagues and stakeholders, be they internal departments like marketing, or the C-suite executives and board, or even external audiences including their customers and the media?
It is a topic being explored two sessions during the 2024 Annual Meeting: the capsule keynote session on today’s Unlocking IP: How to Frame Communication with Non-IP Stakeholders, Customers (and the Clients of Tomorrow!) (1:00 pm–1:30 pm) and Tuesday’s session, Demystifying IP: Strategies for Effective Communication by Heads of IP to the General Counsel (10:45 am–11:30 am), both part of the IP and Innovation Track.
“They understand the importance of the brand but may not understand how all the things they do from a business side can affect what I need to get done from an IP side.”
- Hadiya Claxton | McIlhenny Company (USA)
Hadiya Claxton of McIlhenny Company (USA), which owns Tabasco, the popular hot sauce brand, is one is speaking on Tuesday about demystifying IP. “Open and honest communication” between all the departments and breaking down the silos that can exist is, she believes, key to fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation of IP’s strategic value.
She explains that Tabasco has 98 percent brand awareness worldwide. “That is really amazing brand awareness for a company, similar to brands like Coca Cola.”
For Ms. Claxton, one outcome of Tabasco’s impressive and global brand recognition is that the C-suite “completely understands the importance of IP. We have to protect this brand in any way that we can, particularly being a primary brand.”
But, she adds, they are not involved in legal matters and might need some guidance regarding the timing of legal’s involvement in issues. “If C-suite executives ask marketing to do something before talking it through with legal that might go against some of our legal department’s strategy.”
Open and honest communication means C-suite executives gain a greater understanding of “why we look at things the way we do and why it is important we bring the legal team in earlier in the process rather than later,” she reflects.
IP valuation expert John Plumpe (Epsilon Economics, USA) is no stranger to working closely with the various departments of his clients who generally request valuations for litigation or information on a fair market value opinion.
He says that the companies he works for tend to have brands that are very important in whatever market or customer segment they are in. “Their brand is their most important asset,” he states.
He finds the marketing department generally helpful: “They are enthusiastic about the brand and they want to see the brand succeed.”
Training marketing departments and “getting them to understand why we care and why we are doing what we are doing,” is also crucial Ms. Hadiya adds.
She continues: “They understand the importance of the brand but may not understand how all the things they do from a business side can affect what I need to get done from an IP side. For example, using a brand in a certain way when we are trying to move away from any sort of descriptive use.”
Ms. Claxton says that anyone that comes to work in her company’s legal department has to “spend time with every other division of the company, even if it is just for a day or two. That way they have a closer relationship with the employees in the different business units and a greater understanding of what everyone does and how it fits into the greater picture.”
This helps counteract “viewing IP in a vacuum" adding, “I think that understanding of business really has to be at the core of developing an IP strategy.”
General Counsel
Turning to the misconceptions general counsels (GCs) have around IP, Ms. Claxton points out that she has a unique perspective because she spent her first 15 years as a lawyer not involved in IP.
She continues that GCs are not “necessarily” knowledgeable about IP, saying before her last role she did not have much to do with IP other than getting updates here and there, which contrasts with her current role where IP is central to what she does.
She describes the biggest misconceptions GCs have around IP center on: “Understanding how important it truly is and how much focus needs to be put into policing and protecting IP. And how it fits into the larger business strategy of the company.”
Mr. Plumpe adds that in his experience as an IP valuer and finance expert, the biggest misconception GCs have regarding IP is around the amount of effort, information, time, and cost required to do a proper IP valuation.
He adds that to do a good job on valuation, and not just “back of the envelope information” that’s going to be provided to adversaries, investors, or a court takes much information, time, and work.
“On both fronts, it should be a priority to educate consumers about the harms of trademark misuse not just to businesses but to society and the benefits of trademark registration.”
- Susan Natland | Knobbe Martens (USA)
Consumer Perceptions
Emphasizing the importance of IP and brands is, however, not just to internal stakeholders, but also to external parties like consumers and the media.
During Monday’s capsule keynote session, the co-chairs of INTA’s 2023 Presidential Task Force (PTF) will discuss key findings from their exclusive survey into consumer perceptions of brands and brand enforcement, as well as consumer purchasing habits, counterfeit goods, and how the public interacts with companies and the media.
PTF Co-Chair Trevor Little (IAM and World Trademark Review, UK) says that the Task Force had a number of key deliverables, including a consumer survey where they analyzed general consumers in Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
He says the survey has some fascinating insights into the way consumers see and interact with brands. Discussing findings from the consumer survey, he says that as they were analyzing the generational results, older consumers were “warmer to brands and the companies that create brands.” But as they went younger and younger, brands remained important, but the companies that created those brands became less important.
He continued: “In Generation Z, there is more of an inclination to buy counterfeit products. They like branded products, but they don’t really care as much if it is genuinely coming from the company that creates it.”
PTF Co-Chair Susan Natland (Knobbe Martens, USA), who will also be speaking during the session, added: ”Our consumer perception survey showed that there is a lack of caring that counterfeit goods may result in lost profits by business and there is a lack of understanding that counterfeit goods are often tied to organized crime, child labor, tax avoidance and other negative elements in society.”
Mr. Little adds though that often if that person is of that mindset, the first response will be “prove” that counterfeiting supports organized crime, child labor, and “actually proving it is quite hard” and a real challenge for the industry.
“These are tomorrow’s consumers, and as a profession we need to make sure we are reaching that generation, find out where they get their information to try and bring some nuance into it and communicate about why the companies that make these brands are important,” he reflects.
Discussing the brand protection aspect, Ms. Natland says there is also a misconception among consumers that trademark registrations are expensive to obtain and maintain and that they don’t really bring an advantage to business.
“On both fronts, it should be a priority to educate consumers about the harms of trademark misuse not just to businesses but to society, and the benefits of trademark registration,” she says.
The Task Force also designed a media kit targeted to US mainstream audiences but, Mr. Little points out, it can be used to deliver messages about IP and its importance to many different audiences.
He says that the trademark community “is very good at speaking to itself, very good at speaking legalese,” but, he adds, it’s not as good at crafting messages to external, non-IP, audiences
The Task Force has therefore also produced a “messaging framework” for brand professionals. Mr. Little describes it as a tool to help craft messages to non-IP stakeholders “whether that's somebody internally, somebody in the finance department, clients, consumers, and so on.”
He continues that the framework is, “really a way that you think about crafting communications and messages that you want people to understand, it’s a multi-step process.”
“These are tomorrow’s consumers, and as a profession we need to make sure we are reaching that generation, find out where they get their information to try and bring some nuance into it .”
- Trevor Little + IAM and World Trademark Review (UK)
Media Perspective
Providing a journalist’s perspective after reporting on IP for many years, Mr. Little stresses that, “journalists don’t want to be wrong!”
“It's hard for journalists to be an expert in everything,” he continues, “and I think quite often, there is a perception among the profession that journalists just don't care.”
He adds that if you see something has been misreported or something is not quite right, reach out but in a constructive way.
He points out that: “Journalism has totally changed, the media landscape and the pressures on journalists have totally changed.” He urges the brand community, “to support, to be an ally, rather than a critic.”
