What is the Brand Tuned?
Training in brand creation from a leading branding lawyer, long time business owner and author of 3 books, including Brand Tuned – The New Rules of Branding, Strategy and Intellectual Property.
The new Brand Tuned program that’s releasing on 20 April 2023 is based on more than 20 years of experience supporting business owners in diverse aspects of branding, from availability searching and advisory work, to turning ideas into businesses and brands, naming, trademark registration, infringement disputes, and international brand protection.
The course combines ideas from the Brand Tuned and Legally Branded books. It draws from the Brand Tuned Accreditation program and the Legally Branded Academy courses to form an inter-disciplinary perspective on the legal aspects of branding and brand management.
The program is in 8 milestones spread over 8 weeks comprising comprehensive, advanced level lectures, and case studies. It supports founders, designers, marketers, brand consultants, lawyers, and accountants, as well as team leaders working within organisations be it the CEO, Marketing, Finance or Legal Departments to learn how to create distinctive brands taking account of intellectual property principles. A sound understanding of brand protection is key to creating unique brands, with barriers to entry enabling the brand to remain distinctive long term. It’s also key to effective brand management.
Who should join the Brand Tuned?
The program is for business owners, marketers, designers, lawyers, brand managers and others involved in the creation of brands, or who choose new names. It’s for everyone who is responsible for the management of brands.
Brand Tuned Course Overview
Choosing names and creating distinctive branding must take account of intellectual property if the business is to successfully manage competition by creating barriers to entry. Advance your skills and learn how to choose effective brand names that won’t be rejected out of hand once lawyers are engaged to do clearance searches and to register trademarks. The IP aspects of branding are often ignored or misunderstood.
Much of the information in this program is new information to commercial lawyers as neither they nor marketers or designers are trained in the IP aspects of branding. The IP information taught is IP principles that are relevant to an international audience. It is not country specific legal minutiae.
Learn the IP skills you are missing and take the success of any business or brand you support to the next level. All this while studying at your own pace. 100% online, and from anywhere in the world.
8 on-demand milestones delivered in short micro-learning video lessons
Complete inter-disciplinary IP training
Brand Tuned Certificate & CPD points
What’s included in each milestone?
Each milestone comprises a number of micro learning videos and audios of up to 15 minutes each for easier learning. There are quizzes and assessments throughout the program as well as additional resources to delve deeper into topics such as further reading, or podcasts to listen to.
Milestone 1
THE WHAT AND WHY OF BRANDS
Origins of branding. Definitions of brand. What’s involved to create the brand strategy of a start-up and an established brand. Why it matters to raise awareness of a brand’s existence. The foundation of any brand is its identify and reputation. Brands save us time, so we don’t need to expend mental effort deciding what to buy. Distinguish IP principles from IP law.
Milestone 2
THINK IP FIRST
What IP means. Why it matters. How it works internationally. Introduction to the IP rights: copyright, trademarks, patents, designs , and their impact on business design. Overview of confidentiality and why keep ideas secret. Why it matters that IP is property. Managing competition using IP. Role of NDAs. Trade secret case examples. How IP rights create essential barriers to entry.
Milestone 3
WHAT COPYRIGHT PROTECTS
Copyright protects an extensive range of works. It’s the expression of ideas not ideas themselves that are protected though. The default rules and copyright ownership. Copyright is separate from the physical object to which it is attached. Licensing as an alternative to assignment. The need to train team members.
Milestone 4
HOW PATENTS AND DESIGNS IMPACT INNOVATION
Trade secrecy as an alternative to patenting. Importance of keeping patentable ideas secret. How and why do research to decide if costs of patenting are justified. Designs and Patents protect different things and often go together. Anywayup non-spill cup case study. Raising investment. Patents protect differentiation. Use the time to become known.
Milestone 5
TRADEMARK REGISTRATION
Trademarks are designations of origin. They contain the value of a brand. Essentials to understand about trademarks before choosing names. How trademarks work internationally. The classification system is why names like POLO can be shared by different brands. Use it or Lose it. Apple, MacDonalds and Lacoste cases. The need for a trademark strategy.
Milestone 6
BRAND ARCHITECTURE: BUSINESS, PRODUCT AND PERSONAL NAMES
What are branded house, house of brands, sub-brands and endorsed brands? How Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and Coca Cola’s approach to brand architecture has changed. Why that matters when choosing names. Pros and cons of naming a business after the founder. Own name defence.
Milestone 7
NAMING
The name is the most important decision a business makes. It must be unique in the category. What are descriptive names and why they should be avoided when choosing the brand name. Legal concept of distinctiveness. The 6 kinds of name. Taglines and slogans. ‘How to’ video instructions to identify trademark classifications, and do international searches. Brand and line extensions.
Milestone 8
DISTINCTIVENESS
How differentiation and distinctiveness differ. How brands grow and Ehrenberg Bass. Daniel Kahneman. How our brains work. System 1 makes 95% of decisions. Yet the industry focuses all its attention on system 2 issues such as differentiation. Coca Cola bottle, Adidas and Tropicana case studies. Colour and sound marks. How and when to do predesign image searches.
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