What is the Brand Tuned Program?
The program provides an inter-disciplinary perspective on branding and brand management by focusing on the intellectual property aspects of branding. It's created by a leading branding lawyer, long time business owner and author of 3 books, including Brand Tuned.
Much of the information in this program is information that even commercial lawyers won't know. 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 internaonal audience. It is not country specific legal minutiae.
The new Brand Tuned program gives a 360-degree perspective of brand IP. It closes the gap between ‘brand management’ and ‘IP protection’ highlighting why understanding and considering brand protection is an essential part of brand creation and brand management.
The course draws on the Brand Tuned book and considerably advances its content. The new Brand Tuned program has been developed following feedback from the cohort who completed the Brand Tuned Accreditation program in 2022.
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.
The program is in 8 milestones spread over 8 weeks comprising comprehensive, advanced level lectures, and case studies. It supports 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 take account of intellectual property principles and brand protection to create unique brands, with barriers to entry enabling the brand to remain distinctive long term. This is also key to growing and managing brands
Who should join the Brand Tuned?
The program is for marketers, designers, lawyers, brand managers and others involved in the creation or management of brands. If you choose names or oversee the use of brands you need the knowledge that this course imparts.
Brand Tuned Course Overview
IP is how you manage competition through business design. Different barriers are created by different types of IP. The right name is how the law protects businesses against unfair competition. The right name depends on the business' venture. Some names are more expensive to protect and enforce. Some are difficult to secure internationally, and lead to uncertainty. Many considerations need to be taken into account when deciding on names, and whether to use your own.
There’s comprehensive guidance on how and why to protect names. Maintaining evidence of use of marks, and ensuring trademarks are used correctly so they are not vulnerable to attack is key when drawing up brand guidelines. And having an IP strategy to protect signs and symbols is the way to develop a bullet proof brand.
Signs that a business uses as designations of origin must be distinctive and meet the relevant legal requirements. That impacts the choice of brand name, logo, colour palette, font, tagline, and images. The course includes instructions on the written agreements to implement before engaging third parties. You’ll develop skills such as determining the classifications relevant to a business and how to do trademark searching internationally.You’ll also learn how to do an image trademark search before developing certain types of concept into designs.
8 on-demand milestones delivered in short micro-learning video lessons
Complete inter-disciplinary IP training
Brand Tuned Certificate & CPD points
The legal concept of distinctiveness and how it impacts names, logos, colour palettes, fonts, taglines, sounds, images, symbols, and other signs
How copyright, trademark, patent, design, and confidentiality create different barriers to entry.
How to choose names that are right for a given venture, understanding how and why to protect them, which names are more expensive to own and enforce or might result in high costs or uncertainty to secure internationally.
Naming architecture and the considerations to take account of when deciding whether to use your own name.
What to include in brand guidelines to ensure the brand is correctly used and won’t suffer the same fate as Think Different and Big Mac in the EU.
How and why to maintain evidence of use of trademarks.
Why IP ownership matters and the importance of using appropriate written agreements before engaging third parties to work on your projects.
‘How To’ video instructions to identify classifications and to do worldwide trademark searches, including image searches before developing designs.
What’s included in each milestone?
Each milestone comprises a number of micro learning videos and audios of up to 15 or 20 minutes each for easier learning. There are quizzes 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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