TRANSLATING BRAND VALUE TO THE BOTTOM LINE
TRANSLATING BRAND VALUE TO THE BOTTOM LINE
Friday, 27 November 2009 09:15
In a capitalist economy like Kenya’s, competition is the order of day in the business community. Therefore, entrepreneurs – either big or small - have to be innovative and most important of all learn how to protect their inventions and ideas in order to profit from it. That is where the Kenya Institute Property Institute (KIPI) comes in, the government parastatal which is meant to create a fair market and protect trademarks.
Sylvance Sange, the principal examiner at KIPI says that a brand often lives on even after the company has stopped manufacture thus the need to protect it.
“Treetop is still remembered even after it stopped being manufactured over ten years ago,” he says.
A trademark should be a primary concern as it is identifiable, while brand building depends on the advertising and marketing. If the latter is done well, the brand can talk to the market on the company’s behalf which can build brand loyalty.
However, some Kenyan businesses have found a way to go around the trademark law. They take the name of a well known brand and name their business after it like Rhino Matchboxes, but when it comes to the packaging the business name is the one appears on it which confuses the consumers into thinking that they are purchasing their preferred brand.
Still, local entrepreneurs are beginning to note that it is important to register their brands but what about their business ideas? Theft of business ideas is happening in Kenya and the smaller companies are the ones suffering the most and sometimes even the big companies too; such as Sarova which introduced the “community nights” at its Panafric Hotel but which is now held everywhere.
Brian Mahinda of Blackwater, a marketing agency, shares a story about some of his friends in the marketing business who took a proposal to one of the big advertising agencies in the country. This is not uncommon because small marketing companies usually have insufficient capital to execute big ideas or get the attention of the big advertising spenders. According to Mr Mahinda, the company acted disinterested and sent his friends on their way, only for them to later discover that the agency had used their idea.
“Unfortunately unlike in the US where everything under the sun can be protected, in Kenya we do not have that,” says Mr Sange.
He adds that it puts a big dilemma the services industry because they cannot be protected and this he shared with Sarova when they come for his counsel on the community nights issue.
The only way, he says, is to go the legal way and have the party sign a disclosure agreement that will guarantee confidentiality once the idea is presented to them. They will have no legal right to use the idea without the creator.
Businesses here like in the rest of the world are left to be competitive which is allowed because it is for the public good. The only time KIPI or the responsible government agency will step in is when a person or company is maliciously trying to kill his or her competitor’s business.
So in the case of the community nights, the only way Panafric would keep its customers even when charging the highest entrance fees was to make it the most unique and authentic in the market and in a way have manage to build brand loyalty.
Intelligential Property is about ensuring that what someone comes up with can benefit them economically. The government wants to ensure that this happens by giving the person an incentive to exclusive have the idea for 20 years but give the technology to the government and disclose to the public.
But, it does stop someone from taking the idea and improving on it.
By Mwikali Matata
