Protect your brand

Building a brand is a tough, expensive process. In a perfect world, companies that persevered in building a great brand would be well rewarded; in reality, that is often not the way the story ends. Companies that fail to protect the asset of their brand end up falling prey to scavenger companies whose business model is to siphon off some of the brand equity and profits for themselves. The tactics discussed in this section cost United States companies hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

There are several ways this happens that we want to discuss at length and we also want to keep you up to date on both practical and legal options at your disposal to fight off attacks and guard your brand equity.

Critical brand risks

Product diversion / Gray market

Unauthorized distribution of your product to third parties that introduce the product back into retail usually at lower prices. This puts pressure on your authorized distributors because they cannot compete.

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Counterfeiting

In a flat world, it is increasingly easier for counterfeit products to be manufactured and imported at low costs.

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Pricing violations

Good retailers will help you build your brand. Bad retailers simply cannibalize sales from other retailers through price cutting. This destroys your relationships with your good retailers and causes immense harm.

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Trademark and copyright violations

Some retailers or competitors will not hesitate to steal your sales copy or even your images. This can hurt your brand and gives an unfair advantage to those who have not earned it.

Learn more about trademark and copyright protection.

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Retailer misconduct

Whether intentionally or not, some retailers can hurt your brand by providing bad customer service, refusing to honor returns, not storing your product carefully, or selling compromised/expired product.

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