Trademark and marketing
In societies, in which not all, but nevertheless remarkably many people own enough money so that material scarceness is no more the main problem, the value of really limited goods automatically grows. And it seems that nowadays the attention of people is really limited. In this environment, the system of the trademark succeeded to embody the distinctiveness, recognisability and uniqueness, those values, which satisfy the longings of people.
Using trademarks means communicating
With the increasing importance of hard factors (shareholder value, optimisation of the distribution channels) the meaning of the soft factors such as image, identity and public relations also increased. The individual producers and providers connect a certain image with their trademark, which is to set into relationship with the personality of the individual consumer. Only those trademarks are successful on a long-term basis, whose appearance is tightly controlled, which remain faithful to themselves and do not leave a certain style corridor. The nature of a trademark is not primarily the sign itself, but the positive prejudice in the minds of the consumers, generating an enormous creation of value for an enterprise: The consumers transfer their experiences already made with a product to the next consumption decision. Therefore if the trademark is to be interpreted as a communication channel for the transmission of goodwill, it is clear that the way to a successful trademark leads across long-term strategies and persistent detailed work only. The trademark protection can be understood as the defence of this channel from disturbing third influences. The decision, which (advertising) messages shall be communicated through a trademark, must remain exclusively reserved for the trademark owner. In the long run trademark protection concerns the retaining of a good reputation and credibility, in the information age representing one of the most important assets.
(By courtesy of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property)