How valuable is a company's brand?

[SenseiSteve]

If I said to my office manager, “Would you Xerox this for me?,” I think we’d all agree she would understand what I’d be asking her to do. But if I asked her, “Would you Konica Minolta™ this for me?,” would that even sound like it made sense?

And is there another brand that comfortably compares to Kleenex®? When my wife goes shopping, she makes a list first so she won’t forget anything. Sometimes that list will include facial tissues, but she’ll invariably write ‘Kleenex’.

How does a firm compete for branding without spending massive amounts of advertising money?

 

[bigredseo]

Google had a HUGE campaign a few years ago and sent out several cease and desist notices to individuals, newspapers, movies, etc - the phrase "Just Google It", or "to Google something".

You can't copyright a generic phrase, and that's how words like "dumpster, zipper, videotape, asprin, flip phone" and others have lost their trademark. If the word becomes generic, the trademark is revoked.

"to Google something" is officially defined as "to use the Google search engine to obtain information"

This is important, as if the phrase becomes generic, they stand to lose a lot more!

Ironically, I remember in "Hawaii Five-O" they used the term "Bing it". That show was HEAVILY sponsored by Microsoft and Bing. Their logos were everywhere. Any time they got to show technology, the Windows logo was in your face.

So, how important is a brand? VERY.

How do you compete without spending advertising money? Unless it blows up via a viral video, it's going to be next to impossible.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Google had a HUGE campaign a few years ago and sent out several cease and desist notices to individuals, newspapers, movies, etc - the phrase "Just Google It", or "to Google something".

You can't copyright a generic phrase, and that's how words like "dumpster, zipper, videotape, asprin, flip phone" and others have lost their trademark. If the word becomes generic, the trademark is revoked.

"to Google something" is officially defined as "to use the Google search engine to obtain information"

This is important, as if the phrase becomes generic, they stand to lose a lot more!

Ironically, I remember in "Hawaii Five-O" they used the term "Bing it". That show was HEAVILY sponsored by Microsoft and Bing. Their logos were everywhere. Any time they got to show technology, the Windows logo was in your face.

So, how important is a brand? VERY.

How do you compete without spending advertising money? Unless it blows up via a viral video, it's going to be next to impossible.

These days domains have a big play in brands.
An example is your site you have https://www.bigredseo.com with your logo etc., but you don't have https://www.bigredseo.co.uk/, so if someone was to register this and then use the name Big Red SEO unless you have the brand trademarked then they could continue to use the name which could easily affect your brand reputation if they are poor at what they offer.

 

[bigredseo]

These days domains have a big play in brands.
An example is your site you have https://www.bigredseo.com with your logo etc., but you don't have https://www.bigredseo.co.uk/, so if someone was to register this and then use the name Big Red SEO unless you have the brand trademarked then they could continue to use the name which could easily affect your brand reputation if they are poor at what they offer.

Very true. Although the generic Trademark in the US only covers for the US and not other countries. I did successfully get a host shut down years ago that used our brand name as their .co.uk, and Google delisted them without an issue.

But yes, having a Worldwide brand, you must register in various territories in order to enforce the brand. Some require that you have a physical office in that country before they will register also. (I believe England has it that way)

 

[easyhostmedia]

But yes, having a Worldwide brand, you must register in various territories in order to enforce the brand. Some require that you have a physical office in that country before they will register also. (I believe England has it that way)

No anyone from any country can register a .co.uk, org.uk, or .uk domain and nothing to stop them.

many fake websites are about using uk domains when they are from china etc.

the EU, France, Germany, USA all require you to have an address within their countries to register a domain, but this can be a simple mailbox address

 

[bigredseo]

Got it. I thought the .co.uk was only in the UK. Maybe it was like that years ago? It's been so long since I've been in the domain world.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Got it. I thought the .co.uk was only in the UK. Maybe it was like that years ago? It's been so long since I've been in the domain world.

Nominet could not care less who uses UK domains.

I remember a few years ago I had a personal website, so had whois info hidden (which was allowed on non-commercial websites), I then set up an information website, so placed a small banner on my personal website linking to the info website, I then got a very abrupt email from Nominet telling me commercial website must display whois info. i explained this was not a commercial website, but because i added the banner linking to another website they decided i was paying myself to put up the banner on my own website, so i either had to agree to display whois or they would revoke the domain, even after i provided them with evidence both sites were mine and were non-commercial as they did not take any money.

 

[Artashes]

How does a firm compete for branding without spending massive amounts of advertising money?

It's actually an excellent question. If we are talking about web hosting specifically, I do not see a way to become a widely recognized brand without spending money at some point. Whether you
buy recognition by spending a lot of money early on, or work hard for the next 20-30 years, growing the company to a size that will enjoy some recognition, you still have to market your name if you want people in the industry to think of your company name if someone were to ask you to name the first 5-10 companies in the space that come to mind.

 

[easyhostmedia]

if someone were to ask you to name the first 5-10 companies in the space that come to mind.

off the top of my head

Apple
Amazon
Microsoft
Google
Godaddy

and all these have massive marketing budgets to get their names out their

 

[Artashes]

name the first 5-10 companies in the space that come to mind.

Apple
Amazon
Microsoft
Google
Godaddy

I meant in the web hosting space.

 

[John @ S4]

the EU, France, Germany, USA all require you to have an address within their countries to register a domain, but this can be a simple mailbox address

Completely off-topic but interesting. You don't need to have an address in Catalunya to register a .cat domain but you do have to have at least one page of the site hosted on that domain in Catalan. (I don't think it's very enforced tbh)