City AM quotes Charlotte Duly on the importance of business branding

After a legal battle over a ‘yellow circle within a blue square’ between Lidl and Tesco, trademark disputes have been at the centre of attention. So has the thought of expensive litigation, which highlights just how important branding decisions have become for a business.

Charlotte Duly, Head of Brand Protection, comments on the importance of business branding for City AM:

Not only is the selection of a brand name key to ensure the messaging to your customers is on point, but also to make sure you don’t run into an expensive and time consuming dispute. If you start using a logo or name without checking it does not conflict with someone else’s rights, you may be on the receiving end of legal action to stop you using your brand because it infringes an already registered trade mark. Not only is a legal dispute and subsequent rebrand costly and takes time and resources away from running the business, it can be embarrassing or generate negative publicity.

Branding issues have hit businesses of all sizes, from a Chinese takeaway in Barrow-in-Furness with customers in a 2-3 miles radius that had to rebrand from China Tang, to Tesco changing their Clubcard Prices branding at a significant cost of around £7 million.  Branding is hugely important and worth time and effort at the outset to avoid costly mistakes.

Where an inadvertent issue does arise, taking control and negotiating time to rebrand, rather than being forced to by a court, can be used in a positive way to refresh and advertise a business.

Read the full piece in City AM here.