In the 1998 Volkswagen acquisition of Rolls-Royce, although Volkswagen paid a whopping 1.44 billion marks for the purchase of cars and its design and production equipment, it was still unable to make its own cars after the merger was completed. used the Rolls-Royce trademark on its new luxury cars; BMW only spent 120 million marks to purchase the Rolls-Royce trademark from the actual owner of the Rolls-Royce trademark. So should we buy trademarks or acquire brands? Even the world's top companies like Volkswagen sometimes can't tell the difference.

In 2012, Apple spent US$60 million to purchase the "ipad" trademark. Apparently, Apple, which had already made the iPad brand famous all over the world, had to pay high tuition in order to obtain a pass.

Business wars are changing. Does acquiring a brand mean you own the trademark right? Does purchasing the trademark right mean you completely own the brand? Of course, we cannot generalize like this, because trademark and brand are not the same concept! They both have There is a close connection but there is a difference. Today I will tell you the secrets between trademarks and brands.

As far as a brand is concerned, it can only be protected by law if it is registered as a trademark and used correctly in accordance with the law to avoid damage to the brand image and the loss of intangible assets of the enterprise. Creating a well-known trademark is one of the highest goals of brand strategy.

The difference between the two:

Legal perspective: Trademarks must be registered, but brands do not need to be registered; trademarks are brands protected by law and have exclusive rights to use, and can be registered through trademarks Protect the market interests accumulated by the brand. But when a brand is converted into a trademark, certain fees must be paid.

Market perspective: Brands accumulate market benefits. Brands can bring extra value to consumers and excess profits to companies. A good brand is not just a famous trademark, but more importantly, it already has a large number of loyal customers.

Official perspective: Brands and trademarks are related; a trademark is the part of the brand that has obtained the exclusive rights to trademarks, and the connotation of the brand includes trademarks and trade names, but the brand is a comprehensive Symbols indicate the relationship between products and consumers and are a market concept.

The relationship between the two:

1. A trademark is the logo and name of a brand, and is only an integral part of the brand; a brand can only become a registered trademark after being registered in accordance with the Trademark Law to be protected by law. Not every trademark is a brand. A trademark can become a brand only if it is based on a certain product or service, is different from its competitors, and the products or services it operates are connected with consumers.

2. Trademark is a legal term, and brand is an economic term. For example, the value of the Huawei trademark is represented by exclusive rights and monopoly in the legal sense, while the value of the Huawei brand is represented by Brand market share and excess profit margin.

3. Brands have richer connotations than trademarks, because brands are not just a logo and name, but also reflect values ??and feelings. Just as the brand of Coca-Cola embodies the optimistic American culture of generations of Americans; Mercedes-Benz symbolizes the owner's success and status

4. The ownership of a trademark is in the hands of the registrant, and trademark registration People can transfer and license their own trademarks, and can use legal means to combat others' infringement of their trademarks. But brands are rooted in the hearts of consumers. The huge value and market appeal of a brand comes from consumers’ trust, preference and loyalty to the brand. If a brand loses its credibility and the trust of consumers, the brand will be worthless. .

Let’s talk about trademarks specifically:

A trademark is a brand or part of a brand that is applied to the trademark registration agency in accordance with legal procedures. After review, it is approved and the exclusive right to trademark is granted. , no one may imitate or use it without the permission of the trademark registrant.

Trademarks have become an indispensable intellectual property for a company: companies use trademarks to remind consumers and reduce customers' search costs, and the company can bid higher and make more profits; trademarks can be used as an indicator of innovation activities like R&D or patent numbers. Instructions; Can trademarks also reflect changes in management practices and fashion?

The legal role of trademarks:

Enterprises can register, transfer, license, litigation, arbitration, etc. through trademark ownership Legal procedures to obtain and use trademark ownership and protect the legitimate rights and interests of trademark owners; as a mark of goods, trademarks can encourage commodity producers and operators to maintain trademark reputation and ensure product quality.

Let’s talk about the brand: If Coca-Cola’s factories around the world were burned down by fire, as long as the Coca-Cola brand still exists, all the factories will rise from the ruins overnight! ?This sentence of Douglas Daft, the former CEO of Coca-Cola Company, is widely circulated and fully reflects his high confidence in the company's brand. For many years, Coca-Cola has also been considered one of the most valuable brands in the world.

A brand is not just a trademark or logo, but also a symbol of a company and an important means of communication between companies and consumers. For the enterprise itself, it also means a kind of culture and discipline, which regulates the information channels communicated by the enterprise to the outside world, and is also one of the most important assets of corporate culture.

Brand is an intangible asset that can create long-term value for consumers and enterprises. It includes logo and reputation. Logo is a performance factor such as a trademark, text, pattern, etc.; while reputation includes brand promise and the performance of the promise, with the purpose of identifying a seller or a seller's products or services and making them different from competitors. products and services.

Brands have economic effects:

Brands are the guarantee of product quality and credibility, helping consumers identify products and win consumers' trust in product quality.

Brand is a "barrier" that prevents enterprises from falling into pure homogeneous price competition. An enterprise's products, quality, technology, management, channels, services and processes can easily be copied and imitated by competitors, but competition Rivals cannot copy the brand. Is the manufacturing cost of Estee Lauder and Dabao much different? No, but the market price of the two is many times different.

Take a Mercedes-Benz or Xiali? Drink Moutai or Erguotou? The same items with different brands often represent different identities and statuses.

The trademark is in the hands of the registrant, while the brand is rooted in the minds of consumers. As companies around the world gradually become more aware of trademarks and brands, intangible assets have become the main source of value creation and wealth. The impact of brand on the company is also obvious:

A strong brand has a positive impact on company value, revenue and profits;

Good brand image and reputation help enhance customer loyalty ;

The reputation of a brand can help grab market share and prepare funds for long-term investment;

The establishment of a brand is conducive to corporate innovation and new product promotion;

Strong brands help companies attract and retain talented employees;

Brands, reputations and images also affect the expanding global production network and international trade.

Many countries have realized the role of national brands, and many countries have also been committed to developing "national brands". Do you also think that the milk from the Netherlands is purer, the instruments from Germany are more sophisticated, the cosmetics from Japan are more effective, and the beef from the United States is more delicious?

But to truly build an excellent brand, we need to To carry out various tasks such as brand research and diagnosis, brand planning and positioning, brand communication and promotion, and brand adjustment and evaluation, it is also necessary to improve the brand's visibility, reputation, loyalty, accumulate brand assets, and persevere year after year to adhere to its own brand. Positioning, keeping the promises made to consumers, making the brand image deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and lasting for a long time.

my country has a large number of brands. The number of trademark applications and approved registrations has ranked first in the world for more than ten years in a row. However, there are few global brands and the strength of trademarks is not high.

In the 2015 "Best Global Brand" selection by Interbrand, a well-known international brand rating agency, Huawei made the list for the first time last year. This year, its brand value was US$4.952 billion, and its ranking jumped to 88th. Bit. With a brand value of US$4.114 billion, Lenovo is the second brand after Huawei to appear on Interbrand's best global brand rankings, ranking 100th.

It is a big country for trademark applications, but it is a small country for brands. The speed and quality of brand creation cannot keep up with the economic development speed of the world's second largest economy. There is no shortage of outstanding companies. Also in 2015, there were 106 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, but only two of these 106 companies entered the top 100 global brands. This shows that we have not yet realized that from Manufacturing moves toward creation, relying not only on technological innovation but also on brand establishment, and the first step in brand establishment is to protect the product's global passport, the brand trademark.