Unfortunate Tokyo trade mark
GI japes
Seems like GIs are the order of the day.
*AND reports that Ethiopia is considering the first draft of a geographical indications bill. Said Yakob Yala:
“It is recognised that geographical indications can be valuable marketing symbols to promote economic prosperity for producers of goods produced in particular geographical areas…It is believed that protection of geographical indication rights will have a positive impact on the national economic advancement and especially on the trade and industrial development of the country.”
* No one seems happy with New Zealand’s GI bill. Both the wine-growers and the Maori Party are objecting (for different reasons).
The IPKat notes that, while GIs bring a heap load of trouble, no one can afford to ignore them once everyone else has them.
There's an old story, I do not know if its an urban legend of or not. Back in the late 70' s and early 80's Suntory (the Japanese company who posted the sign above) tried to sell its brand "Black Nikka" whiskey in the US market.
ReplyDeleteTo make matters worse, they marketed it as an entry level whiskey (read cheap rock-gut). With limited distribution, they focused on major US cities. So they put up huge billboards and in-stores in mostly poorer areas of major US cities. The problem, as you may guess, is these poorer areas are disproportionally afro-american.
So after protests and Japanese befuddlement on why the whiskey was not selling the product was relaunched as "Black Velvet" whiskey.
I purely agree with his message. There should be a lot of considerations and further studies for such businesses.
ReplyDelete