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TRANSCRIPT
Your guide to brand protection and creative marketing that doesn’t suck
THE TRADEMARK ISSUE | MAY 2019
BY
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p.14
p.15
p.16
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3 Ways to Protect Your Brand Online—and Why It Matters
Crash Course: What to Do When Your Reputation Sucks
5 Best Practices for an Effective Corporate Feedback Forum
What, Why, Where, How? Building Out Your ngTLD Strategy
A Lawyer’s Guide to .SUCKS
The Evolution of “Sucks”
Editor’s Note
Protect, Provide, Progress
How to Own Your Sh*t Onlinep.12
p.6p.8
p.10
TheHustle.Sucks and
They’re Proud of Itp.26
p.28 This Podcast is Out to Prove
Seattle.Sucks...Sort Of
.SUCKS in Actionp.26
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p.22
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What the Duck? Google Drama Highlights the Need for an Airtight Domain Strategy
How Burger King Claimed the Fast Food Crown When McDonald’s Lost Its Big Mac Trademark
What’s in a Name? How Festivals Claim Names and Protect Their Brand
Featuresp.20
Get .SUCKSp.30
6 7
“ this sucks”
“ that sucks”
“ you suck”
T he word “sucks” has a rather storied
past. Once upon a time, it was a word
used solely in a negative context,
to loudly proclaim “this sucks”, “that
sucks” and “you suck”. Like it or loathe it, “sucks”
has crept into our everyday vernacular—we use
it freely and commonly to describe situations or
things we emphatically feel are no good.
But the word “sucks” is losing its negative
connotations and is becoming a way to inspire
change rather than spread hate. When used
creatively, the word has the ability to empower
brands and individuals alike by using surprise,
audacity and playfulness to engage audiences.
“Sucks” has become a powerful weapon for
those looking to make a statement.
.SUCKS domains, owned and operated by
the Vox Populi Registry since November 2014,
are particularly powerful tools for a brand to
have in its belt. When used constructively,
.SUCKS can not only protect a brand, but also
spark positive conversation and cut through
the noise of today’s online world.
The Evolution of “Sucks”
8 9
To whom it most definitely concerns,
Your trademarks are the foundation of your business—we
don’t need to tell you that. But building and protecting a
brand is about more than staking claim to your signature
products, services and slogans. If companies want to
succeed, they need to earn their customers’ confidence
and trust.
In today’s online battlefield (which tends to be a bit
of a free-for-all) it’s surprisingly simple for competitors
or trolls to get the higher ground. All they need to do is
purchase a domain that lampoons your name or leave a
scathing review on Twitter and the loyalty is lost.
Sound like a pain? It is. But that’s why there’s .SUCKS. It
presents a powerful opportunity to own your sh*t, and be
the sort of open, honest, self-aware and tongue-in-cheek
company today’s customers truly admire.
A .SUCKS domain does three things for your organiza-
tion. First, it protects you, because owning the name lets
you stay ahead of attacks on your brand. As you’ll read
on page 13, the majority of people trust online reviews as
much as recommendations from a friend, which means
you need to be proactive in owning your channels and
managing your publicity. All brands have haters, and no
company is immune to mistakes.
Editor’s Note
page 28, shows that the best way to set your organization
apart is to be smart, keep it on-point and never settle for
blending in.
There are a lot of things in this world that suck, and
brand dissonance is one of them. Joining the .SUCKS
movement shows that you care enough about your
brand’s reputation—and your customers’ needs—to drive
change. And nothing sucks about that.
Let’s continue this conversation, so you can start owning
your sh*t.
Yours truly,
Christina Beavis Chief Operating Officer Vox Populi Registrye: [email protected]
Second, it provides a feedback loop where you can
be present for your customers, control the narrative and
ensure that constructive criticism is actually being acted
upon. On pages 14 and 15, you’ll find expert tips on how
to salvage a spiralling reputation and run an effective
corporate feedback forum—two ways you can put your
.SUCKS domain to use.
Third, it enables you to progress your brand, gleaning
the wisdom of the peanut gallery so you can build better
experiences for everyone. You can find actionable advice for
bolstering your digital presence, identity and credibility on
page 16—plus strategic insights on how to play the domain
game to prevent fraud and get ahead of competitors.
I’m so excited to be sharing this premiere edition of
Evoke Magazine with you; I think you’ll find it equal parts
entertaining and instructive. Along with our guides and
tips for owning your sh*t, we examine the lessons learned
from a few of the biggest trademark debacles, starting
on page 20.
And finally you’ll find two case studies that show
.SUCKS in action. “TheHustle.Sucks and They’re Proud of
It”, on page 26, demonstrates how the cleverest, savviest
brands win with today’s customers and prove that there’s
no such thing as negative consumer feedback. Likewise,
“This Podcast is Out to Prove Seattle.Sucks...Sort Of”, on
1110
N o matter how good your
products, services or
intentions are, nobody’s
perfect. And the sooner
you recognize that, the
sooner you can use a .SUCKS domain
to your advantage. This ngTLD can (and
should!) be used for three critical rea-
sons, which makes it a valuable platform
for every marketing, customer relations,
legal and brand reputation team.
Protect, Provide, Progress
Protect Your Organization — From Every Angle
Many consumers interact with their favor-
ite and most-trusted brands online, but
today’s online environment is a vulnera-
ble place to be. And whether you’re at an
established Fortune 500, a scaling startup
or a kick-ass not-for-profit, there’s no
doubt that blood, sweat and tears have
gone into building it. A .SUCKS domain
can help you avoid defamation by safe-
guarding related trademarks and ensur-
ing your domain is never used in protest.
Provide a Feedback Loop for Your Customers
It’s not always easy to hear construc-
tive criticism—but it’s always important.
Now more than ever, consumers expect
to see honesty and improvement, not
perfection. A .SUCKS domain busts the
feedback loop wide open and gives you
a place to have proactive conversations
with customers. After all, it’s a lot easier to
manage what people are saying when it’s
not being done behind your back.
Progress Your Brand at Every Opportunity
Protecting your organization and pro-
viding for your customers ladders up
to one thing: propelling your company
forward—and that means owning your
sh*t. It’s about more than safeguarding
your name online. It’s about using the
feedback you’ve collected to innovate
and drive change. And a .SUCKS domain
is the perfect place to start.
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How to
Own Your Sh*t
Online
PROTECT
TO PROTECT YOUR BRAND ONLINE — AND WHY IT MATTERS
W hat are people saying about your
brand online? What do your reviews
on Yelp, Facebook and Google look
like? What does your social media
presence “tell” potential clients about your brand? All of
these considerations determine your business’s online
reputation, the status of which can make or break your
professional credibility.
Why Reputation Management Matters
On the surface, this may seem quite obvious—you want
consumers to look favorably upon your company, right?
But imagine you were looking to hire a top notch candi-
date or close a key corporate account. Negative opinions
about your business can scare off potential hires, partners
and, of course, customers. The majority of people (84%)
trust online reviews as much as they would trust the
recommendation of a friend, so you can’t afford to let bad
publicity slide.
What Brands Can Do
Brands aren’t helpless when it comes to how their rep-
utation takes shape on the internet. There are a number
of actionable steps they can and should take to protect
themselves online—and they’re not as time consuming as
you may think.
1. Keep your ads and content off unsavory sites. Who your brand associates with dictates how users per-
ceive you—a sentiment shared by over 2,200 brands that
requested third-party vendors pull their advertisements
from far-right news platform Breitbart.com back in 2017,
due to its overwhelmingly conservative stance and strong
pro-Trump message. People and products want to align
with messages that they can get behind.
2. Treat your personal social media pages as an extension of your business. We’ve seen how Facebook
treats our personal data. Even with maximum privacy set-
tings, don’t put anything out onto the web that you would
be ashamed to share with colleagues, business partners
and customers.
3. Use .SUCKS as a forum for online reputation management—and solicit reviews the right way. Don’t just sit on your domain, give your customers a plat-
form for feedback—then take their feedback to heart. If
you haven’t designed your own platform, know the review
policies for the sites you’re targeting and make sure what
you’re doing is above board.
Brands can be fragile and one wrong move can undo a
reputation that took months or years to build. As such, it’s
absolutely critical that brands explore every avenue of
self-protection online to safeguard themselves not only
against online haters and trolls, but against their own
mistakes too.
Stay vigilant and be receptive: your customers will
take notice and appreciate the efforts you’re making.
Your brand’s image and reputation are some of its most
valuable assets, so it’s well worth taking the time to pro-
tect them properly.
3 WAYS
14 15
Crash Course: What to Do When Your Reputation Sucks
Bad press sucks, but sometimes it
just can’t be avoided. If you’re expe-
riencing the lingering ill effects of a
muddied reputation, we’ve come up
with a no bullsh*t guide of best prac-
tices for reputation management.
React Fast
If criticism or disaster strikes, be pre-
pared to react quickly, politely and
earnestly. Addressing issues and
getting a message out as early as
possible lessens the impact a crisis
will have on a company’s reputa-
tion. As soon as you catch wind of a
news story or viral post that could
negatively affect your brand, make a
public statement addressing it.
Take Responsibility
If you or your company are being
criticized fairly and truthfully, take
responsibility. Explain how you ex-
pect to change things in the future
to prevent a similar problem from
occurring. Be as genuine as possi-
ble—insincere apologies suck.
Manage Your SEO
The last thing you want is for your
brand to be associated with key-
words like “bad service” or “rip-off”.
After a PR crisis, you should try
to clean up your Google search
results by creating new content.
Aggressively cultivate positive,
highly-searchable content, either
through your own blog or as a guest
writer on another popular site.
Use Google Alerts
Set up a Google Alert for your
company name or brand. If you’re
mentioned in a positive or negative
comment, an alert will come straight
to your email inbox. This allows you
to address any issues as quickly
as possible, hopefully before they
become a bigger problem than they
need to be.
Show Appreciation
It’s important to be responsive to the
good and the bad, to help promote
positive engagements with your
company and demonstrate that
your customers are a top priority
across the board. Spend some time
thanking positive commenters and
cultivating strong online relation-
ships with your reviewers.
Ask for Help
There’s no shame in not knowing
how to address a PR mishap. Emo-
tions may interfere with your ability
to react cordially and professional-
ly—which makes sense, given that
the internet can put brands through
proper (and sometimes undeserved)
trials. When in doubt, hire a PR firm
to help you manage the incident.
Managing a compromised reputa-
tion is vital to protecting your brand.
You want your customers to feel re-
assured when choosing your prod-
uct or service. Using these tips, you
can avoid major reputation pitfalls.
Shutterstock: By wellphoto
PROVIDE
E veryone makes mistakes (some bigger than
others) but a PR mishap doesn’t have to be the
end of the world. You need to act quickly and
strategically in the wake of a publicity disas-
ter—and one way to do this is to ask for feedback from
current and potential customers to help determine your
next move.
Corporate feedback is vital for developing a bullet-
proof business strategy and planning long-term goals.
But how can you collect feedback in a way that’s both
practical and helpful?
1. Have a Strong Focus
It would be impossible to survey every customer about
every potential issue they have with your company or
product. Although it’s tempting to ask for any and all feed-
back, you should focus on a particular issue, be it ease of
use, communication, online presence or conflict resolu-
tion. If you are polling your customers on their opinions
after a crisis or scandal, consider sending out a survey that
specifically tackles this event.
2. Respond Quickly
People are more likely to give feedback if they feel that
the company is actively responding and reacting to their
comments. Sometimes all this takes is a follow-up email
promising that someone will contact them regarding
their issue ASAP, or providing a 24-hour helpline for im-
mediate assistance. By showing that you care about your
customers’ time and concerns, you have already made
the first step towards maintaining (or repairing) your rep-
utation as a company.
PRACTICES FOR AN EFFECTIVE CORPORATE FEEDBACK FORUM
3. Leave Space
It’s tempting to push “on a scale of 1-to-10” questionnaires
as a source of feedback because you can ask the exact
questions that you need answers to. But you’ll want to
leave some space for the participant to address issues in
their own words too. They might highlight something that
you would never think to ask about.
4. Use the Right Tools
Know which channels are most valuable for receiving
different types of feedback. If you only have a single
question, then a simple online poll might be the best way
to gather responses. If you need a more nuanced under-
standing of the customer’s experience, you can never go
wrong with an email survey. If you want ongoing insights
into your customers’ thoughts or pain points, consider
having a public chat room or portal where users can inter-
act with your company in real time.
5. Brush Up on Analytics
Google Analytics is a hugely helpful tool that allows you
to “poll” your customers online without any extra effort
on their part. You can use website analytics to discover
things that customers might never report themselves,
such as how long they stayed on a given page or what
made them decide to bounce. Using analytics will help
supplement the information that customers give willingly.
Corporate feedback can help your company grow
and shift to suit your customers. Any PR slip-up can be
managed if your customers feel that their complaints are
being heard and—more importantly—acted upon.
5 B E S T
1716
H ave you already thought to purchase multi-
ple domains for your trademark, motto, tag-
line and brand? Developing a well-rounded
domain strategy is crucial to maximizing your
reach and solidifying your brand image. Choosing the
right ngTLDs, targeting causes and audiences that benefit
from additional messaging, and establishing a vision for
your company are just a few ways to take your digital
presence to the next level.
Why Do I Need ngTLDs?
There are plenty of reasons to have an arsenal of ngTLDs
at your disposal. You may be interested in protecting your
trademark from all angles. Or perhaps your company is
trying to break into new, international markets. You may
even just want to boost visibility (multiple domains mean
multiple chances for exposure) or launch a new product
that requires a bit of extra web space.
What ngTLDs Should I Use?
In today’s fast-paced e-commerce and e-service envi-
ronment, it’s important to stay ahead of the crowd. The
right domain names can establish credibility, craft brand
identity and promote your business. But that’s not all:
these days, several companies choose to invest in mul-
tiple domains to prevent fraud, anticipate misspellings in
searches (Google owns google.com and googel.com) and
beat competitors who may have a similar name or mark.
Where Should ngTLDs Direct Visitors?
Though it’s certainly an option, not all ngTLDs should lead
users directly to your main site. You should really think of
creative ways to use each of your ngTLDs for a different
Why, What, Where, How? Building Out Your ngTLD Strategy
PROGRESS
Top level domains (TLDs) come in various forms and different types of TLDs mean different things. .SUCKS, for example, is an ngTLD (or new generic top level domain).
gTLDs
Generic TLDs (gTLDs) are the most recogniz-able—and, we’d argue, the most boring—do-mains on the web. These include your standard .com, .org and .net.
ngTLDs
From .money and .love to .dog and .SUCKS, there are hundreds of ngTLDs available for purchase today, and each can be used to relay a specific message.
ccTLDs
A ccTLD is a country code top level domain—that means using .ca to represent a Canadian business online, .cn for China, .fr for France…you get the idea.
sTLDs
These domains are provided by a sponsor and represent specific ethnic, geographical, pro-fessional and technical groups or communities. Examples include .mil (for the United States Military), .post (for postal services), .edu (for post-secondary institutions), and .xxx (for por-nographic sites).
Domains 101
reason—one may act as a hub for original content, anoth-
er could be a space for targeted messaging. The options
are endless. ngTLDs can even be used to host a corpo-
rate feedback forum for internal use.
How Can ngTLDs Support Your Company Vision?
When a potential customer sees your company name,
what is it that you want them to think and feel? What’s
your primary message, distilled into a sentence or two?
Relying on a mix of domains—TLDs, ngTLDs, ccTLDs and
sTLDS alike—can give you more room to tailor your mes-
sage to different audiences and causes. What’s more,
experimenting with different ngTLDs to see what mes-
saging sticks and what doesn’t can help you find your
voice in a crowded digital environment.
Building out your ngTLD strategy takes planning and
work. Never fear, you can see a clear ROI if you plot your
course and make the most out of every resource avail-
able to you. Owning multiple domains is the reality of
our future on the web. And if approached strategically, it
can be extremely beneficial to you and your customers.
So what does this all mean? We’re glad you asked.
18 19
If there’s one thing that trademark lawyers
don’t need to be told twice, it’s that brand
image is of fundamental importance to
success. You understand the value of a
name and you know what can happen if
a company fails to protect it. That’s precisely
why your clients need to purchase their own
.SUCKS domain.
Brands who are stuck in the .com age might
be too quick to shrug off ngTLDs and deny their
influence, but this is a mistake—one that could
cost a brand dearly. With that in mind, we’ve
compiled this handy guide to ensure the brands
you represent are utilizing .SUCKS domains to
their full potential (and saving you a colossal
headache down the line).
A Lawyer’s Guide to .SUCKS
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PROGRESS
Step 1: Find the Point of Contact
Before you can do anything else, you need
to identify the right person to speak to about
purchasing a .SUCKS domain. This will totally
depend on the company size and structure. It
could be the CEO, the brand manager, the head
of customer service or someone in compliance,
marketing or IT. It might be your day-to-day
stakeholder, but that won’t always be the case.
Step 2: Help Them Identify Their Weak Spots
Is a brand struggling with a bad reputation?
Have they had PR drama in the past? Do they
have particularly outspoken or loud critics on
social media? Make note of pressure points that
need working on and lead your client or contact
into a discussion by promising to reinforce any
creases or cracks in their brand’s reputation.
Step 3: Pitch the Value of .SUCKS
Pitch your client on the concept by educating
them on the ROI of .SUCKS and sharing strat-
egies for what the brand could do with the
domain (find inspiration on pages 26 and 28).
This takes the brainstorming work off their plate
and may make them more likely to consider your
point of view.
Step 4: Partner with a Registrar
Partner with a registrar like Unregistry or Rebel
to help move your project forward. These
companies can offer you designers, customer
advocates and brokers to bring a new .SUCKS
to life. They will assist you in buying, selling and
managing your domain names, providing infor-
mation and support along the way.
Some key points of value include:
• Guarding your property. Sitting on the domain for protection purposes is reason enough to own one.
• Prioritizing customer service. Using the domain as a feedback forum can boost your customer satisfaction and stop disgruntled customers from airing their grievances on another platform—one which your client has no control over.
• Breaking the mold. Building a unique campaign can draw attention online and maybe even go viral.
S T E P S
2120
What the Duck? GOOGLE DRAMA HIGHLIGHTS THE NEED FOR AN AIRTIGHT
DOMAIN STRATEGY
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FEATURE
W hen it comes to domain strategy, many
brands leave a lot to be desired. Sure,
most are savvy enough to purchase
their primary domain right off the bat,
but many will then call it a day, assuming they’ve done
enough to cover their bases from a trademark perspec-
tive. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Your target
consumers aren’t always going to find you by way of your
official URL, so if you aren’t actively looking for cracks
in your domain strategy, you’re leaving yourself open to
attacks. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at the storied
issues between DuckDuckGo and Google.
Back in July 2018, featherweight search engine Duck-
DuckGo blasted the reigning heavyweight champ Google
via Twitter for anti-competitive search behavior. As with
all things in life, there are two sides to every story. Sure,
Google wasn’t exactly acting in good faith, but by not
claiming duck.com in the first place, DuckDuckGo left
itself vulnerable to competition. The question therefore
becomes: how can brands redefine their domain strategy
to ensure their trademarks are airtight?
DuckDuckGo’s Complaint
In a series of tweets, search engine DuckDuckGo accused
Google of shady behavior by calling out the tech giant’s
choice to purchase duck.com and redirect it to Google’s
homepage—a move DuckDuckGo says was made inten-
tionally to confuse consumers. The rival search engine
goes on to say that Google has made it “impossible to add
DuckDuckGo to Chrome…on iOS”, with many Android users
having the same limitations.
Google’s anti-competitive search behavior happens to
also be anti-consumer. After all, users should be able to
switch to their preferred search engine on any device with
ease. According to DuckDuckGo, its service is among the
top search engines in many countries. Blocking such ac-
cess is a clear violation of monopoly laws on Google’s part.
Google Relents
Since being called out, Google has amended its behav-
ior—sort of. Google owns duck.com because it bought On2
Technologies, which used to be called Duck Corporation.
And until recently, On2.com and duck.com both led users
to a redirect page that offered wayward searchers an op-
tion between Bass Pro shops, the DuckDuckGo search en-
gine homepage or the Wikipedia page for ducks.
Too Little Too Late?
DuckDuckGo eventually won the rights to duck.com in
December 2018, but that doesn’t make up for this peri-
od of confusion or the brand damage that resulted from
it. Think of all the traffic DuckDuckGo lost by not owning
duck.com—no doubt it regrets the decision to not invest in
relevant secondary domains sooner.
The Takeaway
The moral of the story is to always protect your trade-
mark—and to do it as early as possible. Your trademark is
essential to growing your business, and that means you
need to beef up your domain strategy to ensure you’re
not leaving room for unscrupulous competitors to swoop
in and attack. DuckDuckGo learned the hard way that not
being prepared sucks, and this has become a cautionary
tale for brands who haven’t covered all their bases when
it comes to domain strategy. To save yourself the head-
ache and heartbreak of lost business due to an incom-
plete domain strategy, consider claiming your trademark
in every way possible.
22 23
It all started with a small Irish restaurant chain called
Supermac’s and what it claims is a case of “trademark
bullying” on the part of the McDonald’s conglomerate in
the E.U. It ended with a genius, albeit devious, marketing
move by Burger King—the now-proud owners of menu
items such as “Like a Big Mac, But Actually Big” and “The
Burger Big Mac Wished It Was”. Ouch!
Apparently Burger King thinks that the Big Mac sucks
and thanks to this surprising turn of events it can now say
so in a way that’s equal parts petty and fun. How did this
all happen? Buckle up for a tale of trademark woes and
the comical marketing campaign they inspired.
The Dispute
On January 11, 2019, the European Union Intellectual Prop-
erty Office (EUIPO) surprised the trademark community
by overturning the McDonald’s trademarks for “Big Mac”
and “Mc”, allowing anyone in the E.U. to use those terms.
McDonald’s has expressed that it is “disappointed in the
EUIPO’s decision” and intends to appeal the decision.
This shocking turn of events came about after
Supermac’s faced-off against McDonald’s over owner-
ship of brand trademarks in the E.U. Supermac’s claimed
that it had been blocked from expanding into the U.K.
and other parts of Europe due to the fervent protection
of trademarks McDonald’s regularly uses (“Mac”, “Mc”,
“Big Mac”) and even those it doesn’t but was just sitting
on (including “SnackBox”).
Clear underdog Supermac’s noted that McDonald’s
was hoarding brand and product trademarks in its “war
How Burger King Claimed the Fast Food Crown
WHEN MCDONALD’S LOST ITS BIG MAC TRADEMARK
chest” in order “to use [them] against future competitors”.
The EUIPO heartily agreed, placing both “Big Mac” and
“Mc” up for grabs in the E.U.
This isn’t the first time something like this has hap-
pened to ol’ McDee’s either. In 2009, a Malaysian chain
battled for the right to the franchise name “McCurry,”
also winning its case. If you agree with Supermac’s and
McCurry and think McDonald’s sucks then you’ll love
how it got its comeuppance after the EUIPO’s decision
to nix its trademarks.
Marketing Matters
Burger King, already known for its off-the-cuff Twitter
marketing, wasted no time using the McDonald’s tragedy
to their advantage. After McDonald’s lost the right to “Big
Mac,” its main competitor snapped up the opportunity to
use the iconic name in a clever marketing scheme. A “Not
Big Mac’s” menu graced Burger Kings around Europe,
featuring a classy assortment of goods such as:
• Like a Big Mac but Actually Big
• The Burger Big Mac Wished It Was
• Kind of Like a Big Mac But Juicer and Tastier
• Anything but a Big Mac
• Big Mac-ish but Flame Grilled Of Course
It’s all fun and games until your brand is the butt of the joke.
“
”Simply villainous. Not to mention hilarious. And seeing
as the campaign earned viral attention online, successful as
well. While some might think that this type of viral market-
ing sucks, it’s difficult to deny its effectiveness, particularly
in a world where the sassiest brand personalities seem to
reign supreme amidst an internet audience obsessed with
edgy humor and memes.
If you’re a trademark expert, watch out. This whole
story goes to show the potential domino effect of losing
the claim to your brand name. It’s not just a legal impli-
cation—though that’s a huge part of it—but the potential
marketing blunders that come from not having the legal
right to prevent competitors from misusing your name.
If you’re a marketing consultant, take note! The timely,
creative and daring Burger King campaign can be a
teaching moment. Pay attention to your competitors,
your industry and what’s trending. There’s probably some
marketing gold in there somewhere, so long as you have
the patience to sift through the noise and the brashness
to grab a great opportunity by the horns.
Takeaway
It’s all fun and games until your brand is the butt of the
joke. This trademark drama illustrates that brand pro-
tection and marketing are two arms of your business
that can either sink you or elevate you on a whim. Keep
abreast of trademark news and learn from other brands’
trademark blunders. Channelling your inner Burger King
can help you stay on the cutting edge of viral marketing
rather than under its blade.
FEATURE
24 25
What springs to mind when you hear the word “Coach-
ella”? Probably not the geographic location of Coachella
Valley, California, but rather the world famous Coachella
Music Festival. This annual event has become so large
that “Coachella” has taken on a secondary meaning in
intellectual property terms. So what does this mean
from a branding and ownership lens? Despite being the
descriptor for a point on the map, “Coachella” can be
trademarked. Which is exactly what “Coachella” trade-
mark owner Goldenvoice did.
Trademark infringement sucks, so it’s helpful to
understand how a brand as big as the Coachella Music
Festival was able to protect its name—and why it invested
in doing so.
Goldenvoice vs. the Other “Chellas”
Wholechella (by WholeFoods), Combschella (by rapper
Sean “Diddy” Combs), Hoodchella (a rap festival) and
Filmchella (a film festival) are just some of the parties
on the receiving end of Goldenvoice’s liberal application
of cease-and-desists when it comes to defending the
Coachella brand. Goldenvoice’s argument is that asso-
ciation with the Coachella brand, by way of the “-chella”
suffix, serves multiple duplicitous purposes:
HOW FESTIVALS CAN CLAIM THEIR NAME AND PROTECT THEIR BRAND
1. It confuses potential consumers into
thinking the brand, mark or event is in someway
associated with the Coachella Music Festival.
2. It borrows from the hard-won goodwill and quality associated with the yearly music
festival and its true sponsors.
The reasoning makes
sense: Coachella fans and
followers don’t want to be
duped any more than Goldenvoice
wants other companies to dupe them.
Goldenvoice has worked hard to craft a certain
image for its product and has turned the brand into a
mega empire.
Goldenvoice protects its trademark with a ferocity
that some see as antithetical to the laid back, bohemian,
community-centric vibe of the festival itself. If that’s the
What’s in a Name?
case, why bother? Let’s
take a look at why trade-
mark protection is so important
and why other music festivals—and
other brands—should take a similar
stance on protecting their products.
The Value of a Trademark
It’s against Coachella’s terms and conditions for any third
party to give away Coachella tickets in unauthorized con-
tests, sweepstakes or draws. The festival believes that this
devalues its tickets and disrespects the advertisers and
promoters that paid for the right to partner with the event
(sponsoring radio stations, for example).
This is the same reason why Goldenvoice comes down
so hard on apparel companies like Urban Outfitters who
borrow its likeness, verbiage and style. Official sponsors
will be put off if they feel like their authorized collabora-
tions are diluted by unauthorized copycats. Goldenvoice
has a case against Urban Outfitters and Free People, as
the brands’ merchandise can reasonably be linked to
customer confusion, unfair competition and dilution of
the Coachella brand.
Cultural events, music festivals and the arts have a
particularly important duty to protect intellectual prop-
erty (IP). This is because many areas of IP come into play
when organizing, recording, performing, protecting and
disseminating the resulting products. Being thorough
about your copyright protection strategies can attract
bigger and better acts in the future, when the minutiae of
who owns what gets increasingly important.
Use It or Lose It
Elizabeth Kurpis, a fashion lawyer based in New York,
notes that, “What Coachella is doing here is not only typi-
cal, but it is their legal duty if they would like to retain the
rights to their trademarks”. Trademark infractions deval-
ue your brand and its sponsors and potentially damage
your reputation, not to mention that being lax about
defending what’s yours can actually weaken your case
if and when you decide to make a case for trademark
infraction. Learn from Goldenvoice and protect what’s
rightfully yours—no matter how “laid back” your brand is
meant to be.
The Takeaway
It’s simple: protect your trademark at all costs. Many
times, a simple cease-and-desist letter will suffice and
the offending party will back down without conflict. If that
isn’t the case, however, you must be prepared to fight for
what it yours. You can’t afford not to.
FEATURE
Shutterstock: By holleratyourbui
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TheHustle.Sucks and They’re Proud of It
hat’s The Hustle? No, we’re not
talking about the dance, but rather
the daily e-newsletter that’s taken
readers everywhere by storm thanks to
its conversational, relatable and funny
source of tech and business news. The Hustle has a
subscriber base of over 1.1 million, a mission to “educate,
inspire and entertain”, and, every now and then, it sucks.
Before you get your back up and accuse us of picking
on the brand, let us explain. In December, The Hustle
launched The Hustle Sucks, an online feedback forum
The Challenge
With a whopping 40% open rate on its daily e-newsletter, The Hustle clearly has a loyal reader base—and a number of them have strong opinions about what they like and what they don’t. The Hustle under-stands that it’s important to deal with criticism head on; however, the sheer volume of emails received, not to mention additional messages on various social media channels, made it hard to respond to everyone.
Knowing that it couldn’t afford to turn a blind eye to what its customers were saying, The Hustle decided to take action.
The Results
Launched in early December 2018, The Hustle is already seeing a posi-tive response from its community. In its first month, The Hustle Sucks received over 100 comments across eight categories, with as many as 24 upvotes on a single critique. For an e-newsletter with such high daily engagement, this level of user inter-action may not come as a surprise, but the feedback provided in this forum is already helping The Hustle prioritize the changes its readers want most.
Genuinity is attractive. Self-aware-ness is admirable. Humbleness is approachable. Rather than letting naysayers talk shit about their brand elsewhere on the web, The Hustle gives them a constructive platform to speak up and share their opinions.
The Solution
Stating that your own product sucks is a bold move, but when done in a tongue-in-cheek way with a dedicated domain, it can be inge-nious not insane. So, when The Hus-tle decided to build out a dedicated feedback forum, it chose .SUCKS. As Ryan explains, feedback isn’t always straightforward. “It’s funny to see one person say ‘I hate X’ and then another person say ‘I love X’, [which] is super common when you start to build a large audience.”
You’ll never satisfy everyone on the internet, and the team at The Hustle knows that. On TheHustle.Sucks, users can even like or dislike other comments, categorize their critique (editori-al, advertising, etc.) and respond to other people’s criticisms. It’s a place where conversations flourish, rather than fall on deaf ears.
designed to give disgruntled readers a place to vent.
Why? As Adam Ryan, VP of Media at The Hustle, notes,
“Having an isolated page to organize feedback and have
our audience interact about certain topics is an extremely
efficient way to collect feedback.”
When your brand hinges on being digitally savvy,
witty, relatable, clever and edgy all at once, you should
never shy away from consumer feedback—positive or
negative. But you should think outside the box in regards
to how you obtain this feedback. And that’s exactly what
The Hustle did by building www.TheHustle.Sucks.
Do
• Use a .SUCKS domain to get ahead of your competition and critics
• Point upset customers to a place where they can leave feedback
• Offer a customer service phone num-ber and email address
• Redirect to a useful page that gives peo-ple somewhere to share their thoughts
• Incorporate a .SUCKS domain into your digital marketing strategy
The Hustle has the right idea about staying on top of criticism. The brand uses a .SUCKS domain to point customers to a feedback page while also keeping TheHustle.Sucks out of the hands of their competitors. You can follow The Hustle’s example and use a .SUCKS do-main to nip complaints in the bud and build a stronger rapport with your customers.
The Dos and Don’ts of Using a .SUCKS Domain
Once you’ve established your .SUCKS site, consider these dos and don’ts:
Don’t
• Redirect to your main site without offering something useful to your visi-tors, like a feedback form or customer service number
• Sit on the domain name instead of us-ing it for something more beneficial, like making your customers feel heard
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This Podcast is Out to Prove Seattle.Sucks...Sort Of
oes Seattle suck? A group of city locals
seem to think so, and have even cre-
ated a podcast to voice their socio-
political opinions: “Seattle Sucks—A
podcast about hating the city we love”.
With 33 episodes available at time of
printing, the podcast averages 4.6 stars
out of 5 on iTunes and is the number one
result when searching all variations of “Seattle
sucks podcast.” They are also active on Reddit, and
currently boast 550 followers on Twitter.
On the podcast, they talk business, politics
and culture, with subjects ranging from Amazon
to activism, business to Jeff Bezos, composting to
internet megacorps—okay, they talk a lot about
Amazon, but let’s face it, Amazon sucks sometimes!
Up until recently, the podcast utilized the domain
www.SeattleSucks.com, but the team behind the
podcast recently shook things up by moving to a
.SUCKS domain.
28 iSto
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The Challenge
While the content of this podcast is entertaining and well presented, the original domain was...shall we say...a little blasé. A .com can be fine if you’re okay with blending in, but the Seattle Sucks team clearly isn’t. We like to think that they understood a .com wouldn’t do their product justice the way a .SUCKS could.
The Results
We’re not the only ones applauding the podcast on its use of a .SUCKS domain. As one enthusiastic Reddit user notes: “I love that you can have a .sucks website!” A .SUCKS domain used in this instance is creative, eye-catching and poignant, is indicative of passion and adds a dramatic flair. Podcast hosts and other creatives will find that a .SUCKS domain makes them stand out in a sea of digital products and standard .coms.
As podcasts become more popular among listeners and advertisers alike, Seattle Sucks honed in on a unique and creative way to market itself. A .SUCKS domain certainly packs a punch when your brand name already includes the word “sucks”, but it can be just as effec-tive if you are offering a solution to a sucky problem or are giving your customers a platform for construc-tive criticism.
Whether you want to jump on the Seattle Sucks bandwagon or start a site of your own, the internet is a magical hodgepodge of ideas, creativity and communication. We should all be inspired by Seattle Sucks’ drive to stand out and broadcast the messages that matter most to us.
The Solution
The colloquial term “sucks” is so relatable nowadays that it shows up everywhere—a playful joke, a legitimate critique, an important part of mastication (that’s chewing, get your mind out of the gutter!) When they registered their .SUCKS domain, the Seattle Sucks team were hitting on the reality that customers prefer being wooed by something edgy than bored by the status quo. The domain is also incredibly easy to remember, which cannot be understated amidst the billions of websites all vying for audience attention online.
The issue some people have with embracing an ngTLD for their brand is the fear that it will hurt their search engine ranking, but Google themselves have emphasized that this isn’t a valid concern. Using an ngTLD like .SUCKS won’t affect your SEO ranking either positively or negatively. That means you can suck proudly, knowing that your SERP spot is safe.
That means you can suck proudly, knowing that your SERP spot is safe.
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.SUCKS is obsessively dedicated to helping brands engage in honest dialogue with their customers
.SUCKS is an organic extension of any savvy brand that values trust, and
transparency above all else. We work with businesses who get it, because
they’re the most willing to be honest with themselves and their customers.
READ MORE AT GET.SUCKS/EVOKE