Guest Blog: Proper Branding Starts With a Search

Since you are reading this on its site, I suspect that you are familiar with Gainlight Studios Inc. Gainlight is great at branding your business. As its owner will tell you, in order to grow and protect the value of your company, a brand is necessary. In the law, we call any source of good or service a mark.  I’m writing to let you know that before you pick your brand or mark though, you should ensure no one else has already used the mark.

Many business owners have a mark in mind before they even have a product.  Most of those don’t check to see whether someone else already had the mark though.  Proper investigation through trademark searching is imperative to avoid possible trademark infringement lawsuits, or having to start over with a different brand. To lose a federal trademark infringement suit and/or lose all your brand equity for failing to do a quick simple search at the beginning is both an unnecessary risk and a foolhardy enterprise.

A good starting off point is searching the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s TESS database for conflicting marks.  However, this search only covers existing and pending federal registrations of trademarks.  Just because a mark isn’t registered does not mean that the owner of the mark lacks trademark protection.  In fact, the law affords any mark holder some limited – so called common law – trademark rights. As I said, this is only a starting off point.

A more complete search is often called a common law search.  This kind of search will cover all pending and registered trademarks as mentioned above.  However, it will also search the registers of all 50 states for any state registrations, and common law and trade name directories, as well as domain names.  This is a complete search that affords not only the knowledge that you’re not infringing someone’s mark, but can serve the non-legal function of a guide to navigate potential conflicts that may exist in the landscape for your products or services.  Additionally, you may learn that a term is already being over used in a field and you don’t even want to be using that mark.  Investing marketing and branding resources into a mark that isn’t even distinctive is like digging a fox hole with a spoon.  You may get a hole dug, but it will take much, much longer. Beyond trying to make a name for business, the overused term will not be provided that much protection by the courts if it is later infringed by third parties.

Do you need an attorney to do all of this?  I can’t give you advice on that, but I can say though that a failure to conduct a proper trademark search can land you in hot water for willful infringement of a suit.  Basically, your failure to do your due diligence will result in the court possibly ruling that you might as well have, and purposefully ripped off someone else in bad faith.  In addition, while many people could have an opinion on whether marks you find are similar or the same, so as to infringe, every Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has a different multi-faceted test for what actually constitutes “confusingly similar.”  A licensed attorney concentrating in trademarks, or willing to take the time to research the case law and statute will be more able to render a legal opinion on whether or not the law would view a mark as confusingly similar.

TL/DR – In short, cause a proper trademark search to occur prior to committing to any branding.  To fail to do so is foolhardy, but to do so is an early step in creating not only a great brand, but a great brand that is protectable and not infringing.

Disclaimer:

This blog post was prepared solely for informational purposes. This blog post does not contain any legal advice and does not result in or constitute an attorney-client relationship. Please do not forward any confidential information; I will assume that information received is not confidential. Any readers of the blog post should consult with an attorney before relying upon any of the information contained on the blog post.

Update: Building Progress

Last Thursday we had the opportunity to see the progress at our new office space. To be honest, we were wowed…yet again. The attention to detail and extreme efforts of Dennis and John to preserve the historic characteristics of the building while also making it a functional space are really starting to show. We are super excited not only for the attention the building is beginning to attract but the professionalism we will immediately garner when someone visits us for the first time. Oh yeah, and the fact that we are on the forefront of development in the warehouse district! Check out the images below!

We had the opportunity to drive by today and check out the front window Vinyl that was just completed. This picture really doesn’t do it justice!

This view is from the ramp that shows the keypad accessible entrance. You can also see the cool stainless industrial lights that are now hanging!

This view is from the ramp and looks towards the street side entrance into the space.

This image is of one of the Gainlight offices. To the right will be a reclaimed window.

Standing in the middle of the same office, you can see the cool contrast between the new drywall and old brick.

Similar features in our other office, but we’re really excited for the recessed lighting in each office!

Just beyond our offices is the now cleared out lobby area. A great view of the style of lights throughout the space.

To the left of the previous picture is the entrance clients entering from Adams Street will see.

Back into the main space, you can another closed door office. Outside of this will be open space for others to slap a laptop down.

One final picture looks back towards the side entrance. A better angle for a view of the metal beam that runs down the middle.

We are extremely impressed at the progress thus far and even more excited that if the schedule maintains, we will begin moving in at some point next week! We will post back here as there will certainly be an open house event and other networking opportunities soon! Drop us a line if you have any cool ideas for our offices!

Movin’ on up: Our new Headquarters!

Well we got some pretty great news to share. In the next month, we will be gearing up to move our headquarters once again! We have gone from our living room to our 3rd office space in under a year and couldn’t be more excited about the newest move! Our new office space is currently being built out and is located in the historic Warehouse District of Peoria. Once home to great companies during the industrial boom, we’ll now be neighbors with the Peoria Chiefs and are excited to be on the forefront of development in the area. Having partnered with WORKflow Peoria since the idea was nothing more than ink on a napkin, its amazing to see their growth and ours over the last 12 months.

Check out the progress:

The building itself has a pretty rich history. Before the current owner took control, it was a print shop that provided services to Peoria area clients. At one point, during the prohibition days, it was used as a storage facility for bootlegger’s. In various places on the brick wall remains the markings that indicate what alcohol was stored in a particular spot.

Under all that snow is a brick paved alley. Driving down it makes you feel as though you have warped onto the set of Boardwalk Empire.

You can sense the history of this building with the weather worn staircase along side the building. This leads up to a grandiose meeting area complete with wood floors and brick features.

Among the many new additions is a parking level door that goes inside into the office space. This will lead into the space and take you through a small kitchenette area so we can grab our coffee right away!

This image, which is taken standing on the ramp, shows the row of offices to the left of the space. Behind me is a old loading dock that will be converted into an outdoor seating and meeting area for the summer months!

Among those offices is a great conference room. This window was put in by carving through the existing brick and concrete.

Continuing down the length of the building you arrive at the lobby. To the right there will be a custom staircase that allows access from street level.

Heading back towards the front, you can see the remainder of the space. The exposed brick to the left and new window where a garage door once was really help create the creative atmosphere we need!

Once the finishing touches get put on the space and we get all moved in, we will update you with another post with better views. These were snapped with my phone and unfortunately don’t do the space justice. We’re excited and hope that our followers and clients alike share in this big step with us! Keep checking back here for some more content and we are really looking forward to what this year has in store!

Balance Your Inspiration with Action

Ask anyone that starts or runs a business and you are likely to be told stories of random instances of inspiration that seem to strike from no where and affect the course of their company positively.

The thing is, it is not just business owners, but all individuals that share in these random instances of creative idea generation. Unfortunately, for many, these come and go without any remberance. Going astray in those random spurts of creativity? Good ideas

Just two weeks ago, I grabbed a recent edition of BusinessWeek and started reading. My reading started in front of the television upstairs and made its way around the house until it ended up in the bathroom with a stack of other magazines. Truthfully, I do my best reading there.

I got to reading a story on a company called Plan B Branding. The article was called “It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose. It’s How You Sell the Game“. It told the stories of Jason and Casey, a pair of enterprising individuals that followed their passion of branding to the minor leagues, creating a niche that did not previously exist.

The parallels between the company Matt and myself are running now and that which Jason and Casey are currently successful at were astounding.

Jason and Casey started their business in college, the idea? They saw logos out there and knew, they, themselves, could do them better. After sending out letters to over 130 minor league teams, one responded. They proceeded to spend three months creating that logo…for free.

Interesting because as I was working for Bradley, I found myself thinking the same thing. I was the person in charge of doing all the creative for an NCAA Division-1 athletics institution as a student. This very point was enough to convince me that I could do this on my own and make money at it. It also began the conversation between myself and Matt about the idea of starting a business.

After reading the BusinessWeek article, I immediately handed it to Matt, excited to see two young individuals having success in a similar arena as us. This is where the fun began, because after Matt read it, he found their website and crafted an email to them. Balancing both of inspiration with a bit of action.

To our astonishment, they not only got back to Matt, but set up a conference call with us for that Friday. Extremely excited for the opportunity, our team prepared questions and fired away to Jason on the other end.

We had blocked 20 minutes off for the conference call but it lasted over an hour, with no realization of this until the conversation was over. The discussion was encouraging, inspiring, and eye-opening. We left with over a page of notes each and with a renewed focus, a great contact, and a piece of advice we won’t soon forget: “Go into battle assuming all your ninjas are going to die.” An effective idea for any business meeting, proposal, or creative concept.

Matt simply acted on an idea with this same premise in mind. So what if he didn’t get an email back? He spent a few minutes crafting an email and if he got a response, great! If not, what’s 10 minutes of time?

We got great advice, from a great person in Jason. He merely requested we pay it forward when our time came. So here’s some advice for all of you:

1. When an idea strikes: WRITE IT DOWN!

Too many great ideas come to people and they don’t write them down. They become lost, only to reappear at some other date to the person chiming “I HAD THAT IDEA!” So, go out and get a notebook. I have three grid paper moleskine notebooks at my ready. One on my desk at work, one on my nightstand, and one that seemingly floats about the rest of the house. I chose grid paper because it allows me to sketch logos while also writing. But a napkin or $.20 notebook will do.

2. If that written idea seems good a week later, do it.

Too many people have too many great ideas and fail to act on them. ACT ON IT. It is amazing to watch Rob Dyrdek function in the show ‘Fantasy Factory’ on MTV. He has random spurts of creativity and the one difference between him and millions of Americans is that he has a profound way of getting it done. From crazy ideas like Rob’s to applicable ideas that can help people’s lives, if you don’t act on them they aren’t worth the ink they’re written in.

3. Pay it Forward.

As Jason said at the culmination of our call, ‘When someone comes around asking for help or guidance, make sure to do what I did and share your knowledge.’ Likewise, I just saw the enshrinement of Karl Malone into the hall of fame. He ended his acceptance speech stating ‘What good is success if you can’t share it with someone else?’

When you have even the remote semblance of success, don’t be too caught up in what you’re doing to forget the immense joy that comes from helping others and lending advice.

Now go out after it and get it! Take the time to read that article, it just might inspire you too.

Click on the link for the BusinessWeek article and if you’re interested in learning more about Plan B Branding and their impressive body of work, click here.

The Winner’s Psychology

I am going to begin this blog with a quote, “In the pros, talent alone isn’t enough” (CALIPER, 14.)  To athletic supporters, this may already be known, but to others its shocking. Allow this to resonate for a moment and let us explore this in a self sense. During this on going economic recession, millions of individuals across the universe strive to seek jobs. Sound like competition? Believe me, its an intense playing field with limited silver lining. Some spend days visiting several business establishments turning in applications and submitting their resume.

Some spend hours applying electronically only to be placed in a database flying low on the recruiter radar. Then there is the bitter sweet excitement you have been selected for an interview. Dressing to impress, sharpening your knowledge on your previous work experience(s), and acknowledging your skills and talents in efforts to highlight your candidacy have all been checked off your preparation list. Now, you are at the interview and throughout have maintained strong eye contact with the interviewer as well as sold yourself undoubtedly well acing every question and then some with zero hesitation. The interview ends with sincere handshakes and you leave with a business card in hand most likely in efforts to obtain contact information to inquire on the status of your application. Two weeks go by and its been crickets between you and the prospective employer, no phone call, no e-mail. Two weeks turn into over a month and crickets turn into utter darkness.

It is then safe to assume you did not get the job. This is often unfavorably what several peoples’ job hunt succumbs to and it is immensely frustrating. You feel you put your life on hold for this one shot and it crumbles. How is it that employers do not have the time to tell a candidate they are a no hire? Several questions run through your mind; “was I not qualified enough overall?” “Did another candidate have more on the job experience?” “Did I disappoint in the interview?” etc. Instead of worrying about the inhumane reasoning behind no response, build yourself mentally. Sports managers and coaches go through a similar process when assessing potential players in talent recruitment. They ask themselves whether or not a player is prone to injuries or if they can dominate the court on a team-basis.More importantly, are they able to handle a loss psychologically? What about several consecutive losses?

This is where we take into account “the psychology of the winner” established by Herb Greenberg, Ph.D, President and CEO of Caliper, a company that aids businesses in peak performance. Greenberg believes that three characteristics attribute to this winner outlook: self-discipline, competitiveness, and an optimistic sense of self. Let us break down these themes. Self-discipline is the inner desire of continuous improvement. Competitiveness is the fuel to the fire where the ultimate drive and risk are a go. A positive self sense is remedy towards handling failure. If one has belief in he/she, failure is seen as a minimal part of the situation and moving on is easier.

Greenberg believes that players can beat the odds by marriaging talent and inner motivation. Players that ride on ability alone never make it off the bench due to their lack of self-discipline, competitiveness, and self-esteem. At the end of the day, athletes only face winning or losing, as individuals we face survival in day to day activities. Utilizing the characteristics that make up “the psychology of the winner” can allow us to make it through any experience or event in any personal or professional application, especially in the world’s on-going battle in seeking employment. Rejection is not so bitter after all.

4 Tips to Starting Your Design Business

You may have a budding freelance career and have clients asking you for an FEIN number. You could be a long-time freelancer and are contemplating starting a design business. Or, you could be an individual that sees an opportunity on the local level to create great design and want to start off on your own. Whatever the case, this article is for those entrepreneurial-minded individuals whom are contemplating their own business.

1. Seek as Much Advice as Possible

There is one certainty when starting your business, you will undoubtedly have an abundance of questions. You will be making big decisions right from the start. Issues like what type of business to file under, which vendors to partner yourself with, how to deal with contractors, how and when to collect money, how to take care of accounting, do you develop your own contracts or let a lawyer do it…the questions are endless.

You will need answers beyond those that Google can find. You will need sound advice from individuals that have been there, done that. To keep costs low, work your inner-circle of friends for answers and advice. When you can’t get the answers from them, pay for them.

When we started, we sought out mentors, professors, and peers from advice. We were shocked that so many companies that would be considered competitors were willing to offer up advice. The key is to take it all with a grain of salt. As Jay-Z says “Everyone can tell you how to do it, they never did it”.

2. Spend Time on Your Own Marketing

It is very easy to continue to seek out opportunity after opportunity when you start off to bring money in and help your bottom line. After all, it is important to keep the lights on!

That being said, focus some of your efforts every week on your own marketing. This may be your own website, an advertisement, or other creative strategy for getting your name out there. In an industry where you are likely working on marketing pieces for other companies, having poor marketing materials for your own business is not a good selling point. We are still not great with this, but is a big objective every week and we realize with great design talent, we have a very big leg up on people operating in other businesses as creative is a large expense.

3. Don’t Spend More Than You Make

Sounds pretty simple, right? This was some of the best advice given to me from my friend that owns numerous restaurants in the area. His comment: “If you make 10 dollars, only spend 5″. Simple advice, but if the Great Recession that America is just emerging from provided any lesson, it was that companies with high overhead typically do no survive downfalls in the economy.

Keep your expenses low, start small and grow as your company grows. Don’t go out and get your dream office right away. Allow your company to grow to that level and go gangbusters then! Also, do not borrow money if you do not have to. Too many people have great business ideas that fail because they can not take on the projects that really push them because they play it safe knowing that they have to pay a creditor. It can also quickly become a nightmare dealing with investors as you suddenly are no longer answering to yourself, but the concerns of individuals with money on the line. While investment does make sense, make sure to analyze it thoroughly and ensure that it is a good fit before taking on this added responsibility.

4. Stay Positive

Face it, the fact of being an entrepreneur and stepping off on your own is nerve racking. There will always be someone telling you this is a terrible idea and that you are crazy. Add to that the fact that the beginning years of any business are cyclical and full of ups and downs and you can find yourself focusing on negative things. Your friends will be jetting around in new cars, getting new toys, and going on great vacations. This jealousy can wreak havoc on your own dreams.

Remember to always stay positive and learn something from the negative situations you encounter in business. Stay committed to long-term life fulfillment and not the temporary, short-term happiness.

This is not a complete list by any means. We all encounter different things through our own experiences. These are just some key points that we at Gainlight have encountered since we started. Share some of your advice and thoughts below. We would love to hear your opinions!

Combating the Issue of Price: A Designer’s Viewpoint

Designers abroad have the stigma that we lose sight of the goals on hand and frolic down from rabbit trail to rabbit trail only to arrive at an ending unbeknown to the client. The scattered brained individuals whom only care about our own opinions, our own ideas, and that our egos are fed effectively at the end of a project. As a designer, you know this is bogus.

People hire designer’s to fulfill the complex need of creative advice, creation, and implementation. Again, people hire designers to fulfill the complex need of creative advice, creation, and implementation (anything I mention twice is usually important).

We are in the same boat as an individual seeking out a doctor to fulfill the complex need of health advice or an iron worker to fulfill the complex need of welding steel 40 floors up. We are skilled and trained individuals constantly relearning our craft and executing a currently unattainable need for a client.

Here me out when I say this: DO NOT GET MAD ABOUT THE THE TRASH PRODUCED BY HUNGRY ARTISTS WHO DO NOT YET REALIZE THAT QUALITY WEBSITES COST MORE THAN $50. I am absolutely SICK of hearing designers, blogs, and the comment rat bitching in the design community about clients and their misunderstanding of how ‘bad’ we got it. We don’t have it bad. Go read the news. There are a lot worse things going on so stop complaining about a child who prices a logo at the same price as a Timex watch at Wal-Mart.

Okay, this is edging on an all out rant, but I do want to supply you all with some solid advice. My buddy jokes about channeling his inner chi. It could be when we are about to have a drink at the bar, he’s about to line up his golf shot, or in he’s the process of headbutting someone. Regardless, this is great advice if you ever find yourself in the situation of someone else comparing an individuals trash work to your elegant, thought-out creation. Here’s a few points to keep in mind if you’re confronted by someone comparing your work to someone else’s:

1. Don’t approach business like a starving artist

When first starting out, designers have the tendency of getting to a point where they’re so hungry for work, anything and everything the client says is like the first time they saw the opposite sex naked. “OMG!!! THAT’S AWESOME!” Likewise, the hungry designer tends to price things low as it is an easy way to add to the portfolio and work around the biggest barrier to entry: skill.

So settle down, and collect yourself. I ask that you channel your inner chi and harness the notion I stated twice to you earlier, “People hire designers to fulfill the complex need of creative advice, creation, and implementation.” We are fulfilling a complex need. No where does it say that the client is always right and no where does it say that our services are so easy a cave-man could do it.

2. Be honest

It is our job to give candid feedback even in situations where we may feel it could hurt the client’s feelings. They don’t have to like it, they’re the decision maker, but the project will be better because of it. A good business person will accept your opinion therefore accepting your hourly rate and a healthy dialogue will unfold. Additionally, they will realize that the website they could have gotten for $50 may have functioned, but it will be as generic as a $4 prescription from Target. To top it off, they would have learned nothing, likely had little input in any of it, and the crappily designed website starting at $50 is now costing them $5000 because of errors made originally by an lesser skilled individual.

This means we must position ourselves solidly as idea champions from the onset. We should allow enough feedback from the client to make them feel as if they were so involved in the process that they created the work, when in all actuality, we remain in the drivers seat the entire time. I know you will come across some that just don’t get it and tell you how to do your job. Avoid them like the plague. They’re devoid of all common sense and will milk you for all you’re worth.

3. Don’t focus on what others are doing

If we all did what everyone else was doing, no one would be unique. If an individual is pricing their work at $50, let them!

(Arnold Voice) Stop whining!

That individual will cease to be a factor in your ideal clients mind if you hold this mentality. Why? You provide better service, a better product, and a lasting image. Any marketing lesson will tell you that a rational buyer will be willing to pay for this.

I remember an example from a marketing professor: an optometrist charging $50 for Lasik eye-surgery raises a red-flag. Well the same can be said for a designer charging $50 for a website to a rational buyer. You’re in business to make money. In order to make money, you must provide quality service. In order to provide quality service, you must pay more. Mercedes are not the same as Kias. Kias are not the same as Mercedes. While they fulfill the same role, they are simply not comparable. Whether your business model is wide or tall it is entirely up to you. Just focus on yourself and be aware of others pricing.

If you’d like to read about pricing from a salesman’s perspective, read “3 Keys to Avoiding a Design Price War” by our own Matt Lakics. I also recommend checking out fellow designer David Airey’s “First Step to Graphic Design Pricing” for more great advice on this topic!

G is for Gmail – The Alphabet According to Google AutoComplete

You’ve likely seen an episode of Sesame Street at some point. Hell, most of us grew up watching Big Bird waddle around vomiting out little bits of knowledge that our virgin ears were soaking up like water to a sponge. My inspiration for this post came from the segment of the show “C” is for Cookie. In it, the character Cookie Monster poses questions to the viewers for words that start with various letters of the Alphabet. A segment of the show would go something like this:

Cookie Monster: “What word starts with C?”

Dumbfounded Child Viewer: “I don’t know!”

Cookie Monster: “Cookie!”

Cookie Monster: “What starts with O?”

Dumbfounded Child Viewer: “I don’t know!”

Cookie Monster: “Obese!”

Well, I seemingly drew correlations between the pervasive lengths that the producers of Sesame Street went to understand children’s thought process when watching television (read Malcom Gladwell’s “Tipping Point”) and the pervasive nature that Google is entering into every facet of our life. Don’t get me wrong, I love Google products and services, but I do sometimes get the feeling they’re like that creepy uncle of yours that is way too involved in your younger sisters life. Poking her on Facebook, commenting on her attractive friends in explicit beach photos, and getting way too close on holidays.

The premise of this is simple: type in every letter of the alphabet and return what the top response was according to auto-complete. Well, without further ado, this is the alphabet according to Google’s auto complete feature as of 3/31/2010:

A is for Amazon
B is for Best Buy
C is for Craigslist
D is for Dictionary
E is for Ebay
F is for Facebook
G is for Gmail
H is for Hotmail
I is for IMDB
J is for Jet Blue
K is for Kohl’s
L is for Lowe’s
M is for Myspace
N is for Netflix
O is for Office Depot
P is for Pandora
Q is for Quotes
R is for Realtor.com
S is for Southwest Airlines
T is for Target
U is for USPS
V is for Verizon Wireless
W is for Walmart
X is for Xbox360
Y is for Youtube
Z is for Zillow

So what’s so interesting about all this? Outside of the obvious censorship by Google on terms like ‘Porn’,  I analyzed these results with the assumption that Google’s AutoComplete algorithm weighed returns based on the number of times searched the heaviest across all users that input data. I believe this assumption still holds true. As you can see from the results, all of them are relatively well known companies and services.

But, when I went to upload this article that has lingered in the back-end of our site for a few weeks now, I decided to see what results have changed. While a few from that list have changed like ‘S’ going from Southwest Airlines to Sears, I found that local companies and services were now being favored in the #1 spot. Being from central Illinois, I saw things like Illinois State University being returned in the first slot for ‘I’ now. The same was true under ‘P’ as the Normal, Illinois newspaper the Pantagraph was being returned.

Based on this alone, it appears Google is becoming much more intelligent at segmenting results based on your location. Is this another pervasive move by Google or another way Google is making our lives simpler? Share your thoughts below!

The new GainlightStudios.com

We’d like to take the time to introduce you to the new Gainlight family of websites. Our old website – gainlight.com – was simply a showcase of a few items we had with generic information related to our company. In the words of Jay-Z, “We off that.” We’ve done so much since last April that the format of that old website was no longer useful nor a good representation of who we are as a company. As we have evolved since starting Gainlight Studios, we felt it was time for our website to evolve with us. Here’s a quick rundown: