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Commercialising Trademarks

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:46:40 +0100

About Trademarks.

A trademark is a fantastic business asset, but is usually a complementary asset to other intangible assets. The other intangible assets (eg. Business method, system, process, product or service) usually form the core of the value transfer. Without a core value delivery mechanism it is very difficult to leverage value from a trademark.

In my view, only established brands have the opportunity to leverage a trademark in isolation, there are some exceptions but they are very few and far between.

Generally you will find it very difficult to leverage value from a new trademark in isolation. The reason for this is that you cannot trademark established terms or existing sayings. If someone is creating something new, there are usually options for working around your trademark by using slightly different wording etc.

Commercialising Trademarks

To commercialise a trademark, strong brand recall amongst a specific target market is often required. This “Association” between existing awareness and a new product is a common reason that someone might license a trademark.

In order to commercialise most trademarks you will need to develop and promote a product or service that generates strong brand recall. Once this initial “Brand Building” is done, the issue of licensing can be considered.

An “intellectual asset bundle” can be created and is usually what is licensed as part of a Franchise Agreement.

Preparing an Information Memorandum that will raise capital

Wed, 26 May 2010 04:43:26 +0100

This was one of our best attended events of the Innovation Festival Series. The event focused on the fact that the document is only the end point of the process.

We successfully guided several attendees away from the traditional venture capital process by providing guidance on the types of opportunities that are likely to have success in this channel. In my view this was a substantial success of the session. When you are in the early stages of opportunity creation, there is little time to waste on chasing the wrong capital raising path.

The session also made attendees look harder at capital raising as their only option. Experience was provided on opportunities dating back to 1997 and the different pathways that inventors and entrepreneurs took in getting their opportunity to market.

We are currently actively seeking opportunities that may fit the Venture Capital profile and are interested in hearing from anyone who is inspired to raise capital by the below abridged presentation.
This was one of our best attended events of the Innovation Festival Series. The event focused on the fact that the document is only the end point of the process. We successfully guided several attendees away from the traditional venture capital process by providing guidance on the types of opportunities that are likely to have success in this channel. In my view this was a substantial success of the session. When you are in the early stages of opportunity creation, there is little time to waste on chasing the wrong capital raising path. The session also made attendees look harder at capital raising as their only option. Expereince was provided on opportunities dating back to 1997 and the different pathways that inventors and entrepreneurs took in getting their opportunity to market. We are currnetly actively seeking opportunities that may fit the Venture Captital profile and are interested in hearing from anyone who is inspired to raise capital by the below abridged presentation.

Raising Capital - Venture Capital in Australia

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Commercialising Government and Statutory Authority Innovation

Wed, 26 May 2010 04:17:58 +0100

One of the key challenges in the commercialisation of government and statutory authority innovation is the measurement of success.

Metrics formed a key aspect of this presentation and the associated discussion. The concept of impact vs commercial return was discussed and evaluated. Furthermore the concept of measuring outputs of commercialisation without first referring to the inputs that a commercialisation team may have to work with were discussed. A key element of creating successful commercialisation is clearly understanding the objectives. Often commercialisation is the only real mechanism for enabling the adoption of a government technology within the broader marketplace.

We have assisted in establishing and training commercialisation teams from a wide range of government and semi-government authorities.

An abridged version of the presentation used at the session is provided below.

Commercialising Government Intellectual Property

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Managing Intellectual Property in Government and Statutory Authorities

Wed, 26 May 2010 04:18:52 +0100

This event was well attended by a broad cross section of Victorian Government departments.

Andrew Greaves, Assistant Auditor General, VAGO provided a brilliant overview on the 2005 Auditor General's report on Managing Intellectual Property in Government. Some guidance was sought by departments on the threshold level at which intellectual property should be captured, and for what purpose. Some high level direction on these issues was provided. Additionally it emerged that the Department of Treasury and Finance is currently working towards a discussion paper on this topic which may eventuate into a whole of Victorian Government policy on IP management.

One interesting development from the session was the broad variety of uses for intellectual property management, with the management of copyright being a prime consideration for many agencies. Some agencies represented were seeking to commercialise their intellectual property, and this created a new and diverse set of challenges.

We advised that we had been working with agencies in Western Australia on similar issues, and in particular, the managment of compliance issues associated with the valuation, management and commercialisation of intellectual property. An abridged version of this presentation is provided below.

Managing Intellectual Property In Government

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Establishing an Innovation Programme

Wed, 26 May 2010 03:59:08 +0100

This seminar provided some relevant group discussion on the issues associated with the establishment of an innovation programme within the government context.

The event was attended by a broad range of Victorian government agencies and highlighted the need for further information and guidance in this area. All participants expressed a distinct lack of availability of information and best practice related to the creation of government innovation programmes. Some attendees were in the early stages of establishing their innovation programme, whilst others had advanced programmes staffed by up-to 40 full time staff.

One particular issue surfaced throughout the discussion was the need for metrics to translate the strategic objectives of the programme down to an operational level. The presentation provided an overview of some possible metrics and approaches.

This area is a focus area for Mission HQ where we assist organisations through facilitation, process design, metrics and implementation of programmes. An edited video of this event is provided here. See below for a cut-down version of the presentation provided. We are available to provide similar events for your organisation as either training or a facilitated session.

Establishing an innovation programme in the Government Context

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Technology based Intellectual Property Valuation

Tue, 25 May 2010 02:29:36 +0100

Discussion at this event centred on the topic of value (a whole subject in itself, and a passion of mine!)

The value discussion was a useful pre-curser to a structured approach to the valuation of technology based intellectual property.

This discussion looked at the simple concept of property valuation and discussed the relevance of different perspectives on value. A property has a number of different values, none right, and none wrong, but all relevant from their individual perspectives.

Council Valuation
Bank Valuation
Economic Value (attributable to rent)
Realestate Agents Valuation
Buyers Valuation

Whilst each perspective results in a different number, each has its purpose in the valuation process.

Valuing Intellectual Property

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Developing a Go-To-Market Strategy

Tue, 25 May 2010 02:28:48 +0100

This subject was developed for the 2010 Australian Innovation Festival. When researching this topic, we found a distinct lack of information available. This is reflected in the enormous volume of hits this presentation has received in its first 18 hours on Slideshare!

Whilst much information about taking a technology to market is undertaken from either a technology or marketing perspective, there, there are many business decisions to be made throughout the process. Developing a framework to enable the consideration of appropriate decisions was the core objective of this presentation.

Feedback from attendees at the session was overwhelmingly positive and the underlying approach addresses many key issues in the technology to market journey. We have undertaken considerable consulting activity to assist clients in better structuring this journey so it is repeatable, compliant and effective in managing the innovation commercialisation process.

Developing a Go-To Market Strategy

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Business Model Design for Technology based ventures.

Tue, 25 May 2010 02:30:57 +0100

In preparing our seven events for the Australian Innovation Festival, it was interesting how many of the diverse event topics kept coming back to business model design as a foundation.

The creation and selection of alternate business models is a critical element of any business planning, financial modelling, business valuation, or investment preparation. It forms the dialogue between the technology itself and the economic profile of the opportunity.

The business model design event provided unique insights into the modelling of alternate business models, highlighted by the live business model workshop at the end of the session. Participants really had their eyes opened to the power of business model design throrugh the use of constraints in our hypothetical example.

Using constraints or objectives is one of the best ways to create a wide variety of business models in a rapid timeframe. Examples of such constraints may be:

Fastest to market
Greatest 5 year value
Largest market share
Lowest capital requirements
etc.etc.

We would recommend considering business model design as a key pre-curser to any commercialisation or opportunity assessment work. We are currently working towards a model where the key parameters identified during business model design are translated directly into a financial model.

Business model design

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