Making it in America 2

BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BRAND IN THE US

On Tuesday, June 28th, the second part of our business seminar series, Making it in America, took place at MS&K. The seminar consisted of a panel discussion about how to build a successful brand in the US and the differences between branding in Sweden and in the US. The speakers on the panel were; Kim H. Swartz, Enterntainment Attorney at MS&K; Annika Hellstrand, Account Manager at Mobiento that specializes in mobile marketing; Fredrik Malmberg, CEO & President at Paradox Entertainment; and Lotta Alsén, President of SACC-GLA and Founder & CEO of Quickenings, was moderator. Branding was discussed from several perspective, such as legal, mobile marketing as well as working with cross-media including film production and gaming.

Annika Hellstrand, regarded it as a key for success to keep the “swedishness” of the brand when launching it in the US, but at the same time to be international and understand different clients’ needs. Fredrik Malmberg, on the other hand viewed the “swedishness” as peripheral without bigger meaning in LA’s Entertainment Industry and considered it more important to create big American hits. Lotta later asked what one should do when one starts from scratch? What should one think about? Kim, from MSK, regarded choosing the right name and to trademark it, as very important and a discussion about laws regarding trademarks and copyrights spurred. Copyright is an intellectual property, whilst trademarks are used in branding and the panel coherently thought that trademarking a brand is very useful but also a very expensive process. An interesting note for beginners in the midst of branding is that not only can a logo can be trademarked, but also a word, a smell and a sound, and that the use of for example a word that precedes the registration of a trademark will give you the right to use the word.

CLICK HERE for key notes about the 5 most important things to think about when building a strong brand in the US from the seminar (e.g. what you have to think about when setting up and expanding a business, from a branding perspective).