Branding

Earnshaw's, a magazine that I advertise in, was doing a story on branding. They selected me for the interview. These were the questions posed and how I answered them.

What is your company known for?
Stylease is patented one-piece infant wear that looks like separates. Giving ease to the parent and style to the child.

Did you recognize the value of branding from the beginning and intentionally brand your company? If so, how did you go about it in the beginning?
Yes, absolutely. Because our product is specific, all our items are one-piece rompers that look like separates, I knew I wanted consumers to tie the Stylease brand to the concept.

I bought two books when I started the company. One of them discussed branding. I designed and executed my brand in photoshop. I went to the USPTO website and read through tons of legal documents and filed my mark for consideration for a trademark. After about 4 months I was granted registration and changed my tm to an ®.

When I consulted a patent and trademark attorney to write my patent app. he asked how I knew what to do to register a trademark. There are apparently quite a few rules that I managed to comply with. I just told him I read all the paperwork. He also mentioned that I had a very strong design. That it possessed qualities of a successful mark. That was nice to hear, since I didn't use any guidelines when designing it.

What do you do now (ads, in-store events, hangtags, etc)?
I do regular advertising, have hangtags, in-store displays, booth signs, website, catalogs, direct mail postcards.

How do you protect yourselves from the also-rans? What role does your established brand identity play?
I filed a patent application and it was pending for 18 months then was granted. A patent pending is sometimes stronger than the actual patent because no one can see what is being patented while it is pending. So far that seems to be working. The Stylease brand is establishing itself not only with the product but with our company mission of a 100% satisfaction guarantee, terrific customer service, innovative products, value, comfort and style. Even if the copycats start, they won't possess all the qualities that the Stylease brand offers and our customers will turn to us for the service and quality they have come to expect.

Have you needed to adjust your brand identity as the company has grown or offered different product categories? If so, how did you do it--by creating a separate brand or expanding the one you had?
Yes. The company wants and needs volume sales to survive. In order not the jeopardize the branding level that Stylease has established, we are coming out with another brand that will be distributed to different levels of retail.

Is your brand message targeted to kids or their parents?
Definitely to the parents. Our products run 3-24 months in size. The mini-adult styling and easy-on-easy-off one-piece design is geared to appeal to parents, grandparents and the overall gift market.

Jenservation: Launching your own brand is HARD!! And expensive. Who knew?! Consider licensing if you are short on resources and don't necessarily want to start a business to launch your idea.