The Iconic Purple

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/oct/02/cadbury-purple-legal-victory-trademark

All marketing strategy boils down to a common goal- to make people remember their brand.

Cadbury had been successful in differentiating themselves among competitors by customising their brand colour in purple. The impression and perception of the general public is extremely important, as it directly affects the positioning of the brand name. Citing the example of 7 Eleven, people get to recognise the convenient store at first glance once they see the iconic ‘7’ in a green and orange square. Similarly, when children see a chocolate package coloured in royal purple, I bet they will immediately link to Cadbury. This is the power of brand image. Furthermore, this concept could actually be used in other elements other than colour. It could be font styles or logo shapes, ie, font style of Lays chips etc.

What’s more is that the purple colour packaging of this British candy also brought out another common problem in marketing industry- the exclusive right of using specific colours, is it too vague for a company to own the trademark? Is it fair to late developed companies where they might have more restrictions or choices?

Especially for the first issue, Cadbury’s rival Nestle had brought out the issue that the trademark was just too vague. To a certain extent I agree with the standpoint of Nestle due to broad elaboration of a trademark, perhaps the level of clarity, precision is not sufficient for any registration of exclusive ownership. Therefore if it happens that companies would like to fight for any exclusive rights on vague trademark elements, a quantified standard or description should be initiated in order to maximise the right and fairness among companies.

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