Brandcops - Online brand protection service

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Brandcops - New, Innovative online brand protection service unveiled in Auckland, New Zealand.

Auckland - July 1st, 2002: Is the Internet a boon to brand owners, or a lawless environment of brand piracy, misuse and abuse? Both, say the founders of Brandcops, a new brand protection and management service launched this month.

Based in Auckland, New Zealand, Brandcops (www.brandcops.co.nz) offers to police brand security and integrity on the Internet and alert brand-owners to online misuse and brand-damaging activity.

Brandcops will also provide a range of aligned brand management services, including a digital brand asset management system, search engine placement strategy, an online "press clipping service", competitive activity monitoring and web site promotional assistance.

Hot topic

"Brand protection has become a hot topic for businesses worldwide since the explosion of the Internet." said Brandcops founder Paul Wager, "There are a number of serious issues involved, and we have effective processes to detect and manage them."

A very common problem is the misuse of "meta-tags" - the hidden code contained within a web page which search engines use to categorize their results. "It is amazing to see just how many businesses insert their competitors brand names in their own meta-tags to gain preferential placement in search engines."

"Anti-business activism is another potent threat to brand value that has gained more power through the web. We can give early warning of potential threats, enabling brand owners to prepare counter-measures."

Brandcops cites one compelling real-life example: "A prominent brand monitored during the testing phase was found to have over 90 percent of its exposure on the Internet showing negative or damaging associations; whilst its own informative website was virtually invisible in terms of search engine exposure. Net effect: that brand’s presence on the Internet was overwhelmingly derogatory, distorting public perception of the brand and the company, and undermining all the effort (and money) being invested. We’re here to do something about these problems."

Also detrimental to brand integrity and value are misuse and abuse of brand standards by employees, subsidiaries, distributors, agents, affiliates, associates and service suppliers. "Before you can fix these behaviours you have to know about them, as soon as possible. That’s part of our service." said Wager.

Brandcops believes that effective implementation and policing of standards are a critical component of maintaining brand integrity and value. Its upcoming 'Brand Central Station' service offers companies a secure, convenient, cost-effective and efficient way to provide authorized access to official digital versions of logos, images, templates, broadcast components and other collateral material.

Employees, Advertising agencies, PR consultants, trusted printers and production houses, branch operations and authorized distributors or agents can be given degrees of permission to download appropriate material, with the reassurance that it is up to date, accurate and supported by the current (online) usage manual.

Helping brands make better, more profitable use of the online opportunities is another string to the Brandcops bow. Its services range from consulting on just what those opportunities may be, advice on new brand deployment; improvement of a brand’s web presence; and online promotional activity, including search engine placement strategy.

"There are many companies that have put their brands online without properly thinking through the reasons, or how best to maximize that presence," said Paul Wager. "We’re business analysts, first and foremost, so we can do the necessary research and extrapolate the right conclusions to help brand owners properly focus their online business strategies."

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ABOUT BRANDCOPS: The Brandcops team is a task force of Internet specialists who, individually, have been involved in many aspects of online business and brand development since 1996. They, and their partner companies, bring together experience, skills and in-depth knowledge in the fields of market research, business strategy, marketing, advertising and promotion, PR and business communications, CRM, search engine placement and media measurement.

CONTACT: Paul Wager Phone: 09-476-0705 Mob: 021-779-888 Email:paulw@brandcops.co.nz

WEBSITE: www.brandcops.co.nz www.brandcops.com

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