The Ralph Lauren saga has brought to our shores some critical issues about branding that ?Brand_Talk? could not miss to mention.

Did you know that Ralph Lauren started with selling high quality ties and that today the company is a leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in three categories: apparel, home accessories and fragrances?

What Ralph Lauren himself says about the brand he has created gives us a clue of a central concept in branding, Brand Value: ?What began as a tie 35 years ago has grown into an entire world that has redefined how American style and quality are perceived. Polo has always been about selling quality products by creating worlds and inviting our customers to be part of a dream. We were the first to create lifestyle advertisements that tell a story. We were the first to create stores that enable customers to interact with that lifestyle.? In the light of recent events we can venture to add that Ralph Lauren is the first international company to successfully crackdown on counterfeiting and trademark infringement in Mauritius to protect its brand value, built over 35 years of financial, marketing and creative investments.

Brand valuation is a whole technical and indeed complex discipline with different performance parameters that give an indication of the value of a brand. Also known as Brand Equity, brand value is composed of brand loyalty, brand awareness and brand image. The concept and measurement of brand equity goes well beyond the legal concept of a trademark or the accounting concept of goodwill. Brand equity encompasses a whole range of variables which may include such things as the image imparted to the purchaser, advertising quality, quantity, trust, long term reputation for reliability, social responsibility, and so forth.

Taking Brand Value as a key performance parameter, it is logical to expect that a company behind a brand such as Polo Ralph Lauren, sold globally and generating millions of dollars of sales with a large loyal customer-base, to deploy necessary means to protect its brand against any form of counterfeiting. As echoed by the head of public relations at Ralph Lauren's head office in New York, Nancy Murray claims that ?It?s part of our normal course of making sure that our trademark is protected worldwide?.

While Polo Ralph Lauren was protecting its brand, we should also feel secure that both the judiciary and the government have been prompt in reacting positively in ensuring that the country?s reputation gets protected in international markets-media for not being projected as a safe haven for counterfeiters. Yet, we still have a long way to go? But with such a strong global brand, that would have been very bad for our image worldwide and would not help to defend our causes in forums like the WTO and AGOA. Economic diplomacy should also guide us here?

The pace is set to sensitize local population of the dangers of buying forfeited products. Even local brands suffer from counterfeiting. IV-Play, the local designer fashion wear has been regularly infringed locally with numerous manufacturers trying to ?surf? on the strong brand awareness acquired by the name IV-Play over time, by selling low quality products. They simply copy the designs of this up-market local fashion brand and coin names ?playing? with the Play suffix like Re-Play and Be-Play.

In the meantime the Registered Trademarks Holders and Retailers Association (RTMHRA) is pursuing laudable initiatives to make sure that counterfeiting does not ruin the spirit of innovation and creativity that Mauritius has acquired over the years by shrinking potential sales of its members.

Brand Protection in Mauritius will not be integral until and unless the current and intended legislations are fully enforced: ?Unfair Practices Act?, ?Patents Industrial Designs and Trademarks Act?, complemented by the imminent ?Geographical Indications Acts? and the ?Layout Design and Topography of Integrated Circuits Acts?. Consumer education and awareness is also critical.

If necessary measures are not taken urgently, the whole country may run into the risk of losing a global race without its key jockey: healthy protected brands.

?Brand_Talk? readers are invited to join us on Radio One on Fridays 1830 for other interesting prespectives on branding...

<B>Ashraf Oozeerally

[email protected]</B>