Countering Brandjacking in the Digital Age: ... and Other Hidden Risks to Your Brand (SpringerBriefs in Computer Science)

The rise of the Internet and social media in particular offer great opportunities for brand owners to increase business and brand recognition. While this has clearly been of benefit to brand owners, who have seen a consequent rise in the value of their brands, it simultaneously makes those brands more attractive for exploitation or attack by others. Brand risks can come in many different types and this book provides examples of how these risks can arise as well as providing quantitative estimates of the adverse impacts that can result from such risks. Brand owners need to be aware of the risks and of the need to develop strategies for identifying and managing them. This book details the process by which a brand owner can develop a brand risk management process to protect a brand’s reputation and value. Rather than prescribe a one-size-fits-all approach, the authors provide guidance on how a brand risk management process can be tailored to particular needs and circumstances. This approach is underpinned by drawing on examples of best practice in the fields of risk management, interaction design and engineering design. This combined approach relies on developing an understanding of the risks faced by a particular brand owner, the full context of those risks and also the brand owner’s capabilities for identifying and managing those risks. This book contains many real-world examples and interviews with a number of brand owning organisations ranging from small companies to large multinationals. Contents 6 1 An Introduction to Brand Risk 8 Abstract 8 1.1 Designing a Solution 10 1.2 Definitions 11 1.3 The Role of Design 12 1.3.1 Stage 1-Criteria 12 1.3.2 Stage 2-Descriptive Study I 13 1.3.3 Stage 3-Developing a Solution 13 1.3.4 Stage 4-Descriptive Study II 14 References 14 2 An Overview of Branding and its Associated Risks 15 Abstract 15 2.1 What is a Brand? 15 2.2 What is Brand Value? 16 2.3 Brand Risk 17 2.3.1 Brand Risks on the Internet 18 2.3.1.1 Identity Risk 19 2.3.1.2 Domain Names 20 2.3.1.3 Social Media User Names 22 2.3.1.4 Logos 24 2.3.1.5 Presence Risk 24 2.3.1.6 Paid Placement 25 2.3.1.7 Search Engine Manipulation 27 2.3.1.8 Spam 28 2.3.1.9 Equity Risk 31 2.3.1.10 Counterfeiting 32 2.3.1.11 Digital Piracy 33 2.3.1.12 Grey Markets 33 2.3.1.13 Reputation Risk 34 2.3.1.14 Rumours 34 2.3.1.15 User Complaints 35 2.3.1.16 Status Risk 37 2.3.1.17 Market Risk 37 2.3.2 Summary of Brand Risks 38 References 38 3 Brand Risk Management Theory 42 Abstract 42 3.1 Existing Brand Risk Management Tools 49 3.2 Expected Adoption Patterns for Brand Risk Management Processes 50 3.3 Interviews with Brand Risk Owners 51 3.3.1 ChemicalCom 51 3.3.2 AudioCom 52 3.3.3 CloudCom 54 3.3.4 GamblingCom 55 3.3.5 TransportCom 57 3.3.6 EnergyCom 59 3.4 Findings from the Brand Owner Interviews 61 3.4.1 The Practicalities of Brand Risk Management 63 3.4.2 Monitoring Brand Risks 64 3.4.3 How to Organize Against Brand Risks 64 3.5 Summary 65 References 66 4 Designing a Brand Risk Management Process 67 Abstract 67 4.1 Interaction Design 67 4.2 Brand Risk Management Personas 71 4.2.1 Persona 1: Brand Risk Administration 72 4.2.2 Persona 2: Task Solver 74 4.3 Design Considerations 75 4.3.1 Problem Statement 75 4.3.2 The Vision Statement 75 4.3.3 Awareness: What do We Know About Brand Risks? 75 4.3.4 Identification: How are Brand Risks Identified? 76 4.3.5 Assessment: How Great is the Risk? 76 4.3.6 Assignment: Who does What? 77 4.3.7 Action: How do We Manage this? 77 4.3.8 Preparedness: What do We not Know? How do We Handle this? 78 4.4 Context Scenarios for Brand Risk Management 79 4.5 Summary 81 References 82 5 Brand Risks in Cyberspace 83 Abstract 83 5.1 Recent Brand Risks in the News 83 5.1.1 Facebook Misdirection 83 5.1.2 Twitter Libel 84 5.1.3 Blog Defamation 84 5.1.4 Twitter Hacking 85 5.1.5 Fake Reviews 85 5.2 Summary 86 References 87 Appendix 1: Norwegian Air Shuttle Calculation 89