Brand vs Co. Name

[Valley Spirits Lee]

This may seem like a silly question to some of you but please help me out.

I am licensing a distillery in California. I have an LLC (Valley Spirits LLC).

I keep hearing people ask about the Brand as if Valley Spirits is not the Brand?

Can I can call my Vodka something else (say Modesto Vodka)?

If so what do I need to do?

Thanks,

Lee

[Odyssey Spirits]

You can call your products anything you want - which will become that product's brand. If you want rights to use your distillery name (for any purpose such as on merchandise) you will want to seek a trademark for it both with your state (relatively easy on your own) and federal (uspto.gov - up to 2 year process involving lawyers). That way you can prevent someone from infringing on your brand names (stealing your business by using a name too similar to yours for the same product classification)

Often artisan distillers will brand their products the same as they brand their company - such as Dry Fly up here in Washington State. Hence Dry Fly Distilling (company name) produces Dry Fly Vodka, Dry Fly Gin & Dry Fly Whiskey. In their case "Dry Fly" is the brand and they have appropriately trademarked their brand.

Dry Fly Brand Design Trademark: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:jtvpln.2.5

Dry Fly Distillery Brand Trademark: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:jtvpln.2.4

Interestingly enough Dry Fly did not trademark just Dry Fly as a word mark, which is usually the first step to take because it doesn't require you to have the design, merely a claim of first use in commerce (which means some documented form of sale across state lines using the mark - which often use of a website may satisfy/ Note: if you're trademarking a product name inspectors often want to see a photo of the label on the bottle.)

Thus you can go this route or have your distillery be one name and your products other names. One example of that is Heaven Hill Distilleries - while they have Heaven Hill Whiskey, they also have a large number of other products that only mention Heaven Hill as the producer rather than their brand.

[Valley Spirits Lee]

Thank you very much. That opens up many ideas.

Lee

You can call your products anything you want - which will become that product's brand. If you want rights to use your distillery name (for any purpose such as on merchandise) you will want to seek a trademark for it both with your state (relatively easy on your own) and federal (uspto.gov - up to 2 year process involving lawyers). That way you can prevent someone from infringing on your brand names (stealing your business by using a name too similar to yours for the same product classification)

Often artisan distillers will brand their products the same as they brand their company - such as Dry Fly up here in Washington State. Hence Dry Fly Distilling (company name) produces Dry Fly Vodka, Dry Fly Gin & Dry Fly Whiskey. In their case "Dry Fly" is the brand and they have appropriately trademarked their brand.

Dry Fly Brand Design Trademark: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:jtvpln.2.5

Dry Fly Distillery Brand Trademark: http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4006:jtvpln.2.4

Interestingly enough Dry Fly did not trademark just Dry Fly as a word mark, which is usually the first step to take because it doesn't require you to have the design, merely a claim of first use in commerce (which means some documented form of sale across state lines using the mark - which often use of a website may satisfy/ Note: if you're trademarking a product name inspectors often want to see a photo of the label on the bottle.)

Thus you can go this route or have your distillery be one name and your products other names. One example of that is Heaven Hill Distilleries - while they have Heaven Hill Whiskey, they also have a large number of other products that only mention Heaven Hill as the producer rather than their brand.

[Ralph at Tuthilltown]

I learned long ago from a Professor at Boston University Media department. He told us, "Don't put your name on the product." His point, you may one day be able to sell your brand for lots and lots of money, and if your brand is your name, you've sold the rights to your name.

Ralph

Tuthilltown

[helocat]

I learned long ago from a Professor at Boston University Media department. He told us, "Don't put your name on the product." His point, you may one day be able to sell your brand for lots and lots of money, and if your brand is your name, you've sold the rights to your name.

Ralph

Tuthilltown

Opinion: Besides an unknown (sir) name in any market used to brand a product comes off arrogant.

Mark

[daveflintstone]

Opinion: Besides an unknown (sir) name in any market used to brand a product comes off arrogant.

Mark

I must say I disagree with you entirely, completely, and any other word that means a big whole bunch. I've never heard anyone else say anything similar. To me it seems the ultimate in taking pride in and standing behind one's work. Also, I don't see the difference in using one's surname or given name in that context. Your comment is peculiar, to say the least.

[cowdery]

There is no right or wrong answer to such a question, at least not in isolation, as it has to be answered in the context of an overall marketing strategy. So the right answer is, "it depends."

[helocat]

I must say I disagree with you entirely, completely, and any other word that means a big whole bunch. I've never heard anyone else say anything similar. To me it seems the ultimate in taking pride in and standing behind one's work. Also, I don't see the difference in using one's surname or given name in that context. Your comment is peculiar, to say the least.

This is about marketing value. I am a small business owner (none beverage or any part of it, yet) developing, marketing and selling branded products for last 10 yrs, and just speaking from my experience. The key thing here is an unknown name used in the marketing of a product. Pride is helpful in marketing to a small degree to those who have heard your story, from there it’s just an unknown name. The consumer already sees plenty of names (sir and given) on products, unknown ones are just assumed fictitious. The upmost pride in a product is the product itself. This is the labor and effort to create something so special that it stands on its own. Perhaps down the road when ones name is now synonymous to represent quality then it has a true marketing value. My opinion is formed from this experience.

[cowdery]

You can't make a hard and fast rule and most of the statements that have been made here that try to are overbroad.

Here's an example. Let's say you are the business owner and chief distiller. You also know you have a winning personality and your marketing strategy is that you will be the 'face' of the company and its products in all respects. You will make all major sales calls, you will be featured in all advertising, you'll host all promotional events, and when you're not out doing that, you'll be at the distillery greating visitors. If that's your plan it makes very good sense for both the company name and every product name to include your name in some form or another.

On the other hand, if you plan to appeal to customers on some other basis, say on your location, then a completely different naming approach would be appropriate.

[TrademarkAtty]

Brand is what you call your product, company is what you put on your letterhead and checks. I am opening a distillery but am also an attorney who works with companies on developing trademark strategies. Please email me if you need to consult with someone - ozarkdistilling [at] gmail [dot] com.

Here are the Dry Fly trademark registrations -

http://www.trademarkia.com/dry-fly-76678689.html

http://www.trademarkia.com/dry-fly-distilling-76678690.html