Marketers worry about cost of brandjacking
Monday, May 11, 2009
The results of a new survey of marketers show that more are now concerned with online vulnerabilities to brandjacking and cybersquatting.
A new study of how marketers view threats to brand integrity revealed that marketers still struggle to understand, monitor and measure the impact of brand corruption and product knock-offs on consumer trust and confidence, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council said today.
Trademark trespassing is moving increasingly online and fraud is becoming more difficult to identify due to the increased sophistication of brand hijackers. The council reported that 29.5 percent of marketers said their chief vulnerability is online compared to 22.6 percent who cited offline threats.
Study respondents reported brand integrity and reputation are being damaged as a result of phishing attacks, cybersquatting, email scams, trademark abuse, copyright and patent infringements, the council said.
"Sophisticated and savvy brand extortionists and cyber scammers on the Internet are boldly preying on unsuspecting consumers with bogus brand name email and website deals and inducements that entrap, extort and expose consumers to financial loss, identity theft, and viral infection," said Donovan Neale-May, the council’s executive director.
The top six market segments with the highest prevalence of abuse are digital media, luxury goods, software, footwear and apparel and internet ecommerce (tied) and consumer electronics.
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