Music rings the tills for HMV, no more so than at the Hammersmith Apollo. 8 store Fopp have also been bought.
Waterstones, HMV’s book retailing high street brand has had problems with  ‘It’s Supply Chain’ and online competition despite the demise of Borders.

Your supply chain is a key intellectual asset. Mismanage or ignore these assets and you get what you deserve.
Let us hope Waterstones performance picks up because customers want the vast variety of books displaying as well as being available online.

The bloggers at Blogstorm generally know what they are talking about and they are well worth following by RSS, email or Tweet.

This link is to their latest offering ‘Common Mistakes Big Brands Make in SEO’.   I particularly like the quote ‘give the channel the respect it deserves.’

How well would your brand score on these 5 mistakes?  Do you give this channel the respect it deserves?

Is it a Car?
Is it a Plane?
No it is Superman pop group with many CD’s to there name

Trademarks are awarded in 35 goods classes and 11 service classes so you need to apply for a class that fits your product. The Intellectual Property Office has a list of classes and web guidance.

Not a lot of money wasted on a logo for the Information Commissioner’s Office

This quango is responsible for the Data Protection Act , Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, Freedom of Information Act and the seemingly superfluous Environmental Information Regulations (The Freedom of Information act should suffice one would think!)

Still, knowing how these acts affect your business and your customers can be a crucial Intellectual assets.

What’s this ‘ere? These ‘ere thing in my ears! Ewe should know!

Two tags have to be worn by sheep over 12 months old and new EID tags are to become compulsory. Traceability from farm to shop is part of the intellectual assets designed to help control the spread of Foot & Mouth disease in future outbreaks.

Do you need to use electronic identification systems in your business?

I never know if I have just stumbled on a new site or it has been around for ages!
The BBC took this site over in 2001 but presumably kept it low profile particularly from license payers.

‘h2g2 stands for ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ – an unconventional guide to Life, The Universe and Everything.’ Well Wikipedia eat your heart out.

Is the future of R&D Tax credits fading fast with Vince Cable and George Osborne in charge.

Currently your R&D expenditure can be grossed up, by 170% or 130% depending on the size of your company, when calculating your tax relief.

For tax purposes it’s not enough that a product is commercially innovative. You can’t claim in respect of projects to develop innovative business products or services that don’t incorporate any advance in science or technology.

CRM

Your customers are your best asset so it makes sense to manage the relationship (CRM).   Do not over-manage.

Databases are important but listings on a spreadsheet are seldom valuable unless you have thought through your customers needs and desires. From this knowledge you can design and create your service & support with an appropriate contact strategy.

The more you know about your customers and prospects the better you can react.

It seems the Netto brand will disappear in UK after the sale of  193 stores to Asda. So this search button will no longer help!

Market share seems to be the mantra for supermarkets and this deal may keep Asda at number 2 behind Tesco.

The question for the brand is will Asda be able to compete with Lidl and Aldi

Virtual Intellectual Assets may have helped create virtual pets but it is brains and tangible assets that make things happen.

‘FooPets are the world’s cutest and most realistic virtual pets online….’ Well they would be I suppose but the sale of virtual goods is a new market with lots of innovative opportunity. The quote was from Marcosweb a virtual marketing tool

Why keep a dog and bark yourself when you can have a Foopet