Open Letter to the NBC: What are you doing to your Today Show Brand?

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Published 05.08.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (12)

Dear NBC,

Most of the loyal readers of Alpha Mom by now have already watched (and gagged) as poor Heather B. Armstrong had to endure being questioned by Kathie Lee Gifford on the Today Show. The entire time Heather was on TV all I could think was I can't believe they are wasting Dooce's time. No less, as I live "Twittered" and "Flickred" the event I connected with the thousand other fans of hers as they watched the Today Show at 10:30am when normally they would be, um, mothering. Then, I had empathy for all of the collective lost "mommy & me" time. See, Heather is very important to us.

Now, Kathie Lee (KLG) has had a nice TV career. She hosted Live with Regis and Kathie Lee for 15 years and that is damn impressive and nothing to sneeze at. But... she gave up that job in 2000 and so much has happened since. I nearly fell off my chair when I learned that KLG is now hosting the fourth hour (!!) of the Today Show. And, not in a good way. Am I the only one who doesn't think KLG should be hosting a news talk show any longer? Do you guys actually watch your own shows? KLG admitted to "not liking computers." Out loud, in 2008.

Or, maybe I'm totally off-base, NBC, and you realize that KLG is who she is and she appeals to a certain demographic of woman that you want to reach in America at 10 am. But, why oh why, are you messing with the Today Show brand? Diluting it by 1) extending it to the fourth hour, and 2) having Kathie Lee host, does not serve you well. Instead, create another show, with another title for her.

I have never considered the Today Show to be cutting edge, but at least it's always had bright personalities like Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, and Matt Lauer running the place. Now, we have seen the statistics about online news stealing eyeballs from morning TV shows, but you don't combat that by throwing in the towel and bringing KLG out of retirement thus weakening the Today Show. (There's nothing Today about her or her POV. She's all about yesterday.) Instead you go after the fresh stories-- like you did on the mom blogging phenomenon-- but you put it in the hands of capable journalists. Otherwise, your whole network falls into disrepair, as evidenced by the "Paid Programming" infomercials that kicked-in on the NY-NBC affiliate at 11am once Kathie Lee waved buh-bye.

Respectfully,
Isabel Kallman
Chief, cook and bottle-washer
Alpha Mom, LLC

Just in case you haven't seen the footage...

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Trademark Thy Business Name

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Published 04.28.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (3)

Lots of news and conversation lately about trademarks and it's made me think about this company's experience and the vigilance a business-owner needs particularly in a "hot" space.

First, I read how there's "green gridlock" at the US Trademark Office with an overall 10% spike in trademark filings for green-themed marks over 2006. The most popular was for marks using "green" with 2,400 occurrences up from 1,100 occurrences in 2006, and following a 36% increase in 2006 and 23% increase in 2005. Whoa!

Apparently, "with multiple companies filing for almost-identical marks at nearly the same time ...it's not easy being green, since a trademark by definition is a distinctive term. ... Many of these me-too filings will either not merit legal protection or will be very weak trademarks," says the AdAge article.

This is exactly what my Twitter buddy, Dana owner of the trademark Mamalogues, has been dealing with. However, her trademark is already registered and approved, but that hasn't stopped the owner of a similarly named website to try and weaken her intellectual property rights.

Then, I saw that my buddies at Sk*rt are going through a legal situation over their own business name. I don't know the story, apart from what they list on their website: "under threat of lawsuit, Morris Publishing, the owner of Skirt! Magazine, is forcing us to rebrand and relaunch our website. We pledge to do this in a way that will have minimum impact on you, the users."

The message is clear folks: PROTECT THY NAME.

And do it sooner, rather than later.

Firstly seeking trademark registration is standard business procedure. As I understand it, before you launch a business or brand in commerce, Step #1 is to make sure you are legally permitted to use the name. Then, Step #2 is to protect your brand name by applying for trademark registration in the business areas where you have a bona fide plan for use. Visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Trust me, before we decided to use Alpha Mom as our business name, we spent money (lots of it) researching its usage in every state in the US. We were searching to see whether the name had been registered in other areas apart from trademark. Then, once we determined it was “cleared for trademark application,” very detailed analyses and conversations with our lawyers transpired. As you can read on the USPTO website, just because a name doesn’t show up on the trademark database doesn’t mean that it is going to be allowed for use by the trademark office. Extensive research is needed.

Yes, I am over-simplifying a very detailed, laborious and (for us) expensive legal procedure. But, remember this. If you have a business name or brand name which you are or are planning to use in commerce soon, register it.

Don’t let the amount of effort or money this company invested deter you from tackling a trademark application. I bet there are tutorials available that you can access to find out how to apply for trademark use that will allow you to minimize costs. (See that nice disclaimer in the right hand column, this is NOT legal advice).

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ONE (1) lucky Alpha Mom reader will be randomly-selected to win a fabulous Jeep Baby gift package worth approximately $220. Included in the Jeep Prize Package: a Stroller, Baby Carrier and Diaper Bag. Register her for the Jeep Package Giveaway.

Investor Meeting Update

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Published 04.15.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (3)

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes on my last post.

When I last left you (see below), I was in a common business situation. What should I have done? What do you think I did?

Luckily, I was prepared. The day before, while walking through our presentation, one of my business partners did a little role-playing, making believe he was indeed an investor with only 15 minutes of time due to a schedule conflict. When all was said and done, we were able to present in 20 minutes.

So, when our first investor repeated back verbatim my business partner's script from the day before, I thought I was being punk'd. Nope.

You guys unanimously surmised that I had selected the 20 minute option. That would make sense given my personality and fast-talking nature. But, no.

We decided to reschedule for a couple of reasons, and herein lies the business lesson I would like to impart. First, our business opportunity does deserve more than 20 minutes to understand properly. We are proud of the innovation, commercialization and analysis we have put into our business plan and would like the opportunity to fully explain it, if we can. Second, the investor was clearly very preoccupied given that he was dealing with a business "emergency." We couldn't be sure he would be able to give us his undivided attention and that wasn't fair to us or ultimately to him. He, too, realized that.

After walking out of the investor's lobby, even though no meeting had transpired, the "weight" of the initial meeting melted off my shoulders. Go figure.

Just to tie up the story in a nice little bow for ya, I'm happy to report that we were able to reschedule the meeting and turn what would have been a rushed meeting into a fun and lively conversation that lasted two hours. Success!

Investor Meetings Begin

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Published 04.04.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (7)

Me and Geoff Vuleta, CEO of Fahrenheit 212, Alpha Mom's strategic partner

So, we have our financial projections, presentation materials, prototypes ready and walk in for our first meeting.

Our host comes out to greet us, but is rushed and immediately starts out by apologizing that he has some pressing business that needs attending. He only has 20 minutes to meet with us. How do you respond?

A) "Let's reschedule as we think we will need more time to take you through our business."

or

B) "Of course we can explain it in 20 minutes. It's not like you're asking for an elevator pitch."

What do you think we did?

Countdown to Investor Meetings

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Published 03.26.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (2)

So where have I been? Stuck at my desk working away and being mom. That's about it.

Sorry guys. I'm starting to sound like a broken record about not posting. But I have been working furiously on finalizing the Alpha Mom business plan, financial projections, investor presentation, and the new website prototype.

All of these cool items are for a series of meetings with potential investors that begin early next week. As such, I can't attend the Blogher Biz conference.

Also, since I can't share any of my hard-prepared materials with you, I decided I would share pictures! Here's my "business head shot." Of course, it's been touched up in Photoshop. Because I'm vain like that.

I'll try to post as often as I can about my meetings. Clearly sharing sensitive information will be difficult so I'll do the best that I can.