Brand tuned was conceived by Shireen Smith, the founder of Azrights International, a UK based IP law firm.

Having qualified as a solicitor in the UK, studied for a Masters’ degree in Intellectual Property law, and worked for a large global brand, Reuters, as an in-house lawyer, Shireen founded Azrights to focus on making IP law accessible to small businesses.

Having spent more than 20 years supporting business owners and branding professionals with intellectual property and business matters including naming, trademark registration and copyright, often with an international dimension, Shireen noticed that designers and marketers are not trained in the intellectual property aspects of branding. this can lead to problems for themselves as well as for their clients.

While the Googles and Amazons of this world use interdisciplinary teams who collaborate to create brands with everyone contributing their specialist skills, most companies create brands in silos, without reference to intellectual property during brand creation. So, Shireen set up a podcast, and wrote the Brand Tuned book to highlight how IP impacts branding.

Smaller businesses need designers, marketers, and business advisers who understand all three disciplines that impact branding, namely, marketing, intellectual property and design. Therefore, Shireen is creating training courses to help professionals and businesses owners to create distinctive brands that use IP strategically. The first one is the Brand Tuned Accreditation Program.  

Brand’ has never been more important. Creating differentiated brands that will be noticed and remembered in our overcommunicated society is as much about focusing on effective brand designs and intellectual property considerations, as it is about taking bold moves to leap ahead of competitors.

Becoming known and turning customers into active participants is important. But to endure in the mind it’s vital to choose an identity that’s distinctive and unique. That involves understanding intellectual property. Brand protection is part and parcel of brand creation. Find out more about the training courses in the pipeline.