Melanie Worsdall and Louise Gellman offer guidance for real estate companies on choosing, clearing and protecting their intangible property assets.
Like all businesses, real estate owners and developers are considering their strategies for the post-Covid-19 world. Many are already thinking about creative ways to change the use of their property assets in response to the challenging times that landlords and occupiers are facing, particularly in retail. With flexible offices, co-living spaces and new approaches to the design and utilisation of retail and urban spaces likely to be at the forefront of people’s minds, real estate companies will need to consider how to distinguish their offerings from those of their competitors.
Branding will become an increasingly important part of how real estate companies attract tenants and visitors to their spaces. The brand name of a co-working space or mixed-use development, for example, identifies not only the physical place but also the range of digital and peripheral services that tenants and other communities using that particular space can enjoy. A strong brand also serves as a marketing tool and plays a key role in creating a social media buzz around the offering.
The foundation of all strong brands is an appropriate trade mark registration and a consistent policing and enforcement strategy. Having the right kind of protection in place for a brand relating to new projects or schemes will help property owners and developers stop others from using the same or a similar name for a rival offering.
You can download the full article below, it was first published in EG on the 25 July 2020.
