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Counterfeits are damaging brand reputation and risking lives: Benjamin Duprat, Marketing Manager at Resqme shares his experience in protecting their car safety tool.
Resqme Inc. is a well-established and professional company who produce a range of products focused on personal and car safety, which have been saving the lives of consumers for more than 20 years.
Founded in 1998 by Laurent Colasse, with the aim of providing drivers and their passengers with peace of mind by supplying innovative and reliable personal and automotive safety tools.
The original keychain car escape tool, the Resqme® is manufactured in the USA and is owned by more than four million people throughout 45 countries across the globe. This innovative product saves an average of one life every fortnight.
Years ago, we noticed that there were many counterfeit products listed on online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba. We were concerned by this, as our product is designed to save lives in emergency situations. If untested counterfeit copies began to surface and circulate which are made from cheaper materials, there is the potential risk of it not working correctly in an emergency. This would render the product unfit for purpose and possibly costing lives. So, our initial reaction was one of great concern.
Many products are subjected to counterfeiting, it is not a problem specific to Resqme. In our case, since our product is a small and compact seatbelt cutter and window breaker keychain, we believe it is simple to replicate it with cheaper material that can then be made for less and sold at a lower price. As our brand grows and our products are more successful it becomes an increasingly attractive item for counterfeiters to copy.
Mainly we experienced financial challenges. We noticed an increase in sales as soon as we started to take the issue of counterfeits more seriously.
We first realized the need to find an external solution as a result of the time we were spending looking for counterfeits online. We would spend a few hours each day searching for fake copies online. Unfortunately, the process does not end there, we would have to report them, and each marketplace has a different process in place making it complicated.
It was really labor intensive; we had been dealing with this issue internally for a number of years before finally getting in touch with Smart Brand Protection.
Relying on a counterfeit tool in an emergency situation could have very serious consequences. As our tool is designed to save lives, having someone buy a cheaper version, likely made from low-quality materials could mean that the tool does not function correctly. It could be the difference between life and death.
The counterfeits we discovered have been mainly in online marketplaces. Initially it was limited to the US and China, but as our brand grew and became better known we started to find counterfeits globally. At this stage, the task of monitoring and controlling the situation became unmanageable.
Smart Brand Protection detected a huge amount of online content which were highlighted as potential infringements, and we validated more than 13,436 of them. That was really impressive.
It is important to stress that Smart Brand Protection notified us of all the infringements susceptible of being removed to the corresponding platform and, this resulted in 95.2% of them being completely eliminated from the internet. These were the results:
Smart Protections relationships with Google, the main marketplaces and social channels mean that they act quickly and efficiently. Their platform has also been great for managing and keeping track of the situation.
The experience of working with the Smart Brand Protection team has been effortless and straightforward. They listen to our problems and understand our needs and find solutions to fix any issues which may arise. Overall, it has been a really positive experience for us.
The most important thing that Smart Brand Protection delivers to my business is I would say, peace of mind. We know that all counterfeits are now managed and stored in one place, the Smart Brand Protection platform. We only have to review them and decide if they are ok to be reported. Now, we are dedicating far less time to the issue of counterfeits and as a result we are more focused and efficient which allows us to concentrate on our company growth and business objectives.
