On Jan 30 of 2007, IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) launched a new campaign with a lot a fanfare and publicity. Promoting “Be Heard” as more than a log or tag-line, it was to be IABC’s new mantra to get an emotional connection for it’s worldwide communication membership. The organization even trademarked the logo.
As a lifetime member of IABC, imagine my surprise while researching a twitter post by IABC Dallas member Scott Cytron on the effectiveness of the media site Examiner.com, that the slogan being touted by Examiner.com was “Be Heard.”
Examiner.com, formally known as Clarity Digital Group, is a unit of Anschutz’s Denver-based Clarity Media Group. Clarity also publishes free newspapers in San Francisco and Washington, DC under the Examiner name.
The online edition of Clarity’s newspapers, Examiner.com, was launched in April of 2008 as a stand-alone online network. It expanded rapidly to 110 markets, including my hometown of Austin, TX. Examiner.com features posts on various subjects from writers it calls “examiners” as well as a variety of local, state and national headlines from wire services and news sources as well as information on weather, stocks and traffic. The website is automatically localized for each market based on the user’s location.
The “Be Heard” logo is most apparent while signing up as an examiner for the online publication. It also appears as a pop up window at various points as the site is navigated.
The whole point of trademarking a logo is to prevent the usage of that logo by other companies, especially a company in a related field.
Not being an insider in the IABC hierarchy, I question if perhaps the logo might not have been properly trademarked, or did IABC given permission to Examiner.com? Perhaps since the “Be Heard” campaign is now almost two years old, it is time for IABC to move on to another slogan. I hear that the Washington Post needs help with a new slogan to get them out of the journalistic hole they have dug for themselves.
Thanks for bringing that to our attention, Ed. We’ll look into it.
I can assure you that IABC’s Be Heard logo tagline is fully registered with the US Patent & Trademark Office. The registration certificate from the PTO even hangs on the wall outside my office.
We actually have plans to continue and expand our use of Be Heard as a tagline, so it’ll be around for a while.
Thanks again, and best regards.
Joseph Ugalde
Vice President, Marketing & Communication
IABC