The House that Jack Built

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How does one of the world’s best-known brands manage to unify its global presence? David Gooder, chief trademark counsel at Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc, explains the importance of the personal touch.

From the days of Rockefeller and Carnegie to twentieth-century commercial icons such as Bill Gates, enterprise has been at the core of what it is to be American. The big family brands – food, drink, household goods – have been respected and trusted, seen as a beat in the rhythm of everyday life. But in these twenty-first-century days of globalization and big corporations it’s difficult for some consumers to relate to brands in the same way. And thanks to the odd corporate scandal or aggressive lawsuit, the trust of the US public, like that of consumers the world over, has been dented… these days, it’s not always easy to see a human face behind the products we buy.

Which is why, when it does appear, that personal touch is so valuable. Many brands attempt to create it, but it’s easy to spot when it’s false. When it’s real, it’s a refreshing reminder of all the good things business can be. And if there were ever a company with the human touch, it’s Jack Daniel’s.

That famous Tennessee Whiskey – not a bourbon, note – has been made in the same way (filtered through sugar maple charcoal), in the same place (Lynchburg, population 361), by the same family (Jack Daniel’s great grand-niece still works as a taster in the distillery) since its birth in 1866. It was a few years later, in 1895, that the little square black-labelled piece of glassware we identify with the brand first appeared. Today the company still keeps the name and, it avows, the spirit, of its founder. But it’s grown a bit – it’s the most recognised American spirit outside the US and the fifteenth biggest-selling spirit in the world.

Jack Daniel’s is now owned by another family founded business, Brown-Forman, which also owns such famous spirits as Finlandia vodka, southern comfort, and Chambord liqueur. But of all Brown- Forman’s well-known products, it’s Jack Daniel’s that leads the way. And no one understands that better than David Gooder, managing director and chief trademark counsel at Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc./Brown-Forman Brands, the holding company of its namesake brand.

A family brand
‘We have a saying here – we take care of Jack, and Jack takes care of us,’ says David. ‘The brand has a lot of heritage and it’s a big part of everything right across the board, from bikers to bankers, as we say.

‘People innately connect with it. If you talk to someone who’s been to Lynchburg the first thing they’ll say is “holy cow, the ads are real”. It really isn’t just a marketing creation.’

Jack Daniel’s stability and popularity relates to the fact it’s such a weighty name, well ingrained into the American consciousness. David likens representing the brand to representing a well-loved, but deceased celebrity – one that has created a loyal following.

‘I’ve always thought that the ultimate expression of brand loyalty is to have its logo tattooed on your body, and there are plenty of Jack tattoos out there. I’m always amazed at the number of consumers who write and tell us how Jack Daniel’s is a part of their lives,’ says David.

‘We don’t change it very much, and the changes we do make are evolutionary – we don’t see too many revolutionary changes here. That’s one of the reasons Jack Daniel’s has always endured as a symbol of honesty, integrity and masculinity.’

Jack is sold in virtually every country on the planet… and unsurprisingly, it is perceived in a slightly different way from country to country. But there are common threads, says David: ‘Outside the US it’s seen as part of what’s good about America, and it goes beyond borders. As the only IP attorney in the company I’m responsible for every action, and when you go to other countries you definitely come to know how they see the brand.

Jack Daniel’s stability and popularity relates to the fact it’s such a weighty name, well ingrained into the American consciousness. David likens representing the brand to representing a well-loved, but deceased celebrity.

Extending a brand worldwide
‘In terms of people’s understanding, it is at more of a premium in other countries, and non-US people probably view it as a bit more of a piece of Americana,’ adds David. ‘It’s very interesting how people feel Jack is a friend; for instance, it’s expensive to buy a whole bottle in a nightclub in Paris or Shanghai – but when people do, everybody comes up and talks to them, like it says to people: “I’m a friend of Jack, maybe you are, too”. Lawyers don’t get to see this side though; we spend too much of our time on planes or in meetings.’

But, it’s not just about the whiskey: ‘The brand has between 60 and 70 licensees located in Europe, North America and Australia,’ explains David. ‘It’s a big part of our business, especially as the brand finds its way into many parts of people’s lives, like barbecues in the US or V8 racing in Australia. Given that consumers connect like this with the brand, licensed merchandise and services have become an important way not only for us to build the brand, but also to better protect it as well.’

It’s great to be a commercial icon, but with it comes great responsibility. ‘An icon is a recognisable symbol. The strength of Jack Daniel’s is that it has come to, represent, to a global community of customers, a set of values and beliefs that transcend just being, an American whiskey. That’s why the brand is so attractive to licensees and, unfortunately, infringers. Our challenge is to stay true to these values in all that we and our partners do.’

One of the enduring aims of the IP department at Jack Daniel’s is to make sure the brand’s public persona, its ethos, runs through all of the company’s relations. That especially applies to how it deals with IP infringement.

‘A brand’s personality needs to carry through all its dealings – they need to be true to who they are, and how they enforce themselves. I’ve seen companies really stumble because the public vision of the brand is not what they see in court, as it’s often reported by the media. I think that disconnect can be quite harmful, as some brand owners have learnt the hard way.’

How IP infringements are dealt with depends on the scale and nature of the issue, and the intention behind it. ‘You look at the type of infringement. If someone’s causing us to appear irresponsible we have to stop it. The trouble is that there are often infringers who are fans, but sometimes fans stray off the compound. In those cases, we often ask, how can we get done what needs to get done and still be true to the brand’s personality?

‘For example, you may have a Jack Daniel’s-looking logo on the wheels of a skateboard – when that’s something they promote to kids it makes us look irresponsible when we’re not even involved. Typically we’ll talk to them, politely and respectfully at first; if this person’s a friend of Jack they don’t necessarily realize what they’re doing and are usually quick to change.’

If the gloves do have to come off, though, the brand is not afraid to fight: ‘We’ve got all the weapons we need, to do what we need to do,’ says David, ‘and, we use them when we need to.’

Big potential ‘gloves off’ issues are counterfeiting, piracy and look-alikes. While it can be difficult to convey the importance of IP issues in some countries, when the health risks to consumers and tax losses relating to alcohol counterfeiting are explained, governments are usually quite willing to help.

Sometimes, however, the infringer is not a pirate, but a customer; for instance, action had to be taken at one point against a large UK-based supermarket .for producing an own brand range which was suspiciously similar to Brown-Forman’s products.

Though its work is global, David’s team is relatively small, comprising himself, a ‘senior contract lawyer, three full-time paralegals, a legal assistant and a contract trademark paralegal’. He also uses counsel throughout the world and does his best to foster good relations with international partners.

And representing ‘deceased celebrity’ Jack Daniel’s is a natural progression for a lawyer who has an unusual familiarity with the world of entertainment. Before he embarked on his current profession, the Arizona-born trademark lawyer was a drummer and music producer: ‘I spent a lot of time in the music business. But I had an uncle who was a partner in a law firm in Chicago. When I was young he’d take me to meetings – that struck me as a kind of a neat thing. But you had to have some niche you liked.’

A culture of IP
When he came out of law school he found that his previous experience in music and sales gave him the niche he was looking for: ‘Because I understood these industries they just let me get on with it – it was tremendous training.’

He was based in San Diego initially, but: ‘in those years, if you want to work on a global scale you had to move to one of the big cities,’ he explains. ‘New york really, LA, Chicago or San Francisco. And Washington DC maybe. That’s one of the reasons we are where we are [San Raphael, California] – it’s a lot easier to recruit IP people in San Francisco.’

The transition from drummer to lawyer might, to some, sound like a slight slide in job entertainment value. But during his decade in-house at Jack Daniel’s,. David’s enthusiasm for his job has not waned: ‘For a trademark lawyer Jack Daniel’s is a great place to work. The happiest trademark lawyers are the ones who work in a company where brand is the focus, where they’re high in the food chain. I think the trademark group gets a lot of respect here,’ says David. ‘My team work incredibly hard and have a real passion for it. It always amazes me how interesting the trademark world is. It’s been a very interesting career; I’ve been doing it for 20 years this year and I’m still glad I’m doing it.’

David thinks it’s important to foster interest in trademark law amid the next generation. He is currently the chair of the Board of Governors of the INTA Foundation and is a member of the INTA Nominating Committee. But the younger the audience, seemingly, the more fun it is: ‘I was asked to come and do a career day at my son’s school. I wanted to talk about counterfeiting, but I obviously couldn’t bring in Jack Daniel’s so I asked friends from other industries for examples.

‘Although I had amazing examples of counterfeits from the world of sports, fashion and entertainment, the best one actually came from the kids themselves. We took some artwork they had previously created and superimposed it on T-shirts and said: “Now I’m going to sell these and not pay you.” The kids went crazy, protesting: “That’s ours – you can’t!” It was very fun to do and they really took the point. I got the most fascinating thank you letters.’

To find out more about Jack Daniel's Whiskey visit www.jackdaniels.com

This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 16

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