The Emerging Product Attribute It used to be that the value of any brand or product was determined by its performance and image. And customers came to believe and trust that if they bought a branded product from a legitimate retailer, they could count on that product to deliver its desired value when they got it home. That was then. This is now. Today, brands are under attack from the outright fakes of counterfeiters and the gray market diversion of products intended for low-price countries into high-value markets. Overseas manufacturing and lax intellectual property law protections helped initiate the attack, the internet intensified it, and mobile apps on smartphones are carrying it right to the point of purchase. But while counterfeiting and diversion try to satisfy unsuspecting consumers' reasonable desire for the best price on supposedly quality goods, these attacks have created a valuable new line of defense for the makers of branded products. It's an emerging new brand attribute. One that customers want and that only the brand can deliver. It's called authenticity. And if leveraged properly, authenticity creates an incredible power for brand owners. What exactly is authenticity? It's whatever the brand owner decides it is. And only the brand owner can determine authenticity. Which is what makes authenticity so potentially powerful in the hands of brand owners ready to use it. Authenticity is the power that drives the VALMARC™ Strategic Brand Protection™ System. Authenticity is the key component of product authentication, physically enabled by the unique VALMARC™ Tag. As an anti-diversion weapon, the VALMARC™ System can tell a company auditor if a product legitimately belongs in the store where it's being sold. In the fight against counterfeiting, a consumer or company auditor who scans the VALMARC™ Tag with a smartphone app will learn in seconds if the product is authentic. And when authenticity is linked to mobile marketing, it becomes a private and secure marketing channel, between the brand and the consumer, which can't be corrupted by other intermediaries. Consumers can get brand or product information anywhere. But for the assurance of authenticity, they must come to the brand owner. And that's how brands will begin to turn back the attack and eventually win.   ENGAGING THE MOBILE CONSUMER Preview the Book Copyright © 2011, VALMARC™ Corporation – All Rights Reserved HOME I CONTACT I ABOUT VALMARC™ I NEWS