By CHEN HUIFEN

ALTHOUGH most Singapore food manufacturers understand the importance of proper trademark registrations, many of them do not believe in creating differentiated trademarks - a move that could work against their brand strategy in the long term.

The finding emerged from a study of 100 members of the Singapore Food Manufacturers' Association (SFMA), most of which are hybrid businesses selling to other companies (B2B) as well as to consumers (B2C).

Some 83 per cent of the respondents were found to have registered their trademarks in Singapore, while 60 per cent registered their trademarks in some or all of their overseas markets. About 76 per cent monitor other companies for unauthorised use of their trademarks.

Yet, 54 per cent selected colours and designs similar to their competitors' trademarks when creating their own. Another 72 per cent said that they believe their products would sell better if their trademarks resemble a leading brand's.

'I think it has to do with the fact that consumers associate certain symbols and colours with leading brands because they've been on the shelves for a longer time - they could be household brands - so there's familiarity between the consumer and the product,' said Wilson Chew, CEO of Strategicom which carried out the study.

'And that can get into what we call purchase comfort, where rebuying is done with a certain amount of ease when you are familiar with the brand. And I think to some extent, our food manufacturers feel that that is a sphere that they should get into quickly. And one of the ways to get into it quickly is to bear similar colour and similar packaging.'

While such a move may seem profitable in the short term, it could work against them as it actually brings more credibility to incumbent brands/trademarks that local manufacturers are emulating, added Mr Chew. Not to mention the possible legal implications that could arise from confusing consumers' perception.

'In a mild situation, the brand could potentially assimilate not only positive associations of brand leaders, but may also pick up the negative connotations as well,' said Mr Chew. 'It is not wise either way.'

The survey also found varying effort levels in the marketing of their respective trademarks. On a scale of one to six (with one representing a promotion activity that a company never engages in, and six referring to one that it always does), the mean score for having spent large sums of money on packaging design is 3.68, while the lowest mean score (2.29) is seen for brand building through loyalty point programmes.

Leveraging on the findings, SFMA president Wong Mong Hong said that the association plans to develop permanent brand programmes to help members compete in the global market, where trademarks and branding are pertinent in order to stand out from the crowd. He estimates that about 60 of the association's 280 members already export and the goal is to raise the proportion.

'We want to increase this figure to 100, at least, in the next three to five years,' he added.

The findings were drawn from surveys conducted through phone, fax, e-mail or face-to-face meetings with local food manufacturers, from December last year to March this year.

This article was first published in The Business Times.