Make Your Mark! 2004 Uncovers Student Brand Experts in Singapore

Singapore, 18 Sept 2004 – A total of 29 teams comprising three Secondary school students per team, participated in the 2nd national trade marks competition, “Make Your Mark! 2004”. Five teams will be competing in the Grand Finals today at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The competition is organised by iperckidz, an outreach cum education programme initiated by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).

Speaking at the ceremony, Guest of Honour, Ms Liew Woon Yin, Director-General of IPOS, emphasised that branding is an important aspect of business strategy,

“Whether it is in pursuit of our personal or corporate identity, we need to ‘Make our Mark’. In today’s society and economy, the defining characteristic of a successful individual or company is the ability to stand out, to distinguish ourselves and win influence and mindshare. That is what we call branding.”

“Make Your Mark! 2004” is designed to help spark the interest of branding amongst our youths. IPOS recognised that the youths form Singapore’s next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators that will take Singapore forward. It is therefore crucial to impart the knowledge of branding from young.

The five projects showcased today were creations by teams from Anderson Secondary School, CHIJ St Theresa’s Covent, Kent Ridge Secondary School, Raffles Girls’ School and River Valley High School. The trade marks created were designed to brand a wide range of products and services such as ergonomics chairs, student leadership programme, stationery, cafes and even a spa.

To the team from Anderson Secondary School, the competition has provided them invaluable opportunities to learn first hand from experts in the field of business and branding, “Knowing the practical aspects of marketing will help us now in planning our business plan while understanding of various classes of goods and services has helped us appreciate the application of trade marks to business.”

Participants in “Make Your Mark! 2004” were educated on the concepts of intellectual property (IP), trade marks and the art of marketing planning as well as the power of branding. Teams were instructed to apply the knowledge and skills they acquired from training courses to create distinctive trade marks for their school projects. At the end of the learning journey, teams were also required to develop effective marketing plans for their projects.

Three teams will emerge winners from today’s finals and stand to win up to $5,000 worth of prizes. Aside from the top three prizes, special awards for Best Marketing Plan and Most Distinctive Trade Mark were also given out at the ceremony. (For more details on the five teams, please refer to Annex A). After the event, the top three trade marks and their marketing plans will be hosted on the iperckidz website (www.iperckidz.gov.sg) alongside last year’s winners.

“Make Your Mark! 2004” was co-sponsored by the Brand Name Education Foundation, Ella Cheong Spruson & Ferguson, Nokia Private Limited, and jointly supported by School of Business and Accountancy, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and Brandz Group Private Limited.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Melanie Koh
Customer & Corporate Communications
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
DID: (65) 6331 6574
Mobile: (65) 97961015
Fax: (65) 6331 6562
Email: Melanie_KOH@ipos.gov.sg
Visit us at www.ipos.gov.sg

About IPOS
The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore or IPOS is the lead government agency that formulates and regulates IP laws, promotes IP awareness and provides the infrastructure to facilitate the greater development of IP in Singapore. With IP fast becoming a critical resource in today’s new economy, IPOS’ vision is to foster a creative Singapore where ideas and intellectual efforts are valued, developed and exploited. Formerly known as the Registry of Trade Marks and Patents, IPOS was established as a statutory board of the Ministry of Law on 1 April 2001.

About Iperckidz
Iperckidz is an IP education and outreach initiative for schools by IPOS. It is specially designed to make learning IP easy and fun. We offer resources, organise programmes and participate in selected activities to promote IP awareness and education among students and teachers in Singapore. The programme was launched in June 2003 by IPOS Director-General, Ms. Liew Woon Yin.