MarkMonitor and Sports Marketing Surveys Team to Protect 2006 World Cup and Olympic Winter Games Brands Online

By Derek Iwasiuk
DomainInformer.com
August 07, 2006

MarkMonitor®, the leader in online corporate identity protection, today announced an alliance with London-based Sports Marketing Surveys through which the two companies teamed to protect sponsors' brands online for the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Winter Games events in 2006.

Most recently designated by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to help ensure the protection of its brands across global print, broadcast and online media, Sports Marketing Surveys leveraged MarkMonitor's comprehensive Brand Protection Premiere(TM) services to combat online brand abuse and unauthorized video streaming.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup presented organizers with a significant challenge to protect the investments of sponsors from the unlicensed use of logos, branding and trademarks or other false claims of affiliation. Tasked with this undertaking, Sports Marketing Surveys chose MarkMonitor's Brand Protection Premiere managed service to rapidly and continuously find, uncover and report online brand abuse.

"With the enormous popularity of the Olympic Winter Games and the FIFA World Cup amid the near limitless expanse of the Internet, we needed an ally with a proven solution to help us better combat online brand abuse and unauthorized moving image displays without exhausting our resources," said Stephen Proctor, managing director, Sports Marketing Surveys. "MarkMonitor delivers a solution that is tailor-fit for our needs and provides deep expertise when we need it."

Highly valued brands are particularly susceptible to trademark infringement, unauthorized use of logos, and false claims of affiliation -- all of which can dilute brand equity. Using MarkMonitor's Brand Protection Premiere, Sports Marketing Surveys enables clients to quickly respond to domain and trademark infringement using an integrated workflow system, including automated "Cease and Desist" letters and other communications.

"Large organizations, commercial rights holders and major events like the FIFA World Cup need not feel helpless against opportunistic or malicious acts against their valuable brands," said Chris Bounds, CEO of MarkMonitor. "We're proud to have been selected by Sports Marketing Surveys to extend their compliance monitoring services to the Internet, and we look forward to working with them on a range of major worldwide events covered by our agreement."

Sports Marketing Surveys Ltd. (www.sportsmarketingsurveys.com) is the world's leading sponsorship and sports research agency. Established in 1984, Sports Marketing Surveys is entirely independent with over 20 years experience in the industry. The company has its headquarters in the UK and through its network of international offices, provides multi-country research and compliance management services to sponsors, rights holders, federations, sports goods manufacturers and those wanting information on the industry.

MarkMonitor (www.markmonitor.com) is the global leader in delivering comprehensive online corporate identity protection services, Making the Internet Safe for Business(TM). MarkMonitor's integrated Brand and Fraud Protection(TM) platform provides full life-cycle management, including its Early Warning System(TM), as well as real-time detection, and investigation and response, to a wide and growing list of identity-based online security problems faced by corporations today. These solutions are enabled by a comprehensive brand and fraud intelligence network that monitors for inappropriate or fraudulent use of a corporate name or identity anywhere in the Internet, including web sites, search engines, major email systems, domain name systems, registries, message boards, blogs, chat rooms, and auctions.