The Scoop: Successful dating businesses face the challenge of maintaining a web domain amid the threat of an increasing array of brand abuse and counterfeit activity. As the leading provider of corporate-level domain management and brand protection services, MarkMonitor leverages advanced technology, industry data, and a vast network of law enforcement connections to help companies guard their operations and reputations. Compromised domains, trademarks, and supply chains can cost even strong brands both revenue and consumer trust. With MarkMonitor, backed by the power of Clarivate Analytics, dating businesses can protect two of their most valuable assets — brand identity and reputation.
Success as a dating business often means higher profits and expansion into new markets. But, in a largely unregulated digital marketplace, success can also attract criminal activity. Many dating businesses know about the various cyberattack methods out there, but they may not consider themselves targets of counterfeit activity — a growing concern that can prove just as damaging to a brand’s revenue and reputation.
Today’s counterfeiters use subtle tactics like misleading ads that divert traffic to replica sites. Anil Gupta, CMO of MarkMonitor, a company built to protect the brand reputations of websites, said its Brandjacking Index shows that 33% of paid search ads related to four major brands misused the brand name, whether in the title, link, or text of the ad.
Anil Gupta, CMO of MarkMonitor, spoke with us about the brand identity threats companies face.
Trademark abuse fools customers into thinking they’re purchasing quality services from a trusted brand, when, in fact, they’re buying knockoffs. Lucrative luxury brands are also an attractive target of counterfeit crimes.
When high-end Italian fashion company Valentino SpA found its reputation devalued due to counterfeit activity, it turned to MarkMonitor for help. Within 18 months, MarkMonitor had identified and removed more than 83,000 fraudulent online listings, deactivated more than 500 rogue websites, and provided Valentino SpA with a high-tech solution for continued detection and enforcement.
Whether the problem is a lack of technology, internal protocols, or an unknown leak in the supply chain, companies need help eliminating counterfeiting problems at the source. As an industry leader in domain management and brand protection, MarkMonitor provides companies with the security they need to confidently conduct business online.
Providing Domain Name Management and Security Services
One of the first stages of growth for an online business is the expansion of its product base, services, or market, and that often requires additional websites. While domain services, like GoDaddy, work well for personal websites, businesses that manage several domain names need a service that can help them sort through the complicated process of acquiring relevant sites, following international regulations, and protecting their digital assets on a larger scale.
“If you’re a corporation, you may end up with a large domain portfolio, and you want to make sure those domains are renewed every two years. If you forget, someone else will take over your domain, and your business in that market will evaporate. Also, you want that domain protected so nobody else can hijack it,” Anil said.
MarkMonitor is one of the few registrars that provides domain management and protection for some of the largest online businesses. With access to a customized interface, portal, and resource centers, businesses can retain visibility and control of their domains with the additional benefits of MarkMonitor’s insight and analytics.
For those with more specialized needs, MarkMonitor offers additional consulting and advisory services through its team of experts. All businesses can access MarkMonitor’s generic top-level domain (gTLD) Resource Center to stay up to date on necessary changes.
By enlisting MarkMonitor’s services to maintain and protect their domain portfolios, large businesses are not only securing their footprint in the digital marketplace but taking important first steps to safeguard their brands.
Combining Machine Learning, Industry Data, and Legal Authority to Protect Brands
Companies that sell products and services and authorized dealers in multiple channels often confront an array of threats, including counterfeit websites and listings, brand confusion, and dealer compliance. Well-known brands want their customers to trust that the products and services they’re purchasing are authentic. MarkMonitor uses advanced technology, data analysis, and legal connections to deliver that security to its clients.
MarkMonitor’s anti-counterfeiting service follows a three-step protocol it refers to as harvest, prioritize, and enforce. During the harvest and prioritize phases, MarkMonitor’s machine-learning tools gather a list of potential brand violations by running combinations of common keyword searches, analyzing market trademark images against the originals, and simulating local search results with proxy IPs.
“It uses all of these techniques to flag and categorize listings as good, bad, or questionable,” Anil said. “We apply machine-learning technology to focus on the ones that need to be taken down.”
MarkMonitor’s anti-counterfeit services help root out improprieties in the supply chain that impact consumers.
In addition to helping identify counterfeit websites, the harvesting process also spots potential leaks in the supply chain. It could be malicious actors registering domains a certain way, or using a particular method to track or ship their products.
MarkMonitor also leverages its machine learning software to provide anti-fraud services for companies to better protect their customers from phishing scams and other types of credit card fraud. Film and music studios — and even software companies — have turned to MarkMonitor for its anti-piracy services and intellectual property protection.
“We have relationships with the various ISPs, marketplaces, and e-commerce sites to take those listings down. We also partner with law enforcement agencies. We give the information to them, and they work very closely with manufacturers to identify criminals and go after them.” — Anil Gupta, CMO of MarkMonitor
Once MarkMonitor identifies abuses, it enforces protocols to quickly take down the offenders so brands can begin the process of reinstating their reputation and regaining lost revenue. The company’s ability to do this is grounded in its authority as well as its law enforcement connections around the globe.
“We have relationships with the various ISPs, marketplaces, and e-commerce sites to take those listings down,” Anil said. “We also partner with law enforcement agencies. We give the information to them, and they work very closely with manufacturers to identify criminals and go after them.”
With the tools, data, and authority to help businesses identify and deal with cases of counterfeit activity, fraud, and other types of brand abuse, MarkMonitor protects top brands from threats to their reputation and financial security.
Managed Service Solutions Provide Help From a Worldwide Network of Anti-Counterfeit Experts
Because of the growing seriousness of threats to websites and consumers, MarkMonitor stresses the importance of having policies and mechanisms in place to ward off counterfeit and fraudulent activity before it can do any damage.
“It’s crucial for businesses to have tools to prevent supply chain leakage and, more importantly, a proper process to immediately take down listings any time a customer or a company like us brings it to their attention,” Anil said.
MarkMonitor works with a broad spectrum of clients, from businesses that have in-house staff to utilize its technology and enforce policies themselves, to companies that lack the size and budget to do so. For businesses that need a higher level of support, MarkMonitor provides access to managed service solutions.
“Our managed services associates function as if they’re employees at that company, spending a certain number of hours a week looking for counterfeits and taking them down,” Anil said. “Every client is different. We have a large organization with all kinds of expertise that works with many industries.”
By combining the capabilities of MarkMonitor’s software tools and the market knowledge of in-house experts, managed services can help businesses not only protect themselves from current threats but gain the skills and infrastructure to better safeguard their assets in the future.
Acquisition by Clarivate Analytics Helps Build Relationships
Online success can lead to higher profit margins and rapid growth, but it also attracts unwanted attention from counterfeiters and others intent on devaluing a brand. That’s why businesses are turning to MarkMonitor for help in managing their expanding portfolios and interests.
MarkMonitor’s company history stretches back to 1999, but its 2016 acquisition by Clarivate Analytics marked an opportunity to advance its technology as well as broaden its reach into markets that are hotbeds of counterfeit activity.
“Since a large volume of counterfeiting happens in Asia, its marketplaces are a conduit for counterfeit products,” Anil said. “By having good relationships with those large sites, we’re able to better enforce on behalf of our clients.”
By creating new partnerships with commercial authorities, MarkMonitor is moving beyond its role of helping brands recover from the effects of counterfeiting to stopping the problem at the source.
MarkMonitor helps companies gain the tools and resources to grow their brands online and provide trustworthy service to their customers amid the prevailing threat of fraud. MarkMonitor is proving itself a champion of brand establishment and protection through its use of technology, advanced data, experience, and entrenched global connections.
