Protecting a business idea - the irn-bru way
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Print
Email
Tweet This!Save to Favorites
Recommend on Google+
Here is a great way of illustrating the concept of protecting a business idea - without resorting to the tired and boring descriptions of patents, copyright and trademarks. Step forward the maker of Irn-Bru
An article on the BBC Scotland website describes how Robin Barr, the Chairman of the drinks firm AG Barr is stepping down from this role on the Board. But that’s not all he is stepping down from.
For Mr Barr is “one of only two people in the world who knows the secret recipe for the best-selling Irn Bru drink and the two never travel on the same plane.”
The article describes how “once a month the essences for the drink are personally mixed by Robin Barr in a sealed room at the company’s headquarters in Cumbernauld. The 32 different ingredients are combined in a huge vat, which mixes 8,000 litres at a time.”
A great example of how to protect intellectual property and prevent the competition from copying a good idea.
For good measure, you might also want to show students the latest Irn-Bru advert, which is an engaging one-minute spoof of High School Musical. Very amusing:
blog comments powered by Disqus
Unilever hit by rising costs [6 Nov 2011]
Revision Quiz - Creating & Protecting Business Ideas [21 Oct 2011]
Can you copyright a dance move? [12 Oct 2011]
Insights on invention from Trevor Bayliss [14 Sep 2011]
Tesco and Retrenchment [31 Aug 2011]
Samsung seeks a ban on Apple products [30 Jun 2011]
Strategy Video - Innovation through technology at Fern Howard [10 Jun 2011]
Whitbread goes for organic growth [2 May 2011]
Protecting a business idea - its child’s play [12 Feb 2011]
BUSS1 Revision Quiz - Generating and Protecting a Business Idea [14 Dec 2010]
Advent business (2) - online marketing [2 Dec 2010]
When is a Ping not a Ping? When its an Apple [1 Sep 2010]
37 Ways for a Business to be More Competitive [24 Aug 2010]
Betting firm cries fowl and turns to offshoring [26 Jul 2010]
Farmers v Supermarkets - the battle continues [19 Jul 2010]
Business survival strategies for independent bookshops [14 Jun 2010]
Supermarkets set for a new price war? [13 Jun 2010]
Book wars! [5 May 2010]
Licence to Chill [6 Feb 2010]
Revision Presentation - New Businesses and Competition [1 Jan 2010]
Video case study - competition drives down prices in India [28 Dec 2009]
Breakfast for $1 tests price elasticity of demand [12 Dec 2009]
A tale of two bakers [16 Nov 2009]
Eurostar’s competitive forces [13 Nov 2009]
Innocent Drinks - Teaching Accounts Exercise [9 Nov 2009]
Competition regulator blocks Friends Reunited sale [3 Nov 2009]
Q&A - What are the main causes of unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Napster - Trying to compete, or getting desperate? [9 Oct 2009]
Meet the Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 [30 Sep 2009]
McCurry beats McDonalds in a spicy Trademark Battle [8 Sep 2009]
Patent Theft threatens enterprising inventors [3 Sep 2009]
Plastic car is a blast from the past [25 Aug 2009]
BA cuts out the cost of short-haul meals [29 Jul 2009]
Microsoft and Google compete head-to-head [9 Jul 2009]
Coffee Republic struggles with the daily grind [6 Jul 2009]
What makes a profitable menu? [6 Jul 2009]
Q&A - Explain the role of corporate objectives in business strategy [1 Jul 2009]
Battle Of The Bunnies [12 Jun 2009]
Britain’s Got Talent - Extending the Brand [1 Jun 2009]
Q&A - Describe the basics of setting up a business in the UK [1 May 2009]
Innocent turns to Coca-Cola to finance international expansion [7 Apr 2009]
Q&A - What factors affect the demand for a product? [1 Mar 2009]
Q&A - What is meant by the production process? [1 Mar 2009]
Q&A - What are the advantages to a start-up of being a franchise? [1 Mar 2009]
Q&A - What is meant by adding value [1 Mar 2009]
Monopoly - irresponsible banking rears its ugly head [20 Feb 2009]
Blue Peter - End of its Product Life Cycle? [10 Feb 2009]
A Bigger Competitor for Specsavers [29 Jan 2009]
Retailer Survivors Like a Deep Recession [7 Jan 2009]
Measuring consumer spending and retail activity on the high street [22 Dec 2008]
A tale of two retailers with contrasting fortunes in the slump [19 Dec 2008]
Video case study - Yorkshire firms battle over trademark [10 Nov 2008]
Changing the rulebook for competition referrals [20 Sep 2008]
Green shoots of growth for a gardening start-up [19 Sep 2008]
For sale: airport with 1 runway and 35.1 million customers [17 Sep 2008]
Protecting a business idea - Bratz hit by copyright damages [1 Sep 2008]
Start-up case study - Petmeds [24 Aug 2008]
Protecting a business idea - Scrabulous under fire [2 Aug 2008]
Business Strategy - BA plans merger with Iberia [29 Jul 2008]
Crocs - shares of the plastic footwear brand in meltdown [26 Jul 2008]
Latest edition of Latte Magazine is Published on Friday! [15 Apr 2008]
New owners for Pontins try to defy the product life cycle [27 Mar 2008]
Consolidation speculation in the budget hotel market [16 Mar 2008]
The Social Network that Friends Forgot [27 Feb 2008]
Lego’s Renaissance [27 Jan 2008]
Festive cheer’ or promoting “binge drinking”? [11 Dec 2007]
BUSINESS TEACHER RESOURCE NEWSLETTER
Get first news of business teaching resources, ideas and other materials from tutor2u. Over 9,400 business teachers from the UK and around the world receive our regular teacher email newsletters. Sign up for free here!
Popular Topic Tags
recession, demand, prices, price, unemployment, profit, economics, costs, investment, inflation, supply, employment, trade, competition, gdp, risk, china, debt, euro, entrepreneur, capacity, production, innovation, downturn, tutor2u, revision, pay, exports, manufacturing, confidence, profits, food, incentives, banks, strategy, globalisation, aqa, expectations, oil, csr, usa, startup, retailers, housing, productivity, sterling, supermarkets, takeover, google, economies of scale, mortgage, cash flow, advertising, quiz, leadership, property, buss4, tesco, economic growth, video, efficiency, enterprise, motivation, stakeholders, apple, deflation, corporate social responsibility, ebea, market share, airlines, pricing, taxation, merger, slowdown, bank of england, acquisition, interest rates, market failure, borrowing, competitiveness, sustainability, product life cycle, credit crunch, budget deficit, aqa business studies, facebook, twitter, aqa business, bbc, nelson thornes, philip allan updates, starbucks, philip allan, monopoly, diversification, recruitment, organic growth, stocks, training, oligopoly, starter activity, shareholders, uk economy, poverty, emerging markets, dollar, government failure, retailing, management, suppliers, buss1, marketing mix, tim harford, cpi, branding, opportunity cost, breakeven, government spending, hodder education, vat, product, customer service, eu, losses, wages, evaluation, india, external growth, wealth, environment, edexcel, location, promotion, technology, information failure, business studies revision, sources of finance, franchise, aqa gce business, elasticity, regulation, spare capacity, welfare, jobs, economic cycle, marketing, zondle, strategic direction, british airways,View all tags for the Business Blog
