Nasir and Matt cap off the week by discussing rebranding strategies (pizza related). They then answer the question, "At what point can I file an intent to use trademark?"
Full Podcast Transcript
NASIR: All right, welcome to our business podcast where we cover business in the news and answer some of your business legal questions that you, the listener, can send in to [email protected].
My name is Nasir Pasha.
MATT: And I’m Matt Staub.
NASIR: And we are talking about the best topic in the entire world.
MATT: Yeah, pizza.
NASIR: Pizza. If this is your first time joining us on the podcast, this is a popular topic of ours.
MATT: Yeah, it’s definitely tapered off some. I feel like, the beginning, it was every other episode.
NASIR: Yeah. I mean, well, the main issue started with the concept of whether sauce or crust is better, or what makes the pizza right, and you were in the crust camp and I was in the sauce camp.
MATT: I still am.
NASIR: And the reason it tapered down is it just became well-established that it was the sauce so it became a non-issue, right?
MATT: I wouldn’t go that far. My wife agrees with me and she loves marinara sauce more than pretty much anyone. So, she’s a very huge sauce person, but knows that crust is more important than the sauce.
NASIR: Actually, I spoke to my wife and she also agrees with me which is, I guess, not unusual. So, I guess it’s a tie. So, two versus two so far and that’s about as far as we’ve got.
MATT: So, we’re going to talk about the rebranding with Pizza Hut and, I guess, the legal aspects of rebranding. But I think we were just looking for a reason to talk about pizza again because it’s been a while and I’ve actually seen some commercials, they’re doing a whole new re-launch; new logo, of course, which isn’t too different than the old one, I guess. But there’s an old logo of a guy holding the words “Pizza” and “Hut.” That must have been, like, an original. It’s a pretty weird one.
NASIR: This new logo is just this flat design that has been pretty well-established in the last – I don’t know – I would say at least five years, even more. And they’re a little late to the game. I mean, flat design is, like, pretty well-established.
MATT: Well, I think it’s supposed to look like a pizza because it’s a circle.
NASIR: Yeah, it is round.
MATT: And then, like, the crust.
NASIR: It looks like the sauce actually.
MATT: Yeah.
NASIR: Doesn’t it? No, I’m serious. It’s like red sauce.
MATT: Yeah, it’s either that or, like, the white lines, like, along the edge on the inside could be where the crust and sauce divide. I don’t know.
NASIR: I think it’s the sauce. I mean, that’s what they’re focusing on because it’s more important.
MATT: Well, we’ll see.
NASIR: Actually, look, they actually promoted; they’ve rebranded with a logo inspired by a swirl of pizza sauce.
MATT: Oh, okay. Well, I guess that’s why they’re doing their new pizzas as well as all the sauces that were, like, anything else had a regular marinara or spiraled around the pizza. The classic example, BBQ Chicken is barbecue sauce base but now it’s just nothing – just cheese and the toppings.
NASIR: And then, they put the sauce on top?
MATT: Yeah, swirled around.
NASIR: Wait. They do that where?
MATT: San Diego, I’ve seen it a bunch of times.
NASIR: Oh, really?
MATT: Yeah.
NASIR: I’ve never seen that actually.
MATT: The spot that I lived when we first moved here and I lived right by had it and I’ve seen it at a bunch of locations. It’s very popular. I don’t know why and I’m trying to think, they might do the same thing in some places in New York.
NASIR: They were showing pictures of their pizzas with the spiral sauce, I thought that might be something that they can trademark. But it looks like other pizza places do that all the time.
MATT: Oh, yeah, they’re definitely not the first ones. Again, Pizza Hut is way, way behind the game in terms of coming up with something new.
