Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming JUNE 2015 34 of pictures was a great grand-opening image—beautiful angle, tons of people coming in the doors. We used it everywhere, and it became our signature image. It was perfect… until I found out that she had not really obtained the permission required for us to “do whatever” we wanted, which in this case was using the image on almost every single piece of marketing. We paid the photographer simply to take pictures. The negotiations were not the best. Who could fault the photographer? The lesson: don’t assume you can do whatever you want simply because you paid the photographer for the work. In another life, I worked on a team that developed a campaign that used the style of a logo (which contained a period) to punctuate the end of a sentence. Unfortunately, when we added the period as part of the design, a national television network sent us a cease and desist letter because of the similarity to a logo they were using. To illustrate further how important it is that you are vetting these ideas, you should put into perspective that this campaign was being used in only one local market but it found its way to the desk of a national television network. The lesson: don’t think that you’ll get away with something because you’re only using it in a small market or to just a select audience. Once, as the company I was with set about to re-launch an iconic brand, we learned what happens when you don’t protect your Legal Matters In today’s evolving social media environment, casino marketers need to keep a sharper eye on intellectual property laws and rights By Julia Carcamo Usage Guidelines T he large number of brand-development projects I’ve managed in the past have made me at least a little knowledgeable of copyrights, trademarks & patents and their growing importance in the marketing process. That doesn’t mean I haven’t learned some expensive lessons along the way. I was once handed a box of pictures by one of my managers who said, “You can do whatever you want with them.” So I did. In that pile