We are sad to say goodbye to our CEO Charlotte Laike. During her three years with us, she has taken Essen to a new level, culminating 2011 with a dynamic and cohesive team of 40 people passionate about branding. At the same time we’re exited and proud to see her become Head of Strategy and Corporate Development at Nordea and wish her all the luck in the world. We are also proud to announce our new CEO Alex Holmén, who is a Graduate Economist from the University of Gothenburg School of Economics and has been a strategist at Essen since 2010 and part of the management team since 2011.

Until today it has only been possible to register a domain name within a certain number of Top Level Domains (TLD) such as: .com, .org, .se etc. As the result of long and intense discussions, from today and for the next three months it will be possible to register nearly any word, generic term or brand as a new TLD.

The new system, while offering exciting opportunities, imposes considerable responsibilities on those who choose to register. Registering a generic term or your own brand as a TLD means that you will be running your own registry business and controlling the second-level domains sorted under your specific TLD. The application process is enormous and requires large investments e.g. application fee 185 000 USD, yearly fee 25 000 USD.

It is still uncertain whether this is going to be a success or not, and to what extent the growing number of new TLDs might create confusion for Internet users. If you want to learn more about the new system or find out how to prevent your brand from ending up as someone else’s TLD, please contact one of our legal experts at legal@essen.se or call +46 8 503 001 00.

We welcome 2012 and Felicia, our new Brand Strategist. After completing her studies in Media and Communication at Södertörn University in Stockholm, Felicia was active for four years at Henrik Nygren Design.

We are really quite fed up with all the forecasts for 2012. We feel energized and optimistic for a great and progressive 2012. So, from the bottom of our hearts, we would like to wish you a big and fuzzy Merry Christmas and an Optimistic New Year!

We are strengthening our Legal Department with the arrival of Alexandra who is particularly focused on intellectual property, media law and settlement of disputes. Alexandra received her law degree at Uppsala University and also studied business administration at Boston College. Her most recent position was at the law firm Danowsky & Partners where she worked as a legal advisor for three years.

We proudly announce that Halens is no. 1 on Internetworld’s 2011 list of Sweden’s top 100 sites once again. Just like last year. We worked together with Halens as they transformed from traditional mail order into e-commerce, and developed their new brand platform and visual identity. Hopefully we will repost this message a third time in a row next year.

Jörgen previously held a position within finance at KF Media, working with the publisher Norstedts and the book seller Akademibokhandeln. Prior to that, he gained experience from the world of IT and banking, both locally and internationally. With a degree from the Stockholm School of Economics under his belt, he is now ready to support our future business.

Making a summary is not always a good idea for a book, but against all the odds we’ve given it a shot.

In our book, we have tried to touch upon the fundamentals of strong and narrative brand building in a way we hope you will find entertaining. Although the book was launched at last week’s party, you can get your copy by simply emailing us at info@essen.se with your delivery and billing address. The price is 270 SEK incl. postage. Enjoy!

Last week we physically framed the past twenty years by having a bash at our office with friends, clients and colleagues – former, present and new ones. And what a 20 years it has been! It was Richard von Essen who back in 1991 started Essen International, and by doing this he founded branding in the Nordic region. A few revolutions later, both digital and analog, there are 40 creatives, strategists and lawyers here still carrying Richard’s flag. But we are still far from done. So let’s go full speed ahead and without fear into the next 20. Buckle up!

If you missed out on the party, you can still experience some of it here…

We would like to welcome Patricia and Kajsa, who will be getting some practical experience with us this autumn. Patricia took her B.A. degree in Marketing at the Stockholm School of Economics last spring, and has already been working with Saatchi & Saatchi’s planner team during the summer. Kajsa graduated from Lundsberg School one year ago, and has since then been studying psychology and languages in London and New York.

What is a Master’s Degree, what do you gain by having one and why should you take one at Gothenburg University? Right now, together with Gothenburg University, we are doing some analysis and communication work to enhance the university’s communication of their Master programmes. So in future both you and I will know why the combination Master’s Degree and Gothenburg University is a winning concept.

The launching of new top domains is an unusual event, but now the new domain .xxx has arrived. This new top domain is aimed exclusively at “the adult entertainment industry”, porn in other words. Sadly, this piece of news may affect your brand name.

In this case, the good news is that there are rules to help trademark holders block others from registering an xxx domain corresponding to their trademarks. But time is running out.

Our recommendation is that to be safe you should block your most important trademarks if you can. Feel free to contact one of our legal experts at legal@essen.se or call +46 8 503 001 00 if you need further information or would like to apply to have your trademarks blocked.

We are expecting to be working in top gear this autumn, so we’ve got some reinforcement in the form of Anton Gårdsäter. Anton has just come from Henrik Nygren Design, where he’s been working for five years with customers like Moderna Museet and Spendrups. He studied at Beckmans College of Design and has done freelance work including designing the Radio P3 Gold Award.

A new Trademarks Act is now in place. Much of it is new, but the main features are clearly recognizable. The new aspects may however affect your trademark and we would recommend a review of your brand portfolio and the new ground rules.

We would be happy to help if you have questions about trademarks, design, copyright, advertising, the Internet and managing domain names. We also work a great deal with contracts, disputes, and processes in connection with these issues. Feel free to contact one of our legal specialists at legal@essen.se or call +46 8 503 001 00 if you would like to know how the new law will affect your trademark.

Now it’s holiday time again, but we’ve still got lots to do. During the summer we’ll be getting to grips with some new assignments for – without naming any names – an optician chain, a management consultant, a pension insurance company and a training company. Apart from this, it’s still full speed ahead for our Swedbank, LKAB and SATS teams during the summer.

If we don’t see each other or hear from each other anyway, we’d like to wish everyone a very good summer!