Barbour Protects its Brand With Innovative Online Advertising Campaign

LEEDS, England, February 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Barbour, the South Shields based heritage and lifestyle clothing brand renowned for its celebrity following, has taken an original approach in the fight to combat the sale of counterfeits online. Established in 1894, Barbour is famous for its iconic waxed jackets which are still manufactured at their headquarters in Simonside in the North East of England.  From this factory, Barbour produces over 130,000 hand crafted wax jackets each year and their ever-growing popularity has seen the number of illegal counterfeits being produced, increase in recent years. With more and more people buying online around the world, the problem has become more widespread and much harder to control.

Barbour has partnered with Search Laboratory, the Leeds based search marketing agency, to help crack down on the rogue traders that sell fakes via the Internet. The campaign which has been rolled out across Google's paid search network aims to educate people who are searching for the Barbour brand about the pitfalls of buying a counterfeit item.

"Barbour's approach is pioneering,' says Ian Harris, CEO, Search Laboratory, 'usually clients want to sell more of their products or services online, but Barbour is wholly focused on maintaining their reputation as a luxury lifestyle clothing brand and protecting their following from poor quality counterfeit merchandise which will inevitably disappoint the purchaser in the long run. It's the first time I have seen a brand use search marketing in this way and we are really excited about what Barbour is trying to achieve with this innovative use of Pay Per Click marketing."

Barbour is serving adverts via Google promoting the benefits of buying genuine goods over fakes and directing interested shoppers towards one of their 2000 registered stockists worldwide.

Steve Buck, Managing Director at Barbour commented: "Protecting our customers and our brand is of paramount importance to us.  When we suggested this unique approach to counterfeiting with Search Laboratory, they understood what we wanted to achieve and have helped us develop an impactful campaign.  We always advise customers to buy only from approved Barbour stockists and we believe that this approach will really help to get that message across"

Notes for Editors

Search Laboratory Ltd, headquartered in Leeds, specialises in maximising profits from its clients' websites using Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), online PR, social media and multilingual search marketing.  The company was established in 2005 and employs over 70 search specialists who help clients improve the visibility of their clients' websites online. Search Laboratory is extremely ethical in its approach to search using only ethical, sustainable link building and online PR.

Barbour, established in 1894 in South Shields, is a family run business whose history stems back across 5 generations. The Barbour brand espouses the unique values of the British Countryside and brings the qualities of wit, grit and glamour to its beautifully functional clothing. Today Barbour has 10 retail shops in the UK and a presence in over 40 countries worldwide. Broadening out from its country wear roots, today Barbour produces clothing that is designed for a full lifestyle wardrobe.  As well as iconic jackets and coats, the Barbour wardrobe includes knitwear, shirts, trousers, footwear and accessories for men, women and children.