Chaired by Patricia McGovern (DFMG Solicitors), this session was loosely entitled "Arriving at a sustainable destination". First to speak, Leo Longauer (UBS AG), summarised the concerns relating to brand sustainability as viewed by brand owners, following which Margaret Ramage (Alexander Ramage Associates) gave a checklist, based on her own vast and varied experience, of the actions that must be taken in terms of trade mark watch, monitoring of competitors and identifying the battles that can most affordably be fought by any trade mark owner. All this was very worthy, but well within the framework of the understanding of most of the members of the audience. Margaret, in the Q&A session following the speakers' presentations, also made mention of the repositioning and rehabilitation of Lucozade, originally a fizzy drink full of sugar but subsequently restyled as an energy-giving beverage for fitness enthusiasts.

Against this backdrop, the introduction of the third speaker, Marjolijn Vencjken (Trouble in Paradise, sustainable strategies) had huge shock value. Backed with some powerful videoclips illustrating corporate denial of social responsibility and the marketing of what passes as corporate conscience, Marjolijn argued in favour of the sharing of responsibility between companies as brand owners and customers as consumers . A lawyer-turned-policy-analysis-expert, she combined powerful advocacy with some compelling arguments that one rarely gets to hear at IP conferences. Showing an entire Land Rover/myclimate clip and drawing on examples drawn from Heineken, Philips, M&S and Liberty Mutual, she showed how corporate messages are now used as a means of demonstrating the existence of a social conscience, engaging with consumers, sometimes even in markets for which the brand owner has no products.