It is our great pleasure to recognize the second smart rural municipality of Estonia with the trade-mark-of-the-month title! Our best trade mark in April is the clever word-playing hashtag #harjuära, which belongs to Lääne-Harju parish ("harju" also means "get used to it" in Estonian). With this slogan, trade mark protection is acquired for publications, clothing, advertising, marketing, business administration, entertainment, sports and cultural services.
Kadri Kauksi, Head of Communications of Lääne-Harju, says that their own trade mark is a great marketing weapon for the municipality, which gives them the opportunity to stand out.
Kauksi says that the need for their own slogan was born a few years ago, when after the administrative reform several regions were merged into one Lääne-Harju parish. The parish wished for their own slogan, which would support unity between the merged regions and allow the parish to be identified in a fun and creative way. A public competition was organised to find it.
Initially, #harjuära was used in the social media and advertising materials of the municipality. Now, according to Kauksi, its use has also extended to the products of the institution, for example, this great slogan decorates their signature sweatshirts.
"For a couple of years, we've been diligently using the #harjuära slogan, and we're becoming more and more associated with it. If someone else started using it (and actually there have already been a couple of cases!), it could be misleading," Kauksi states the reasons why it was decided to register the slogan as a trade mark.