Milking it for what it’s worth

Most innovators will know that they need to protect their creations, but how does the process work? Arella Creations, which has patents pending on its Topster design, tells how its design went from the drawing board to the high street.

IT WAS 2005, and Steve Thomas’ three-year-old daughter Ella was drinking milk “like it was going out of fashion”. The harassed father found himself making multiple trips back and forth to the kitchen, tearing the tops off plastic bottles, slopping milk all over the side, down the front of the bottle, and making a mess in the fridge.

His irritation focused on the pouring part of the process and, “having always been creative”, he began experimenting with tape and funnels, eventually settling on a design for the Topster, an easy-to-use device that answered Ella’s demands as well as providing a solution for a wide range of users.

Some two-and-a-half years later, Steve formed Arella Creations with co-director Michael Farr, who also works as a lawyer in Cardiff, while Steve still works at Nationwide’s head office in Swindon. Since the start of this year, it has sold 8,000 pairs of Topsters, supplying them through a deal with high street chain Lakeland.

“After all this time, it’s great to see people buying it,” said Steve. “We have a website, and we’ve been getting some great feedback. One customer said the Topster really changed her life. It essentially turns your milk bottle into a jug, with loads of benefits. I’ve found that once you start using it, you never want to go without.”

Ella, who is six, now fetches her own milk, as does Steve’s arthritic mother-in-law, who previously faced extreme difficulties in making a cup of tea while her husband was at work. Now the Topster has given her back a degree of independence.

Steve and Mike - whose two children Andrew and Rebecca, along with Ella, gave the company its name - knew that the design would need protecting. After shopping around for patent attorneys, they settled on Newport-based Astrum, run by Dr Gillian Whitfield.

“Gill was fantastic,” said Steve. “I never knew there was such a thing as patent attorneys, but once I did, I knew I had to get one involved in what we were doing. Mike went to see one or two and I saw a couple in Bath, but they didn’t seem very interested. It was like sitting in a doctor’s waiting room.”

Mike said, “We heard of Gill through the Wales Innovators Network. What I really like is that she is passionate about our product. She’ll happily drop documents off at the Patent Office (in Newport) at 11pm to make sure we make a deadline. She’s given us European protection on the design. It’s very important for us that she believes in what we’re doing, and that she’s coming on a journey with us.”

Arella Creations currently produces two colours – blue and green, for full fat and semi-skimmed. There are plans for a red version, to denote skimmed, and a black and white Friesian cow design. This may lead on to some character designs.

Although Topster is manufactured by a plastics moulder in Gloucestershire, with whom Arella Creations can place orders of any size, Steve and Mike both admit that distribution is the biggest challenge currently facing the business.

Steve said, “I think the potential for Topster is pretty big. There are 24.5 million households in the UK. If we put our product into 10% of them, which isn’t a big percentage, that would mean a significant amount for us. I’d like to see Topster sold in supermarkets, right next to where the milk is. Then you can go in, get your milk and get your Topster at the same time.”

- Topster retails at £2.99 for a packet of two. Visit www.lakeland.co.uk or www.thetopster.co.uk for more details.

- Astrum is currently in the process of registering the Topster trade mark. For more details on how you can protect your designs and branding, visit www.astrum-ip.com.

(This feature first appeared in the South Wales Argus on April 1, 2008)

Don’t pop those corks just yet

THERE were great celebrations in a small part of France recently as notoriously strict Gallic wine lawmakers for once decided to say “oui” to proposals to extend Champagne country.

OK, so it’s only 40 villages in the Rheims area, and it was preceded by decades of internecine feuding. But it’s less a right to grow and more a licence to print money, as the other 319 champagne-producing communes (village districts) are struggling to keep up with the rocketing worldwide demand for fizz – some 339 million bottles last sold year, with the UK only second to the drink’s home country as the biggest consumer.

But is it a good move for the brand in the long term? It all depends on whether this decision sets a precedent. Suppose demand continues to rise, will this put more of France under vine? Of course, there’s a finite limit to ‘the right conditions’ such as flinty soil, but every time the area is extended, the brand becomes diluted.

Some of you, who remain less than impressed with Gallic snobbery, may be thinking “good”. But any business that wants to protect their brand value can learn a lesson from the way that the French have shielded one of their finest exports.

Think about it – no matter how many times a wine expert tells you that certain supermarket Cava is superior, you’ll still buy a bottle of Bollinger or Laurent Perrier for that special occasion, and you’ll happily pay more.