7 August 2009
Stockholm, Seal Beach, Calif. and Wellington

The Medinge Group, the Swedish branding think-tank which has named its own Brands with a Conscience Awards for the past six years, states that it has no connection with the ‘Brand with a Conscience Awards’ scheme introduced by the Hong Kong Institute of Marketing (HKIM) at the beginning of 2009.
  
The Medinge Group contacted HKIM and warned it about the potential confusion between the two awards. The Group was also deeply concerned by the similarity in the language describing the HKIM awards.
  
In the last six months, HKIM has not offered any response to what the Medinge Group calls a firm, but non-threatening correspondence. Medinge has contacted HKIM both by email and by conventional post.

In researching whether HKIM has started a second round of its Brand with a Conscience award, directors at the Medinge Group discovered that Google has issued a warning about the HKIM website, claiming it to be a portal for malware. Consequently, the Group has not revisited the website.

The long-running, seventh edition of the Medinge Group’s Brands with a Conscience Awards will be named in January 2009.