Dual branding works for Battle Born Injury Lawyers

After two years of steady growth, attorneys Troy Atkinson and Justin Watkins decided it was time to separate their personal injury practice from their corporate, real estate and defense clients.

The challenge for the partners and their Las Vegas-based firm, Atkinson & Watkins, was to create a brand that would stick out in a crowded personal injury market, rather than rebranding the entire firm and potentially confusing clients.

Atkinson & Watkins in 2012 launched their personal injury practice as Battle Born Injury Lawyers.

“We always had a personal injury practice as well as our corporate clients,” said Atkinson. “We didn’t want to confuse our clients. We also thought it was important to come up with something different, something associated with Nevada.”

Watkins agreed, saying a lot of people had no idea Battle Born was Nevada’s slogan.

The firm, Atkinson & Watkins, started advertising its Battle Born Injury Lawyers brand in June on television, radio and billboards.

“All together, we plan to spend $250,000 to see if it works,” Watkins said. “It’s too early to tell about expansion. But a natural progression would be to expand to Reno.”

Atkinson & Watkins method of expansion is known as dual branding. The idea is to saturate a crowded marketplace and have two businesses sharing the same real estate and other costs, especially business that are complementary and not overlapping.

Dual branded operations may exist in a variety of settings. Atkinson & Watkins and Battle Born Injury Lawyers are an example of two concepts at a single location.

Both law firms are in the same office on Via Austi Parkway just south of McCarran International Airport. Atkinson said four lawyers work for both firms.

The process of dual branding is driven by business needs and goals. Beyond the desire for strengthened product offerings, new dual brand concepts usually come about because of prospects for improved rates of return where high volume and shared costs can be achieved.

“Battle Born was developed with the goal of getting into the personal injury business,” Watkins said. “We have four attorneys and each of us work for Atkinson & Watkins and Battle Born.”

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at csieroty @reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.