MONI to become BRINKS Home Security

DALLAS—MONI Smart Security recently announced an exclusive, long-term trademark licensing agreement with The Brink's Company, bringing about a complete rebranding of MONI and LiveWatch to BRINKS Home Security.

“It's a really mutually beneficial deal. They wanted a national partner that would really leverage their brand, and we wanted a brand that people knew,” MONI CEO Jeff Gardner, soon to be CEO of BRINKS Home Security, told Security Systems News. MONI dealers will go to market as BRINKS authorized dealers.

“Despite the fact that we've done well with MONI, there are still many people in the country that don't know what MONI does. So, that's always made it a little harder to sell for our sales reps and for our dealers. But, with the BRINKS brand, I think that's going to change quite a bit,” Gardner continued.

The new brand will be fully rolled out in Q2 2018. Gardner said the company plans to exhibit entirely as BRINKS Home Security at ISC West. “The timing of ISC West is incredible fortuitous to us,” he said.

The company announced a change from the Monitronics brand to MONI Smart Security in September 2016—a transition that is similar to the current one, but on a smaller scale, according to Gardner.

One difference between the MONI rebrand and the new BRINKS branding is the quick integration of LiveWatch. “We were already integrating LiveWatch into MONI and this makes that job a little easier,” Gardner said.

Dealers colloquially referred to Monitronics as “MONI,” Gardner said, making that brand change subtler. The new BRINKS branding, “is a much more dramatic change, and one which we want to be more far reaching, across all of our channels of distribution,” he said.

“Now we've got a brand that I think competes with the likes of Amazon, Google, Apple and ADT,” said Gardner.

According to the announcement, MONI will be able to use the BRINKS and BRINKS Home Security trademarks in the U.S. and Canadian residential smart home and home security markets. “MONI will pay Brink's customary licensing fees and minimum and growth-based royalties that will increase overtime as the BRINKS Home Security brand is reintroduced. MONI expects to pay first-year royalties of approximately $5 million. The agreement provides for an initial term of seven years and, subject to certain conditions, allows for subsequent renewal periods whereby MONI can extend the agreement beyond 20 years,” the announcement read.

“For over 150 years, BRINKS has been synonymous with trust, safety and security. Our agreement with MONI brings our iconic brand back to the forefront in the home security market in a way that is mutually beneficial for both companies and provides consumers with a single, compelling source for their home security needs,” Doug Pertz, CEO of The Brink's Company, said in a prepared statement.