Pinx News   •  December 2023

I was recently asked to provide my advice on a case of a business and their brand being plagiarised by a new business set-up.

While this is always a delicate area of business, and some believe imitation is the biggest form of flattery, on a professional level it is something I feel strongly about.

I’ll explain why.

Upon making the decision to start a business, you have to have guts, steel, and determination. It’s an opportunity to set your ideas and passion on fire. When working on your brand, look and feel and descriptor, everything you decide upon should embody the personality of your business and your purpose. In simple terms, taking the ideas of someone else is a real waste.

It doesn’t end there. For many years, business ideas and models have been successfully replicated and this is fine. What is inherently wrong is when you try and take the originality, ideas, and heart of someone else. Why? Because it’s not you. It’s a little bit like trying to be the person you’re not, eventually, the mask will fall.

Any successful business knows who they are, and they stick with it. There’s also a delicate balance between trying to replicate a business idea where the company has more resources to hand to achieve their goals whether that be people, cash in the bank, customers, and often a lot of goodwill. You can’t compete with that, but no-one can compete with YOU when you know who you are.

The same principles often apply to marketing efforts. I’ve sat in many a marketing meeting in the past where the agenda was hijacked by obsessing with the competition and why we needed to replicate their efforts. NO! By all means, be aware of the competition, this is one of the golden rules of marketing but invest in and believe in your own brand, messaging and efforts, what makes you different and why should people buy from you. As I always like to say, if you’re too busy obsessing over the weeds growing in the garden next door, you will not have time to tend to your own garden. Keep your garden nice and tidy!

For anyone thinking about starting up, a brand refresh, or putting passion into practice, start with YOUR goals and beliefs, what does it mean, feel like and look like. Be consistent, be original and head off on your own unique journey.

If you need the eye of a professional on everything brand, get in touch with us today jo@pinxcreative.co.uk