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John Jantch posted today about creative emulation on the Duct Tape Marketing blog. Although he prefers not to define it as stealing but rather a more creative version of copying.
Personally, I’m actually OK with the stealing moniker – just so long as you do it properly.
In his good examples, the nightlife marketing staple – ‘happy hour’ – gets adapted to florists and plumbers and personal trainers. In one fell swoop, you take a concept with a solid rational (attack business in an off-peak period) and instant recognition and adapt it for your own purposes.
But if you’re going to creatively emulate someone else’s ideas, you’d better do it right or end up nicked for ‘grand emulation’:
- You should be constantly casing interesting ideas – start a swipe file of ideas that you could emulate for your own purpose
- Stay out of your own backyard – learn from other industries, the arts etc… and don’t simply copy what others within your industry are doing – that’s bad stealing (i.e. you’ll get caught out as an imitator, not an innovator)
- Every town has its own bank – what works in a different market might be worth a trial here
- Be the gentleman thief – do it with a cheeky grin and a nod in the customer’s direction – let them in on the ‘joke’ and it all becomes a bit of fun …
- Where possible find something that has instant recognition as a concept – it’ll be easier for you to sell on / fence, i.e. use that recognition to aid adoption of your idea
- Don’t steal the crown jewels – if your chosen idea is too closely associated with a single brand you might have trouble passing it off as your own
- Don’t steal something that’s already been stolen – duh – once it’s been stolen then you’ll look like a copycat to attempt it again in your marketplace
- Start a crime spree – if it works do it again and again and again
Two quick examples:
- If we take the idea of open houses from the real estate industry, could you host an open house for your next product launch or service innovation?
- And another, how about applying the dating agency model to B-2-B services? “I’m a small business owner seeking accountant with GSOH”
Any other marketing ideas you could ‘creatively emulate’ from one industry to use in another?
