Copycats - are they really so bad?
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I've stolen one or two of Ron's lines over the years |
I often try to be funny.
Sometimes I succeed, other times I fail. Sometimes my attempts at humour are met with
either a polite smile (the equivalent of saying ‘nice try’) or a groan (the
equivalent of saying ‘yes, that’s funny, but it’s really stupid’).
Something I’ll often do though is quote from movies. I’ll never claim it as ‘my own joke’, but I
don’t go out of my way to acknowledge my ‘sources’.
Earlier this year I was ‘found out’ to a certain
extent. A line I often use is “You stay
classy” which I’ll often say in a particularly ironic manner if I’ve witnessed
something particularly UN-classy.
For example, Serena Williams, the tennis player, lost the
2009 US Open final when she verbally abused a lineswoman. She unleashed a torrent of profanity and threats to the lineswoman in a
most undignified outburst. After the
event, I posted on Twitter “You stay classy, Serena Williams”. It got a good laugh… well, as good a laugh as
one can get on Twitter.
Using this line is, of course, stealing shamelessly from the
film Anchorman. Well, fast forward to January this year: a number of my friends
went to see Anchorman at the moonlight cinema and when Ron Burgandy uttered
that famous phrase one of my friends piped up and said, “So Dylan stole that
line! I thought he was funny but he’s
just copied that joke!”
Well, I reckon ‘stealing’ is a little harsh. Copying, on the other hand, is entirely
accurate.
This got me pondering, is copying, or imitating, really such
a bad thing? It’s something businesses
do all the time. Sure, they may not
blatantly come out and say “here’s what somebody else did so we’re doing it
too!” but they will often draw upon another firm’s concept and repurpose it for
their own use.
This is what Oded Shenkar from Ohio State University writes in his book “Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a
Strategic Edge.”1
Shenkar claims that firms which "copy other firms’ ideas save
not only on R&D costs but also on marketing and advertising investments
made by first movers".
In other words, find out what someone else is doing, and do
it yourself.
Of course Shenkar doesn’t just blatantly copying. After all, this can land you in serious legal
difficulties regarding patent infringement (just ask Samsung).
A good example of successful copying is German start-up
Pinspire. It’s essentially an exact copy
of the latest social media craze, Pinterest.2
However, according to the founder of Pinspire, Karl Jo
Seilern, “Of course it's no secret that we were inspired by Pinterest, we saw
the hugh potential of Pinterest but we also recognised that they don't offer
local content, in local languages and we still see potential to improve the
user experience.”
So he copied a good idea, and repurposed it for his own
use. Just like what I do with so many of
my jokes!
The Economist also offers a good history of successful ‘copiers’:
History shows that imitators often end up winners. Who now
remembers Chux, the first disposable nappies, whose thunder was stolen by
Pampers? Ray Kroc, who built McDonald’s, copied White Castle, inventor of the
fast-food burger joint. Even Playboy magazine was just an imitator, noted Ted
Levitt, one of the earliest management gurus to acknowledge the role of
imitation.
Copying is not only far commoner than innovation in
business, wrote Levitt in the 1960s, but a surer route to growth and profits.
Studies show that imitators do at least as well and
often better from any new product than innovators do. Followers have lower
research-and-development costs, and less risk of failure because the product
has already been market-tested. A study by Peter Golder and Gerard Tellis,
“Pioneer Advantage: Marketing Logic or Marketing Legend”, found that innovators
captured only 7% of the market for their product over time.
To me, it all sounds a little dodgy. After all, who doesn’t feel a little annoyed
when someone else takes credit for your work?
But maybe it’s like the old saying claims: imitation is the
sincerest form of flattery.
Just bear in mind that the person you’re imitating may not
feel so flattered when they see you making money from their idea.
But I reckon making people laugh is ok – even if you’re
using someone else’s jokes.
Notes
1: No, I haven't read it.
2: Have you seen Pinspire? Seriously, it's basically identical to Pinterest. It's like Pinspire isn't even trying to pretend it's different.
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