This is why we can't have nice things.
Posted by Brent Dixon on September 12th, 2008
First, a disclaimer: The folks at Currency Marketing are my friends, and so is Trey from TDECU, so my opinion is not objective. But still…this is just ridiculous.
For those who haven’t heard, a month ago Resource One Credit Union, located in my town of Dallas, TX, launched a cartoonishly blatant ripoff of Currency’s Young & Free Program , called MyLifeMyMoney. Pilcher covered it well at The Financial Brand.
I’ve been quietly rolling my eyes, but yesterday represented the last straw when they posted their call-to-action video, “K.I.S.S.“
As Pilcher pointed out last month:
MyLifeMyMoney copies essentially every component of Young & Free, including the overall strategy, the spokester’s responsibilities, the media used, and the incentives offered to the spokester.
Even the title “Spokester” is a word made up by Y&F Alberta’s Larissa.
So when I watched the latest video, and saw that R1 had even tried to (poorly) hijack the style of Larissa’s “The Difference Between Credit Unions and Banks” series, I was so bewildered all I could do was shake my head and cuss a little.
Let’s be clear: The hands-on-paper styling of the “Difference” videos were not original to Larissa, who borrowed it from Common Craft. However, she owned it, used it to deliver a message in a unique way to a new audience and used that style to create something original within the same style. She also gives credit to Common Craft as her muse.
A friend compared this to the film Multiplicity, where Michael Keaton copies himself and each copy is a little closer to eating glue.
There’s a difference between influence, homage, and a slipshod ripoff.
And again: It’s not like Currency invented calling for corporate auditions, Donald Trump and his pet hairpiece had been doing it for seasons. But they took a good idea and created something new.
I’ve created a slightly modified edit of R1’s K.I.S.S. video:
Collaboration is great. Influence is fantastic. Be inspired by great work. Borrow away. We can pull a lot of morals from this story, I’ll go with the least common denominator:
“If you’re going to steal, try not to do a pisspoor job of it.”
Brent,
I think that you make some really valid points here. In particular, about the Common Craft idea [borrowing]!
I’ve really enjoyed the work of Lee LeFever of Common Craft and to see it done like this is, well…sloppy.
The whole beauty of the CC series is in how it captures a concept and delivers it with an elegant simplicity. It reminds of those professors back in the college days who [really] knew what they were lecturing on versus those assistance prof’s that made the topic more confusing or sloppy at best by just covering what the student had already read the night before.
Incidentally, other CU’s are doing these type of campaigns as well, so nothing new there. In fact, we [SFCU] ran a Stanford University scholarship contest last month as well.
The Resource1 spokester contest ends its first phase on Monday. The video submissions should be up for review soon thereafter.
R&D in the credit union industry = Ripoff and duplicate
“Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from two, it’s research.”
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/copy_from_one-it-s_plagiarism-copy_from_two-it-s/12366.html
Brent:
Why so much anger? R1 is not violating any trademarks.
Your attacks of R1 also seems pretty non-objective and protective of CM. I see that CM was pushing your “Give” program to credit unions so I guess you owe them, but your ridicule of R1 seems over the top. I actually think the “Mylifemymoney” branding is much better and like Y&F, their program has good and less-than-good components.
Actions say so much more than words and your actions seem to say that you are more concerned about making money and protecting you and your friends revenue opportunities than truly caring about the success of credit unions.
I suggest you step back and stop trying to intimidate other credit unions into paying you and your friends for things they are capable of doing themselves, or at least incurring lower consulting fees.
What does CM charge for their “franchise”, anyway?
Brent… thank you sir for taking the time to put this together. Have been meaning to touch on this since the launching of the two.
Plus, we have been busy with a hurricane the past few days… gotta’ love the Gulf Coast. I am replying to this with no power and a router being powered by a car battery… pretty cool. :)
I must agree here 100%. Brent makes very good points and am glad for calling them out. Wish we had been the first one to do so like this.
Cathy, it is fair to say that in brief review, many components of the MLMM brand are blatant rip offs from Y&F. If anything they are embarrising themselves in the CU world for doing this. Do R1 members care or even know? Probably not. But do their CU peers… we shall see.
I believe the point of Brent’s post, thoughts and videos was to show how and where R1 has taken it one step too far.
Actions (and videos) do say much more than words and his action here was to draw a visual comparison of how R1 is stealing to a degree the same concepts that Y&F have implemented.
While I can not speak for Brent, I do believe that we who work with credit unions embrace the movement and culture.
However, as we are not a credit unions per say, we see the CU world a little bit differently and want to inspire change. We do want to see nothing but the best for the CU movement.
After reading, and re-reading this, I feel there was no intimidation here… just one very passionate guy telling it like he sees it. Yes, there may be some relationship with CM but are we not all related by six degrees any way.
In addition, not all CUs may be able to pull something off like this. There are many different components that go into a campaign of this scope… more than just a web site and a cool car. I don’t even believe that every CU can pull off a “spokester”.
I am not saying that it is not possbile for a CU to do something like this but once again, we want to see CUs succeed and offer help and guidance from what we as CU “outsiders” have learned from both successes and failures.
Finally, once again, not speaking for CM, but I believe they charge for the “franchise” so they can make a profit. Isn’t that rule number one when going into business is to turn a profit.
If we, as those who work with CUs but who are not part of a CU were not-for-profit, we would not be in business. We have to make some money to survive, put food on the table and buy Skittles.
An Australian lawyer scolds R1 here: http://www.djacobson.com/credit_union_and_mutual_l/2008/09/copyright-and-m.html
To say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” is probably not enough in this situation.
Credit unions love R & D (rip-off and duplicate) they do it all the time.
Shiny happy people images come to mind. I wonder who FIRST came up with that idea? And if, when it was copied (by tons of credit unions) that pioneer screamed…”HEY! WE decided to use pictures of perfect people on our brochures FIRST!!”
But R1, at this point anyway…crossed the line. They didn’t even TRY to make this their own. It would be like using exactly the SAME stock photo of the overly happy person on the exact SAME checking account brochure in the same market…and then trying to take credit “Yeah, that was my idea…”
It just feels icky.
@Cathy (aka anonymouse) Tim McAlpine and company are the most ethical, talented, and professional people. Their entry into the US market has been good for credit unions. They have raised the bar. I wouldn’t be so quick to criticize their business acumen.
@James RL
“Do R1 members care or even know? Probably not.”
Probably not is an understatement.
This post sucks. If CM have a problem, they can get their lawyers to sort it out.
Whiney, whinging posts (and comments) about how ‘they ripped my friends off’ are really, really, really lame… considering this ever present culture of ripoff and duplicate. Isn’t it pretty much a given that any idea that ‘works’ is gonna get xeroxed?
“But do their CU peers… we shall see.”
Delusions of grandeur?
PS.
I don’t like the R1 MyLifeMyMoney program, either.
Why? Bad site design. Lame posts on the blog. Bad youtubes. Dylan sucks. Bad copy. Scripted comments.
I’m 23 and that site does not appeal to me. But not because its a rip off, because its just a poor attempt at boosting gen Y membership.
I’m all for ripping off the Y&F program. But, heck, if you’re going to rip something off, make sure as hell that its better than what you ripped off… or at least ‘just as good’. Otherwise you’re just a cheap imitation.
And I think thats where a lot of your argument, James & Brent, falls over. You should be taking R1 to task for having a half-hearted, v.lame attempt at gen Y and web 2.0. Not for copying Y&F. The end.
It is a joke to say that Larissa or currency or commonwealth invented the word spokester. You can find it used all over the web before we even knew what Young and Free was.
My credit union marketing department was talking about this issue of using the word spokester, It was brought up that people would think we were just copying the “WHOLE IDEA.”
R1 should be giving props to common crafts the very least and not say what they are doing is original.
So unless Larissa will have her picture in the dictionary next to spokester then she shouldnt go around saying she coined it!
Alright, I have to chime in here.
Its not so much that I’m annoyed that they copied many of the aspects of Y&F, but the fact that they did so poorly.
I am a twitter and blog friend with Tim McAlpine from Currency, but that doesn’t really influence my opinion of this campaign. I would still cringe at the bad videos, the poorly disguised corporate style copy, the lack of creativity and the overall lackluster approach they’ve taken to social media.
They deserve some credit for at least giving it a go. However, they also deserve to be ripped on for blatantly copying many aspects of an existing campaign and not giving it the careful attention that such a campaign needs.
I have been in business for 18 years and I have to tell you that the last 12 months of being involved with Young & Free has been the best year ever. We have built an army of friends and supporters. These folks have been following this evolving story and have been promoting and defending Young & Free on Currency Marketing’s behalf. It is an unbelievable position to be in. But there comes a point where you have to step up and state where you stand on things.
What we don’t own (and have never claimed to own) • We don’t own the word Spokester • We don’t own the concept of finding the voice of a generation through an online job search • We don’t own any of part of the social web
What we do own • Young & Free trademarks in the USA and Canada • Trade dress (the look and feel of Young & Free) • 150 Young & Free URLs including www.youngfree.com and www.youngandfree.com
What we offer • A proven approach that can add thousands of new young credit union members • The opportunity to be part of something bigger than a single credit union • Access to other credit unions collaborating on the same journey
Why go with Currency • We know how to promote the heck out of this program • We know where to go and how to find the best spokespeople • And we are learning everyday
I am not against competition and I love the cooperative credit union movement. I have been asked to speak about Young & Free many this year. My hope with these talks has been to showcase an approach that works and to also share what I have learned about how credit unions can use social media as a marketing tool. My hope is to inspire a movement to do something about the aging membership. Young & Free is one option to consider.
If you have a better idea or can learn from what we have done, I have nothing against that.
1. they copied a blog, get over it
2. Y&F has an alexa rating of 3,000,000
yes, that’s million, they copied a very unpopular blog.
Oh, but it’s more than a blog. Not really.
@Cathy I just want to point out that Brent made no argument that his post was objective. In fact, he prefaced his entire post by saying it is not objective because of his relationship with the Y&F team. Second, I don’t see the intimidation you see in his post. He is using the internet to voice his opinion which is completely respectable.
My opinion is that the Currency Marketing team did an amazing job of creating the Y&F campaign for Common Wealth. The fact that R1 couldn’t come up with a campaign that differentiates themselves from the Y&F version (other than slapping a new coat of paint on it) may be the best compliment ever.
Great conversation going on here. And I appreciate all of your comments and opinions. Even from those of you who seem to want to punch me in the mouth.
Ali -
Thanks for commenting. I love Common Craft too. They have a gift for breaking things down. Also, I’d love to hear more about SFCU’s scholarship contest.
Cathy -
First: The first thing I said is “I’m not objective.” So good call.
Next: I’m more annoyed than angry. I just wish R1 had put more creativity and effort behind what they’re doing. I can echo some of the angrier comments below and say that an interation of the Y & F idea, with a new creative spin, could be really cool. What R1 did just seems cheap and lazy.
And I’m with you – credit unions who do social media campaigns on their own and do it well – like Carolina Postal’s ‘I love my Hoopty’ – are to be applauded.
I’m about as intimidating as a sack of marshmallows. I’m just saying do good work.
James -
Thanks for kind words.
You’re right, R1’s membership probably doesn’t care. But if a little more creativity had been put into this campaign, I think they could care a lot. Which is a shame.
James II -
Even though your comment is ripping me a new one, I like it a lot because I agree with you. To your last point – “taking R1 to task for having a half-hearted, v.lame attempt at gen Y and web 2.0.” is exactly what I was doing. I guess I didn’t hit that hard enough in the closing:
...just don’t suck. And even as you borrow, put something of yourself in it. I don’t think that’s asking a lot.
All the things you listed outside of the used idea – “Bad site design. Lame posts on the blog. Bad youtubes. Dylan sucks. Bad copy. Scripted comments.” – are the pieces coming together to make R1’s attempt disappointing.
This is a Joke -
When I do a Google search for Spokester, pretty much everything that comes up is related to MyLifeMyMoney, Y&F, or bicycles. Just saying.
Andy -
You and Cathy are right, credit unions who try to pull something like this off on their own deserve props. There’s just such a huge different between groups like Carolina Postal, who’ve done it well, and R1, who have not.
PS: For some solid open-source ideas credit unions can use note-by-note, go leaf through Filene’s i3 projects. It’s what they’re there for.
The gentleman from CM in his post above stated pretty clearly what he believes his company owns and I’m guessing that, since he was smart enough to trademark it in the first place, he’s smart enough to protect it. Good. That’s why lawyers and copyright laws exist. Simple enough.
No, what truly motivated me to comment was the title of Mr. Dixon’s post “This is why we can’t have nice things”.
Is Mr. Dixon suggesting that WE (the world) can’t have nice things because sometimes nice things are followed by not so nice things? Okay then….er, thanks for the life lesson (I think).
Or is he suggesting that the folks at Currency can’t have nice things because people are stealing from them and now they have no money? (see previous paragraph for solution).
Or is it just some kind of whining about moral values because if it, then I suggest that taking someone else’s video and re-editing it and putting it on You Tube isn’t exactly the high ground.
Just a thought.
Brent, I’ll take on the 2nd for you… just so this doesn’t get confusing :P
I agree completely, “Just don’t suck”.
What revved me up so much was the other James’ post.
I guess what I’m getting at, is that, at the end of the day, people here writing blogs and comments will rarely (if ever) affect R1’s bottom line. We’re a bunch of CU nerds. The average CU member is not a CU nerd. Some people need to remember that…
Now having said that, we do all have a lot of ideas to offer. They may help R1, or any CU using the R1 model as a case study. I am not disputing that.
But no amount of tutt-tutting here will actually affect public perception of R1. Why? Cause the public doesn’t read this, and more than likely, doesn’t care.
John -
I wish I’d put that much thought into the title. In truth, it was inspired by the Simpsons:
James2 -
You’re right, the public doesn’t care about nerdy credit union stuff. This blog would bore the hell out of them. I know this because this happens to me:
Tutt-tutting affects public perception like this:
We blab about nerdy credit union ideas and points of inspiration. We collaborate and help each other. This all happens behind the scenes, thank God for them, the public never hears this. But then as ideas become action – When CUs use NCUF toolkits to serve low-wealth people, a CU installs Jwaala and its members become more aware of their spending (no, Cathy, I wasn’t paid to say that), or conversations about web design end in a more usable site – that effects the public. Credit unions will effect public perception through action.
If our conversations – here or on any other blog – terminate on themselves, we’re all wasting our time.
So Homer Simpson’s bad behavior was your motivation for writing this post. Uh, okay Brent, thanks for clearing that up.
So, if I’m reading this correctly, the point of this post is that Resource One should’ve done a better job of ripping off the Y&F campaign. They should’ve ‘owned it’ and not sucked so bad?
Doesn’t seem like very helpful feedback to me, to tell someone not to suck. I certainly don’t find it inspiring when a credit union’s marketing efforts are ripped apart and made fun of.
If they’d gone with the term “spokesperson” instead of “spokester”, they’d still be using a term someone else made up. Larissa invented a cool word
- good for her -does that mean no one else can use it?@terell. I’m with you. I don’t get the point. And I don’t watch the Simpson’s either.
Here’s the thing.
There’s nothing saying ONLY Y&F can offer youth-oriented financial services. There’s nothing saying a credit union can’t send out information about their services and use a “hey, we’re hip!” motif. The issue: don’t just do EVERYTHING that Y&F does and pass it off as “the new hotness”. Facebook and MySpace aren’t exactly alike, which is why people have a preference.
Hey, JamesII – the whole “the world doesn’t care” thing doesn’t mean much when you’ve spent 2-5 posts griping on the website you claim doesn’t matter to the CU Industry. It means a heck-of-a-lot to me, because it helps me figure out what’s shaking in this crazy CU world of ours. You don’t like it? Go read CU Skeptic or, better yet, leave us CU whackjobs alone.
Just for the record, I’m not the anonymous “James I” or “James II” above. I’m coming in late to the discussion, but I have to add my two cents.
Y&F was innovative and deserves the accolades it has received. However, just as Tim from Currency stated, they didn’t invent the concept of using social media as a marketing tool. But by creating a strong brand and promoting the hell out of it, they were able to mainstream the concept within the CU industry.
My biggest surprise is that so many people are shocked that someone copied the idea. I figured it was only a matter of time. I doubt that it will be the last, so don’t be too amazed when this happens again. There will probably be others that aren’t as good as Y&F, and yes, there will even be programs that are better. That’s just the nature of innovation.
Social media (as a marketing strategy) is still fairly new to CUs. I can only imagine that back in the day, the SECOND credit union to offer letter checks was blasted and called unoriginal. Today, well, they’re pretty much ubiquitous. Maybe in a few years we’ll all have a laugh together about this topic.
I got picked on in the CU warriors blog for not identifying myself. I figure this is a little better. FTR, if you want my life story, have a look at my post over there.
Lets get this straight. I’m a CU geek, too. I value these blogs. They help me with my job, they impress my boss when I find a cool discussion to show her, and they just give me something to think about and mull over.
But when people like JRL make comments like this:
“If anything they are embarrising themselves in the CU world for doing this. Do R1 members care or even know? Probably not. But do their CU peers… we shall see.”
I get annoyed. The CU world is great. We share information, we help each other out, and there is a lot of thought provoking discussion that goes on.
But commends that smack of grandeur and self importance piss me off.
At the end of the day, our analysis of R1’s program means very little if the members like it. End fact.
(Having said that. I think MyLifeMyMoney needed some more critical analysis, I’ve already had my 2c on that earlier. But hey, they did it DIY and I’m sure they will learn a lot from it… and hey, anyone else that has watched it will learn a lot, too.)
Why so serious?
@Brent – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA You TOTALLY cracked me up with: [overturns table and bolts for the door.] Nice one!
@ James W (aka James II) – Please allow me to expand on my thoughts here from the quote that pissed you off. I would like to state that this comment was not meant to come off to “smack of grandeur and self importance” but instead highlight that there are two very different ways to look at this.
The point that I was trying to make is that we have two different groups looking at R1 MLMM. One group is the R1 members/non members. The other group is the CU world, those who work within.
In the member point of view (which for R1 is the most important), they see MLMM for what it is through the front end blog and R1 marketing efforts. They probably don’t even have a clue that Y&F even exist nor do care.
The second point of view is from those within the CU world behind the scenes. This is a hot topic and great discussion point.
My comment from before was that it will be interesting to see how this conversation goes down since it is so controversial and has been blogged about before but never with this degree of directness and honesty like Brent presented.
In no way was this meant for those who work behind the scene to sound self righteous… more of just a question to the CU industry to see how this debate pans out.
But in the end, as you stated “our analysis of R1’s program means very little if the members like it”.
I do believe that from great discussions come great thoughts and ideas for us “on the inside” to learn from.
Cheers!
I can understand questioning Resource One’s “classiness” in this debacle, but to attack the messenger too?
If you read the blogs, Dylan is in the marketing dept. and he’s working with the guys who rolled this out, he’s not even their spokester, just helping out till they find one! He doesn’t suck, in fact his sombrero thing made me laugh.
I think some people are getting so sensitive about this they’re going to nitpick EVERYTHING and point out how it’s all a ripoff. Did anybody ever think that maybe Dylan is just doing his job, what he’s been instructed to do? He used like three sheets of paper with a cute little stick figure in ONE shot and that’s ripping off Larissa’s animation? Better throw away my doodle scratch paper or someone will think I suck too!
It takes a lot of guts to put your face and name out there on the web, so attack the company or the powers that be if you like, that’s warranted, but to attack someone like a 27 year old whom I doubt has much pull within the organization is a little low. He didn’t say he created the dang program, he’s just hammering away at his computer.
I’m with you Katy. Isn’t this really just about someone being upset that their friend’s work got copied and taking immature shots at them (like hacking up their video and saying their work sucks) when it could actually could be a “hey, here’s an example of how some cool youth oriented CU campaigns are gaining traction so how can we implement them in our own markets and make them even better” conversation that could actually result in some positive ROI, ROE or however we want to measure success?
Marketing to Gen Y is all about being authentic and transparent, start to finish. The end.
Kudos to R1 for making changes to their site as stuff has been pointed out, that kind of stuff makes me smile and get warm and fuzzy.
But in the end, the site just seems like a marketing ploy to me.
And hey, I’m 23… smack bang Gen Y.
Hate me for hating the site? I don’t care.
Of course it’s a marketing ploy, isn’t everything? Us Gen Y’ers, (I’m 24) live in an era of cynicism. We grew up being advertised to. Our catchphrase is “what’s the catch?”. We’re smarter than being duped and when we see something sloppy we see right through it and we’re not convinced.
I don’t hate you for hating the site, you’re entitled to your own opinion, I just felt the need to give a shout out to the little guys, who don’t necessarily deserve to get lumped in with the big CEO’s who at the end of the day agreed to go along with this.
It’d be interesting to see what the employees at R1 think of this…and more importantly, the young employees. If it’s not backed up 100%, good luck getting it off the ground.
Hey Dylan, what do you really think?! We’d love to hear your feedback!
Hi. I feel like I keep typing out the same points, so I’ll just land on this:
Also, it’s not my intention to attack Dylan as a human. He seems like a nice, enthusiastic guy who’s trying to make a thing happen. I get that he’s just doing his job, and that we can’t know what directives he’s working under. The creative surrounding this campaign is what’s disappointing.
Again, I appreciate all of your comments. Katy, I appreciate your sensitivity to Dylan in particular. Thanks for being that voice.
I’m going to hold off on debating any more in this thread, but if anyone wants to talk about this more with me – whether its to yell at me, or toss ideas around, or anything else – give me a call. I’d love to talk:
214 736 4505
Meanwhile, there’s a great conversation about relevance and tone happening at Matt the CU Warrior’s blog .
Dredging this up a little maybe…
As testament to the CU geek I am, I’ve started my own blog :D
stokedonthis.blogspot.com