I give major kudos to Young & Free, what a revolution! Also, I think that at this point it doesn’t matter if Resource One ripped this off or not, perception is 9/10ths reality, and by now, looking at all this bad press they’re getting, they’re going to have a doubly hard time trying to pass off roadkill as an appetizing steak.

Shame on their marketing or advertising agency, or whoever convinced them to use this rip-off. Is everyone over there blind? Do they not have the Internet!?

I understand what you’re saying about any future social media programs being compared to Y&F. You’re right. It’s probably inevitable that people will ask, “Will it be better?” “What new twist is there?” “How will this different than Y&F?” In this case however, there doesn’t seem to be much of a comparison to make.

It’s difficult to be unique in a world full of knock-offs, and imitation is the highest form of flattery. But there’s a fine line between emulating and flat-out ripping off.

It seems this program is line by line a cheap version of the real deal in Canada. Check out http://www.mylifemymoney.org. It’s the microsite mentioned in the above article, (you were right!) that Resource One is currently using to give the Gen Y people all the information about the program.

Nobody has mentioned this tie either, the My Life My Money name is trademarked by Spokane Teachers Credit Union, a credit union in Washington. http://www.stcu.org/

Ah, the beauty of “Google”. Possible legal woes already?

It is going to be hard for any credit union to do any sort of social media experiment on the scale of Y&F without being compared to Y&F. That always happens when you are the first.

I am currently working on 2 separate campaigns that have elements of the Y&F like a spokesperson search (well one has a spokesperson search the other has an actor). But I would never rip a term like “Spokester” – too close to Y&F.

Both campaigns I am working on have online and offline components as well as social media components. I know that they will be compared to Y&F and even to what First Entertainment is doing (If I am lucky).

The same thing happens in design. We all watch MTV and look through magazines to see what design trends are popping up. Hopefully we put our own creative spin on the visuals and dont just completely rip them off – but I have had clients give me pages from magazines and say “Make it look exactly like that”. It makes my skin crawl, but we basically do what we are paid to do. I give my guidance, suggestions, input and all that, but at the en of the day – you try to give the client what they ask for.

We all hope to see success like Y&F. Unfortunately some people will think that making a knockoff will create the same effect. Most of the time they dont realize that the success of those campaign ventures rely on the innovative and creative nature of the people behind them (at the agency and the credit union), and not solely on the marketing gimmicks at play. The agency and the credit union have said that they were 100% behind making this campaign successful and were 100% invested in the concept. You see the same kind of passion at Forum and Verity too.

Knockoffs are never as good or as successful as the originals. That is just the nature of the business. Being first does have its advantages.