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The Sincerest Form of Flattery or Just a Pathetic Rip Off?


Blog by Ian Watt | August 25th, 2009


Vancouver Condo Real Estate Video Blog #390 - August 25, 2009

The Sincerest Form of Flattery or Just a Pathetic Rip Off?  

Ian Watt Video blogs about someone who has copied Ian's marketing design and use of social media but is this the Sincerest Form of Flattery or Just a Pathetic Rip Off? If you want to voice your opinion or if you don't care for Ian's comments please email your feedback to ianwatt@ianwatt.ca and visit http://www.ianwatt.ca/RealEstateVideos for all the Ian Watt Real Estate Video Blogs.

Ian Watt : Hi Good Afternoon, Its Ian Watt in Downtown, Vancouver. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so they say. And that's no problem. A lot of different people out there have imitated my videoblogs. And that's great. Everybody should be doing videoblogs in their local community. But the problem I have in this one situation is this guy, flat out, has copied me to every degree of my business. Its very interesting. He.. My website designer, his name is Kuni, Kunidesign.com. And he got, asked to do a knock-off of ym website. Well, Kuni, being the amazing guy that he is, he said "Well, let me check with Ian first. Let me talk to Ian and find out if Ian's okay with you copying the design." No problem, cause he copies my videoblogs, my twitter logo and he wanted to copy my design as well. The funny thing is, I said, "Well, let him talk to me." He never did talk to me. So he went to a lesser, ah of a, a lesser talented web designer, not such busy web designer either. And he went to him and the guy just said "No problem. Let's do it. Let's revamp your site." Now, its looks very familiar to mine. And his videoblogs, from the car, looks very familiar to mine. His twitter logo looks very familiar to mine. I would just be so embarrassed to copy someone flat-out 100%. Cause people can tell its a copy. Its. everyone copy something from somebody's business. no doubt about it. And I've done the same myself. But I'm not gonna flat-out copy every single part of the marketing. No chance! I'll take some from here, take some from there. But I'll be embarrassed to be that designer and say I came up with that design as well. Its funny. Its funny. Business out there is amazingly competitive. However, there's certain point where you just gotta suck it up and do your own thing. Be a little creative. I don't know. He's crazy if you ask me. My name's Ian Watt. I'm not gonna tell you who copied me. You can figure it out yourself. But if you have any questions, you can always email me at ianwatt@ianwatt.ca . Thank you very much and have a great day!