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HOP ON THE BANDWAGON
We’ve all heard about jumping on the bandwagon but the whole phrase goes like this: We can all jump on the bandwagon, but we can’t all play the tune.
The idea Playing the tune is the domain of the innovators. They take the risks and stand to take advantage of being first in the field, but they also take on the responsibility of introducing a new idea. It might succeed, but it might just as easily fail. The art of jumping on the bandwagon is to be there just behind the band, once you are sure that they are playing a tune people will dance to. But enough of the music metaphors, let’s look at the branding. There are times when the innovators are putting so much energy into breaking new ground, that the followers are in a better position to make their own brands a success; they don’t need to educate the market, because that’s been done. It’s a question of timing, and also of intellectual property rights. In the fashion industry almost anything goes, and that includes copying other people’s designs. The market moves so quickly, with new fashion collections coming out twice a year, in Paris, Milan, London and New York, that the intellectual property laws can hardly keep up with it, and often brands decide that their resources are better spent on coming up with new ideas than going to court and
118 • 100 GREAT BRANDING IDEAS
100 Great Branding Ideas 14dec.indd 118
12/14/11 11:14 AM
