56. 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 fi rst in the fi eld, 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

expensively protecting old ones.

Whether you consider this to be ethical or not, it still happens. People can buy cheaper copies of designer brands at the disposable fashion end of the market. Sir Philip Green, owner of Top Shop and other high street retailers, explained to the press that he invigorated the chain by buying Paris designer clothes, taking them back to the UK, unpicking them, having them copied and manufactured and selling them in his own shops.

Some high street retailers claim that this is a quest for fairness, that they are the Robin Hoods of the fashion industry bringing style to people who can’t afford the originals. But that’s mostly codswallop. It’s more about profi ting from copying other people’s designs without the expense of employing designers or the risk of breaking new ground.

However, there are ways to follow trends legally, and to move into a market as it expands. The innovators don’t necessarily want to fulfi l the entire market demand. Their brand identity places them at the cutting edge, so they will have moved on by the time the followers are ready to adopt their ideas.

In practice • Keep a close eye on innovation from brands in your industry. • If there’s something that will appeal to your customers and that you can adopt or adapt legally, consider marrying that idea with your current brand identity. • Perhaps you can improve upon the original, take the idea and make it even more successful. You might be able to copyright or patent your improvements.