When a company’s product / service is either poor or generic, it’s not uncommon for Marketing Directors to think that the solution to their problem lies in looking like their competition. Sadly this is never a good idea (wouldn’t life be far easier if you could just photocopy someone else’s work?), far better to stand on your own two feet and find some way to make yourself unique and appealing, than to try and dupe punters into buying it by mistake (they’ll never buy you again, deception is rarely an attractive brand trait). And of course, there is always the possibility of a fun (and expensive) court case if you look too alike…

Here are some great recent examples of very similar looking products (market leading vs. own brand).

And a bit more about the pitfalls of (alledgedly) copying someone else, with Diageo suing Sainsbury’s over their Pimm’s ‘copy’.