Attention Shoplifters: You Will Be Prosecuted. One Day.

A few months ago I got a decade throwback link to a blog wrote.?Another lifetime and the world has changed several times since.?

But I’m toiling in the same industry, and I remember the true story inspiring the blog vividly.?

Licensing On LinkedIn features posts about the protection of trademarks and intellectual property.?That is so different from the protection of ideas, of raw creativity that keeps companies like ours afloat.?The few professional nemeses guilty of this – and they are guilty – can never be caught.?But I will always remember.?Here’s one.?The story never gets old.

Reposted from the balmy summer of 2012; edited accordingly.

Viable Agencies Pitch Their Best Ideas.

The argument is always the same.?When we prepare for a new business pitch, our team debates how many big ideas we introduce to a prospect.?If the ideas are too voluminous, too good, too detailed, too imitable, an agency risks having the ideas taken.?Decks get passed along.?Conversations get repurposed.?Things just pop up down the road.

In any event I take the opposite approach.?Put your best foot forward.?Always.?Good clients reward enthusiasm and creativity.?If they don’t hire you, they’ll act honorably.?The bad ones are few.?And if a prospect flagrantly pilfers ideas without hiring us, they’ll lose in the long-run. Right?

Those Ideas Get Taken Sometimes By Clients That Don't Hire You.

My philosophy was challenged when I first wrote this.?I received a third call, in as many years, from a blue chip media brand with international reach –uncertain about strategic licensing.?Fair enough.?Our job is to give them our best ideas, and provide objective counsel to help them make the right decisions.?Licensing isn’t for every brand.

When a prospective client is asking the same questions after three years, they’re exploring and not buying.?Fine.?Been there.

One of our key ideas was to extend this brand into the space of airport retail.?If you’ve ever seen a New York Times store, or a PGA outlet, or a Fox Sports diner at an airport, those are licensed.?Third party operators pay a royalty to those brands mentioned, every time a charge card is swiped.?So those alliances can be very lucrative for both parties.

During my third annual meeting with this prospect, the same people I met with the first time boasted that the brand extended into a licensed airport retail concept.?

The concept opened for business at a top 25 U.S. airport in the last month, and initial volume is so high the operator has leased a second space in a top 5 airport on the West Coast.

We checked the licensee’s press release and as expected - it included language, along with the photoshopped graphic design, our agency drafted in our new business pitch two years ago.

Probably Repeat Offenders Who Don't Recall What They Stole.

Wow.?Did you hire someone to help you??No, we spent the last year doing it ourselves. (Maybe their memories were triggered.?Or not.)

That’s great.?How is the store doing??Well, we’re not sure.

Did you go to the opening? I asked.?Yes.?Well.?No actually.?We haven’t gotten there yet.

Aren’t you intrigued by what it looks like and who’s shopping there??Well, the manager promised to send pictures.

Years later, I’m still connected with them, here on LinkedIn.?They have all moved on.?I will not forget.?Ever.?So.?

Here Are Some Ideas You Can Take And Call Your Own.

You had multiple chances to candidly tell us you couldn’t retain an agency but had an opportunity to move forward with one of our ideas nonetheless.?That would have stung, but not like this.?As a gesture of good faith, we would have helped you. ?We offer that. Ask anyone.

You poached my team for ideas.?If that’s your M.O. please be courteous enough to remember which ones you already stole.?And you did steal one.

All of the work we showed had a copyright on it.?You have in-house counsel.?We met them.?No one is going to court.?But still.

Your Past Mistakes Catch Up.

Now. Let’s say you extend a brand with decades of global viewership into the hands of a 3rd party retailer – and spend a full year on the alliance.?You can’t fly three hours to visit the store location (I don’t believe that), look behind every fixture, review every category for sale (I don’t believe that either – your CMO or publisher was there), watch each employee as they represent your equity to hundreds – thousands – of travelers experiencing your brand.?

This basic due diligence is something introductory marketers should know they should do.?

It’s an example of basic agency services provided to clients before they ask.?The best (brand) managers know their bandwidth, recognize what lies outside their time or expertise, and hire the right resources to do good work.??Not just in the beginning.?But every year the licensed operation is in business, at least. Otherwise pitfalls abound.

I hope this idea flourishes – we worked hard on it.?On some level it would be fulfilling to watch.?(Update – it’s been open for ten years.). But the day it fails in execution, or, the day they steal from someone who becomes their supervisor, this prospect made its own bed.?And they’d get what they deserve.