One of the toughest assignments for a credit union marketing manager must be to communicate the difference between credit unions and banks in a fresh, original and effective way to Generation Y.

A Canadian marketing firm recently devised a fully managed Generation Y marketing program called Young & Free. It included internet-based features and a competition which resulted in this video on the difference between credit unions and banks:

It appears that the campaign was licensed to Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU) here.

Another Texas credit union has launched its own version of the campaign to considerable criticism that it has copied, and not copied well.

I don’t know Young & Free’s legal status, but in Australia while copying ideas is not illegal, it is an offence to copy the material expression of that idea. You also run the risk of being misleading and deceptive and passing off if you copy to such an extent that the public are confused.

If you see an idea and think it would enhance your campaign, research the ownership (trade marks, patents, designs, business names, prior use) and make sure your expression of that idea is original and not derivative. And not a poor imitation.