Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, PinkBerry must be feeling really good right about now.
When I went to RedMango last month, I found myself wondering – how do these places get away with this blatant brand copying of PinkBerry? Today the question resurfaced as I was walking home from my doctor’s appointment on Capital Hill and walked by yet another Pinkberry imitation yogurt shop. This one, CrazyBerry, has yet the same look and feel of PinkBerry’s branding and logo - as well as the same modern and colorful interior. While I still don’t know the answer to how companies can get away with such brand imitation, I did a little research into just how many PinkBerry-like competitors there actually are out there. Here are some preliminary findings from a quick search on Yelp…
Don’t these names and logos seem kinda sorta similar to eachother and to PinkBerry? :)
I am actually quite blown away at a.) how large the ‘tart yogurt’ industry is; and b.) how many companies copy PinkBerry down to the name/logo/branding and even the store interior. I assume there are actually quite a few more companies that I just didn’t see in my initial search.
So, who is copying who? RedMango claims that they were actually first on the tart yogurt café scene: “Red Mango did it first, and nobody does it better” is stated in their promotional materials. However PinkBerry’s CEO stated “We did not copy anyone, success has 1,000 fathers, failure has zero.” So who copied who? Who cares. All I know is that whoever started this trend has created a tart yogurt phenomenon. This phenomenon has even created the rise of companies such as Cielo, which exists solely to service PinkBerry imitators by creating/selling a ‘frozen yogurt mix.’
Who knows if this PinkBerry/tart frozen yogurt phenomenon will last, but it is definitely all the rage at the moment. Personally, I give it 2-3 years before we all get tired of tart yogurt and half of the companies with the logos above go out of business.
