Dare responds to parody of its own website comparing it to the site of writer Alan Trotter
Here is a rare case of an online 'dispute' that has actually been handled amicably.
When creative agency Dare launched its new website on 16 October, some observers noted that its use of telescopic text bore something of a resemblance to the site of writer Alan Trotter. Someone even went so far as to create a parody site, dubbed 'This is not Dare', highlighting the supposed similarities between the agency's site and the writer's.
Alan Trotter website
As these things seems to always begin, it started with a tweet to Trotter to point out the similarity of the agency site to Trotter's own site.
@thisisdare looks remarkably like http://t.co/UMbNZlBduc for copywriter @alantrotter. #justsaying
— Rich French (@frankyboy26) October 16, 2014
Oh man, the new @thisisdare is such a rip off of @alantrotter's website. Blatant rip off. — Niklas Richardson (@nrichardson) October 16, 2014
Dare's new website
Trotter retweeted the claims and followed it up with the following tweets of his own:
Not sure how I feel about that. I wouldn’t have said ‘blatant rip off’ /
— AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014
/ but I don’t think I’m flattering myself to say the resemblance seems fairly direct? — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014But then, I’d have to point out this - http://t.co/Rgd5rAUajw - which I think predates my website (though I didn’t know about it.) — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014And there’s nothing wrong with having even direct precursors. Look at BS Johnson’s formal ‘innovations’: — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014
The Unfortunates had Saporta’s Composition No. 1; House Mother Normal had Toynbee’s Tea with Mrs Goodman.
— AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014
To point that out isn’t to devalue what he made of the device. He was thoughtful, he had reason for taking what he did… — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014… he made something good. — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014Anyway. I like mine better. — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014
Trotter then tweeted the agency directly to ask:
.@thisisdare hey guys how’s it going? — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014
Which the agency responded to knowingly:
.@alantrotter Hey Alan. It's going good, how are you? Clearly, great minds think alike. — Dare (@thisisdare) October 16, 2014
@thisisdare I’m good thanks :) guess they must — AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 16, 2014
Dare parody site
Since this exchange, the parody site has gone live, which initially praised Dare in glowing terms and discussed the use of buzzwords before referencing the work of Trotter himself.
Dare responsed to the 'controversy' with a blog post entitled ‘A short history of telescopic text' explaining the origins of the distinctive text style used and talks about Trotter's site.
Of the parody site itself, Dare wrote: “While we don’t endorse the sentiment of this site, we do embrace the debate.”
Trotter has also tweeted to acknowledge the parody site:
both very sweet and kind of unnerving! http://t.co/iPOV12Ek7N
— AAAAAAAAAlan Trotter (@alantrotter) October 20, 2014
This could be one of the politest of wars we've ever experienced - especially online where trolling and backbiting are now unfortunately the norm - certainly there have been no fall outs as yet, and we quite like how this has been handled by all concerned.
Kudos.
Content created with:
Dare
Find out more