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| Is there really such a thing as 'Amish Uber'? | Is there really such a thing as 'Amish Uber'? |
| (4 months later) | |
| Timothy Hochstedler is from the village of Colon, Michigan, which has a small Amish community, and recently started a new business offering horse and buggy rides in his authentic Amish vehicle. So what to name this little venture? Amish Buggy Rides? Tim’s Horse and Wagon? Nope. How about: “Amish Uber”. Genius. Publicity followed – and lots of it. | Timothy Hochstedler is from the village of Colon, Michigan, which has a small Amish community, and recently started a new business offering horse and buggy rides in his authentic Amish vehicle. So what to name this little venture? Amish Buggy Rides? Tim’s Horse and Wagon? Nope. How about: “Amish Uber”. Genius. Publicity followed – and lots of it. |
| “Uber is a cool thing,” Hochstedler told local news station WMMT. “Every single year something new comes in and Uber is hot right now, so we have the Amish Uber.” | “Uber is a cool thing,” Hochstedler told local news station WMMT. “Every single year something new comes in and Uber is hot right now, so we have the Amish Uber.” |
| Let’s be clear: this is not Uber. In fact, it’s not even close. Hochstedler doesn’t work for Uber. He charges a flat $5 for a ride. There are no other drivers in his company but him. There’s no app, no GPS and no other technology being used. You can’t even find him on your smartphone. If you want a ride you’re going to have to flag him down on the road and hope he’s available. In other words, this Amish entrepreneur is pretty much doing what many others of his like have been doing for centuries: offering buggy rides to wide-eyed tourists and other fascinated bystanders. Except he’s borrowed Uber’s name. | Let’s be clear: this is not Uber. In fact, it’s not even close. Hochstedler doesn’t work for Uber. He charges a flat $5 for a ride. There are no other drivers in his company but him. There’s no app, no GPS and no other technology being used. You can’t even find him on your smartphone. If you want a ride you’re going to have to flag him down on the road and hope he’s available. In other words, this Amish entrepreneur is pretty much doing what many others of his like have been doing for centuries: offering buggy rides to wide-eyed tourists and other fascinated bystanders. Except he’s borrowed Uber’s name. |
| And the customers love it! “First time Ubering and we’re riding in a buggy!” one Amish Uber rider said in the WMMT report. “It was fascinating,” said another. “It’s not an activity you typically associate with the Amish.” The customers aren’t the only ones gushing about Amish Uber either. The media has been covering the story like Donald Trump himself is driving the buggy. There are stories about Amish Uber everywhere. | And the customers love it! “First time Ubering and we’re riding in a buggy!” one Amish Uber rider said in the WMMT report. “It was fascinating,” said another. “It’s not an activity you typically associate with the Amish.” The customers aren’t the only ones gushing about Amish Uber either. The media has been covering the story like Donald Trump himself is driving the buggy. There are stories about Amish Uber everywhere. |
| New York City moves to curtail Uber and other ride-hailing services | |
| Regardless of whether the new venture is a prank or not (and it really could be) I still say: good for him. Premeditated or not, Hochstedler has stumbled on a marketing tactic that always has a decent chance of succeeding: just come up with a product or service that’s comparable to another well-known brand, create a similar name (be careful!) and hope people either confuse your product for the real thing or are so amused by your ingenuity that they buy from you anyway. | Regardless of whether the new venture is a prank or not (and it really could be) I still say: good for him. Premeditated or not, Hochstedler has stumbled on a marketing tactic that always has a decent chance of succeeding: just come up with a product or service that’s comparable to another well-known brand, create a similar name (be careful!) and hope people either confuse your product for the real thing or are so amused by your ingenuity that they buy from you anyway. |
| Copycat brands are not a new thing. But are they a sustainable business model? | Copycat brands are not a new thing. But are they a sustainable business model? |
| It’s the copycat model and it’s all around us. Take a quick trip to your local grocery store and you’ll see laundry detergent boxes that look very similar to each other and crackers that are like the original, but aren’t. There are ketchup bottles that look like Heinz … but they’re not. There’s Dr Pepper … and Dr Publix (and Dr Browns too). There’s Pringles … and Chipz. There’s Nike … and, well a bunch of other knock-offs that try to be like Nike. | It’s the copycat model and it’s all around us. Take a quick trip to your local grocery store and you’ll see laundry detergent boxes that look very similar to each other and crackers that are like the original, but aren’t. There are ketchup bottles that look like Heinz … but they’re not. There’s Dr Pepper … and Dr Publix (and Dr Browns too). There’s Pringles … and Chipz. There’s Nike … and, well a bunch of other knock-offs that try to be like Nike. |
| Copycat brands are not a new thing. But are they a sustainable business model? One big downside of all the media attention about Amish Uber is that the attorneys at Uber are sure to have noticed Hochstedler by now and for all we know a cease and desist letter is already in the mail. Then again, it’s possible that Uber has bigger fish to fry and may not want any negative publicity from forcing a sweet Amish guy to shut down his business and therefore may just leave him alone. | Copycat brands are not a new thing. But are they a sustainable business model? One big downside of all the media attention about Amish Uber is that the attorneys at Uber are sure to have noticed Hochstedler by now and for all we know a cease and desist letter is already in the mail. Then again, it’s possible that Uber has bigger fish to fry and may not want any negative publicity from forcing a sweet Amish guy to shut down his business and therefore may just leave him alone. |
| Regardless of what happens, just remember: this kind of marketing can be effective, but it can also be very risky. I may be enticed to try out a buggy ride with Amish Uber if I’m ever in Colon. But as a long-term business strategy I’m not sure I’m sold that this is the right direction for any entrepreneur. | Regardless of what happens, just remember: this kind of marketing can be effective, but it can also be very risky. I may be enticed to try out a buggy ride with Amish Uber if I’m ever in Colon. But as a long-term business strategy I’m not sure I’m sold that this is the right direction for any entrepreneur. |
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