Did Mortgage SA make an OOBA messup?
MortgageSA is one of South Africa’s richest non listed companies. In 2004, MortgageSA won an award for being South Africa’s top non-listed company. After, recently, pumping huge amounts of money into the whole rebranding and evolvement of the company, now known as OOBA.co.za, they seem to have made a really big mistake!
Mortgage SA announces rebranding:
In 1998, as MortgageSA, our company pioneered bond origination in South Africa. Now, as ooba, we’re taking home finance even further. We have extended our bond origination expertise into a complete homeownership solution under four main pillars making things simpler and even more rewarding for home owners. ooba gives you the edge in finding, financing, insuring and ultimately, enjoying your home. Welcome to the ooba life.
The question is, where did they get their inspiration from? Perhaps stolen, perhaps not?
If you hop on over to OOBA.com, which is a website aimed at babies, you might spot something very interesting! After Joey da Silva from FormFunction carefully pointed out the massive similarity to me with regards to the OOBA.co.za design and the OOBA.com design – it’s clear that ‘Creativity is the secret to hiding ones sources’, is no longer applicable to MortgageSA!
So, what’s the story here, did MortgageSA steal the identity from OOBA.com or was it just chance that they’ve used literally the same font as well as the same colour scheme?
Tell me what you rate!
Christopher is the founder of iMod - Most of his time is spent building websites and pushing the limits with Search Engine Optimization. You can follow him on Twitter @ChristopherM
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
ooba bomber! (mental)
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
The typefaces are similar, but they’re not the same. ;) I think the design is coincidence, and they did propose other colours. The name lends itself to the logo. Even my own rebrand a while ago resulted in something similar.
The name however is a terrible move, however memorable “ooba” is compared to “MortgageSA”, in context it just doesn’t work with their business.
Ooba booba.
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Ye mate, that’s a really silly move on their behalf!
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Hi Chris
I did a quick little bit of research and found something indicating that these two companies may actually be related.
Whois for ooba.com shows a Chicago IL registrant in the 60603 zip code.
Whois for ooba.co.za shows MortgageSA.com to be the registrant…..
Whois for MortgageSA.com shows, surprize surprize, a Chicago IL registrant in zip code 60656
Either they have the same parent companies, or the design consultants or web consultants are the same. Odd indeed.
reply
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
More on the topic, I was sent this link yesterday: Ooba “copycat” saga: Ad men speak
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I doubt they would have willingly chosen a similar identity. Nevilles comment above sounds very interesting and probably sheds the correct light on the subject..
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
coda – must say I do agree with the name being a mess, it’s a silly name :(
Neville – Interesting! I’m hoping someone else who’s technical will pop in and comment!
Props to FormFunction for spotting!
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
@Neville
Ooba.co.za – Macrolan (who do a lot of their IT infrastruture) registered the local co.za for them: http://co.za/cgi-bin/whois.sh?Domain=ooba
Ooba.com – Registered by IA Collaborative (as mentioned on the website and whois: http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=ooba.com
MortgageSA.com – If you look at the DNS servers on http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?domain=mortgagesa.com you will see also operated by Macrolan.
Mar 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Agreed Ian, there’s no way they didn’t check the .com! Let’s hope that someone involved will come and shed some light here!
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Hmm, I dunno about this one, there are so many vantage points to take on the matter. Relating to the link about the “saga” that coda posted MortgageSA claims that the “name” had only been used three times before and those using it were in substantially different lines of business.
Some friends of mine were recently “caught-out” using AppEL (their surname) as a name for their business. AppLE incorporated. caught on and threatened action against them. They are a husband and wife team specializing in wedding photography. I think ooba.co.za might well have a problem if indeed they are not actually “related”. The selection of letters does lend itself to the four circles seen in their logo (I can see Audi re-branding as ooba, lol) – but its far too close for comfort in my books.
Any yeah – What were they thinking about changing their name, they “were” the richest non-listed company …
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix !
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
You know, after looking at the source code to the ooba.co.za website and seeing how awful it is, inline css and 0 usage of div tags, it’s clear that it was not done properly, which leads me to thinking that they could have easily, let’s call it ‘borrowed’ the branding ;)
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Interesting comment Donovan, thanks for popping in and sharing, I’m very interested to see what happens with all of this. I guess the more comments and the more exposure the sooner we’ll get an answer :)
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Thanks to Coda:
According to Reddy the design was originally in magenta and very different. “We were aware at the time that the dot com existed but the sight was under construction and we were unable to see what its logo looked like,” said Reddy.
http://www.realestateweb.co.za/realestateweb/view/realestateweb/en/page205?oid=7641&sn=Detail
See: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.ooba.com
Logo looked like that way back…
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Ah, interesting, thanks Damien for point this out! Still seems a little skeptical to me to be honest :)
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
It is scheptical man :) Think it’s very funny though. So many sites, so many logo’s, so many brands, it’s very easy to copy something or come pretty close to it!
But it’s fishy… Very, considering the amount of money they spent, you’d think domain name registrations would be number one on the card if they’re going for the new age funky online type company name. Sounds like a F$#% up to me.
Mar 5th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Agreed SA Property, nice to chat to you again, where have you been hiding?
I agree, they will have spent millions, and to arrive at this branding destination just seems crazy!
Mar 5th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Re-branding is hardly ever a smart move, but even doffer when it’s such an established ‘seriaas’ company. As someone said, Mortgage SA -> OOBA, wtf?!
As for the double oops, sheesh… that really is a swak one.
Mar 5th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
There are two major issues with this. Intellectual property and the core values of the internet that we all enjoy so much.
We must all agree that the reason for the success of the internet is its ability to provide us, the users, with a freedom that we could never enjoy offline. This extends from people owning email addresses like sexyboy@hotmail or hotgal@gmail etc. Online nicks, persona that we have all successfully adopted as our own online identity.
Domain names has been an argument that most of us have entered into at least once before.
Owning domains like facebook.co.za is not illegal. The content that is present on the site however is what really matters. The key argument with this OOBA case is that the two entities trade in different spaces, targetting different markets and not infringing on any OFFLINE intellectual property rights reserved by the two groups.
I noticed that the two logos do have TM, and one has to question the validity of the trademark. Trademarks can be tricky things as they only value in the jurisdiction of the courts that rule over the region in which the trademark was registered.
However, if the trademark is valid in South Africa, and if Mortgage SA infringes on ANY intellectual property rights of the original OOBA, then things will become pretty interesting, as South Africa does not currently have any internet laws.
So this matter will need to be taken to its offline similarities or the logo being used in offline material such as letterheads or stamps. Any branding infringement is liable for a legal case.
I’ve taken the time to think about WHY MortgageSA would want to rebrand itself. Very rarely is rebranding successful, and its very difficult to see the value in changing the name of a financial institution into a web 2.0 type blob of a name. What happened to corporate credibility?
Mar 5th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Nicely put Dee!
I don’t think people think about two companies being similar, but trading in totally different market spaces – it’s a very valid point indeed.
As far as the trade marks go, I’ve read about South Africa not having any Internet laws in such a space, but I also know that laws are being created and thought about constantly as South Africa has started to move into the web space faster than ever!
Owning domains such as facebook.co.za is just clever :P~
I have no idea why they felt they should rebrand, there really was no need and the name OOBA is totally rediculous if you ask me, like WTF hey!
Thanks for popping in Dee, very informative!
Mar 5th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Mmmmmm. I smell a big dead rat! I hope they are one and the same, otherwise I can see a big lawsuit in the future. Why do they want to rebrand? Re-invent the wheel? Or losses to hide? Just asking.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Funny how the designers at Reddy call their sites “sights”
Illiteracy is a crime. The committed it.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Hell yes – I work in the digital industry as a Web Copywriter, and one of my (least favourite) tasks is doing QC aka Quality Control on client websites… sheesh, the number of times I carefully go through 10 odd pages, spotting typos and blatant errors, and put all my feedback into a carefully worded email… only to have to do another full QC a few days later when the client has sworn they have made the fixes… and it’s STILL wrong.
Plus I can’t read anything these days without finding a few ‘your’ vs. ‘you’re’ oopsies, or ‘their’ vs. ‘there’ and so on ad nausea.
Drives me insane!
Mar 6th, 2008 at 9:45 am
I was so hoping that someone involved would come along and explain this coincidence to all of us, seems as though it’s not going to happen.
I’m still skeptical over this whole thing!
Mar 6th, 2008 at 9:56 am
The fact that some people consider it to be an oversight is ridiculous. The CEO and his team (top notch I might add) spent 2 years going through the process. I highly doubt it was for no good reason. The business has evolved, and needed a facelift due to change in product offering. R32m to be spent on rebranding requires significant thought process. Time will tell as to what dividends are paid.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 10:19 am
meh… u know i looked at it more last night. They are pretty dam close, and maybe they did ‘lean’ on the ooba.com logo for inspiration, but they have made changes to the font …and i think its enough change to warrant that its ‘custom’ for them.
Look @ the slant to the top of the ‘b’ and the joining line from the circular part of the ‘a’ to the straight part. (technical terms obviously :P )
Yeah i think they did take inspiration from the ooba.com idea.. hell they most prob found it while looking for the ooba.com domain – but i dont think much will happen. they are in 2 dif markets…in 2 dif countries.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
These two comapnies are partly owned by the same group :)
Has anyone checked to see if there’s a ‘significant’ African translation for “OOBA”?
Mar 6th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Hey Riply,
from the use of in on their site, i dont think that thats where they were going. its more just ‘uber’ than anything else. (well i think)
Mar 6th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Ye man, I hear you – though UBER is a rather ‘n3rdy’ term. Not something that i’d think they would want associated with their line of work?
Damb it, where are my Black friends when you need them..
Mar 6th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Ok, i’m wrong..
http://www.thetimes.co.za/Business/BusinessTimes/Article.aspx?id=716834
Mar 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am
rofl!
np np.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hehe, interesting similarity none the less :)
Mar 6th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
oober.co.za was registered on behalf of MortgageSA on 2005-11-29 by a dude called Ryan that works for MacroLAN.
This is no overnight decision made by highty-tighty corporates who enjoy playing with the word uber and all jumped up and down celebrating their creativity when some dimwit asked if its spelled ooba.
Its 2008 and and 2 and 1/2 years is long time to get all your research in order.
They way things have been going in the property industry lately, i wudnt be surprised if they overspent their bond origination capital and needed a boost from an offshore investor who seemed unlikely to mention that the best unlisted company isnt doing so well after all.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
@HoTsTePPa
Apologies – wanted to respond to your last comment but got distracted ;)
When the company was originally registered the name was mortgagesa.com – using a .com registration name was considered quite avante garde at the time and since the concept of bond origination was simply copied from the States – more than likley from an online offering none of it was terribly original or avante garde imo but probably percieved to be in the local market.
Recently I understand business has not been as good.. and consolidating various offerings under a sngle umbrella and thus marketing a single brand was probably their intention. Using brand extensions (search, insure, etc) an easy way to grow, etc. In the process they have diluted the Mortagesa.com and PropertyGenie.co.za (largest residential property sales database in Africa) brands substantially imho.
I’d love to say more but I actually used to work for them and the substantial contract makes me think it might be wiser to end my views here ;)
Mar 6th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
@HoTsTePPa
To clarify – the registered name is/was MortgageSA Com (Pty) Ltd
Mar 6th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Hmmm…seem to be some obsessed people commenting on this subject…Saffers need to catch a wake up…ever heard of google?!!! Change, innovation and creatively result in successful companies. Enough said…
Mar 6th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Copied or not, it’s still a terrible name for a company dealing with property, IMO. Still, I suppose it’s better than the word “Mortgage”, which could probably be translated as “death grip”:
Mort -> Death, (en)gage -> “Grab / grip”
The font faces and colors are way too similar to be coincidence. Even if they’re the product of the same graphic artist, working for the same parent company, I’d figure that they would come up with different designs for different sites?
Either that, or MortgageSA is trying to make a move on the baby market. The true all-in-one mortgage package: Get a house from us, and we’ll help you pay for your first baby. Specials on new families!
I suppose we’ll see where this all goes…
Mar 6th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I am very much aware that the origination industry has hit a dip in its sales sheets, and companies are trying to maximize the usage of their Credit Lending Licenses by rolling product offerings that extend their usual portfolio of products.
This is why companies like Mortgage SA now has credit cards, in fact, just about any company who could afford a credit lending license before the NCA came into effect signed up real quick and now its possible to have your wallet laced with credit cards from Clicks, Kulula and even Pick ‘n Pay.
So by Mortgage SA spreading its portfolio is no unexpected move by the industry. The real shocker is the complete brand overhaul, and to what gain? This has left industry giants standing back scratching their heads in an attempt to figure out what the competition is up to.
What is rather interesting though, is that this conversation has brought to light an even deeper problem that we have, Information Security.
Without offending anyone, most of us in here are you average Joe Soaps. Within a matter of minutes, WE had all the standard WhoIS info as well some rather interesting findings by those who snooped around for 5 minutes more.
Enter the National Credit Register in a few months which works hand in hand with our newest credit act, and the next time you try to apply for any type of finance, the admin clerk could end up telling you that you ate at Nandos Claremont last night and filled petrol at Shell Rondebosch twice within the last month and you bought two chicken pasta’s from Woolworths.
Yes, its true, ALL of our transactions made by ANY of our credit facilities will become available to these agencies for their perusal.
Mar 12th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Saul Geffen, head of MortgageSA and now “ooba”, says the name was chosen from about 650 and that it and the new logo formed part of a thorough, two-year process. Several agencies were involved in coming up with concepts for MortgageSA.
“It’s impossible to come up with a unique name that hasn’t been thought of. We have never claimed ‘ooba’ is unique,” he says.
Of the logos, he says: “They are actually different if you look at them carefully.” He says the fonts and colour are not the same.
Geffen says that at the time MortgageSA identified the name, it became aware of ooba.com – but that company’s business had not yet launched. Later, when it did, the logo was magenta before changing to green.
Geffen says the designer, Grid, is “adamant” it came up with the logo independently.
MortgageSA wanted to keep its logo green, says Geffen, to transfer brand equity from MortgageSA, which has green as its corporate colour.
Mar 12th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
@Joan Soap
That last post just smells like a PR company exercise to me.. Most of it has been stated in the posts and posts references before! Including that only Saul is allowed to be quoted on behalf of MSA/Ooba. What is your point?
Mar 12th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Chris M,
I think you should find another career.
Mar 12th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
@Get a Life – how is that at all relevant, do you even know what my career is?
Mar 12th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
lol,
now thats what we call the too-often-spotted troll
Mar 12th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Chris M,
So MortgageSA changed its name to ooba…why are you making such a fuss? You obviously have an axe to grind. ooba off I say!
Mar 12th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
@Get a Life – I’m just curious actually, I blog about things which interest me and as I am very involved in web design and development, this interests me.
Have I offended you? Why are you so hell bent on putting me down for being curious?
Mar 13th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Chris M,
…because it is clear you don’t know what you are talking about…
Mar 13th, 2008 at 9:01 am
lol… chris dont feed the troll plz. ..the comment spam in my inbox is mad! :P
Mar 13th, 2008 at 9:38 am
@Get a Life – elaborate please..
@ruark – haha, the troll is being annoying ey ;)
Mar 13th, 2008 at 10:28 am
@Chris: I do not understand why you have to change your career? It is not going to change the fact that this logo and name change is too much of a coincidence. If it was my company I would fire the person responsible for coming up with such a lame logo. I wonder if Coke will be happy if you use a logo similiar to theirs to sell your brand of soft drinks.
(Now I have to look for a new job.)
Mar 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I am not changing my career, I was not involved in the development or design of this Ooba website, I think the other reader is being silly to be honest.
Haha, I think Coke might get a little annoyed :P~
Mar 13th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
@Get a Life – Im keen to figure out your annoyance at the matter. Where involved at all with the Ooba design stuff up?
Mar 13th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I wonder myself as well, I started a fairly open-aired discussion and all of a sudden offense is being taken, can’t figure out why?
Jun 3rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
They got inspiration from Ooba.com – no doubt in my mind. Is that a crime? I think not. It is a little too similar for my taste ideally but whom is going to be making this same comparison when looking for a home finance company? You don’t base decisions such as this on whether a logo is indeed utilising ‘shared resources’!
Jun 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Indeed, not a crime, nah. Most ideas have been done, most colours have been used and most fonts are used over and over :)
Jun 4th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Oy guys, nice comments here.. you going in way over your heads all !!! Babies cost lotsa money, so what do you do.. ? You get a higher mortgage ! Where ?? well, you shopping at Ooba already, why not get them to arrange an extra mortgage for you hey !THAT’s the link between the two companies ;-)
Jun 5th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Hehe Rick, that’s one way of looking at it indeed, nice take! :)
May 25th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
look where the name change has gotten them…. change is not good for all
May 25th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Agreed, they’ve dropped off the scene a little..
Jun 3rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
And so have hundreds of their staff – one has to feel for those staff – there are now less employees at ooba than there were 5 years ago
Jul 8th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Is this the same company as Mortage Innovations SA ?,has anyone heard of or used this company ?