Creative Copycats or Cowardly Clients? - Julie Roehm

Is it just me or does it seem that there is more advertising concept copycatting going on than usualExhibit A Chrysler 300Eminem Superbowl adamp160and the 2012 Audi A6 Avant adamp160Chrysler and the Eminem camp are taking action against AudiExhibit B Nissan Leaf quotGas Powered Everythingquotamp160and the Renault ZE quotThe Electric LifequotHere neither side is taking action against the other likely because the two car companies have been intertwined in an alliance since 1999 Or according to Ad Age it could be that both of them stole the idea from the German Mitsubishi iMiev ad that was very rough and may never have aired on TV with similar scenarios of fumeemitting appliances but is nevertheless basically the same spotLest you think this is limited to auto advertising I presentExhibit C Wheat Thins In this spot a Tweeting Wheat Thin fan sends a distress Tweet that she is out of Wheat Thins only to have a pallet show up to save heramp160I was reading a blog on wwwbreakingcopycom where this ad was compared to a Snapple ad from 1993 This is particularly fun for me because I actually know Wendy aka the Snapple Lady J Here a boy writes in remember snail mail that Snapple gets him through detention each dayamp160And because these are so amusingExhibit D Wheat Thins quotuberfakequot spot sends a pallet full of wheat thins to yet another real life tweeter who claims the Wheat Thin ads are uber fakeamp160And Wendy did this one too In the Reunion spot all of the real people from past Snapple ads show up at the door of a disbeliever who of course wrote in about his disbeliefamp160Not satisfied with my own research I asked my Facebook and LinkedIn networks if they thought that there was an epidemic afoot I received some interesting replies which I hope they won39t mind me sharingRoger Camp said quotWe39re in a world of remixes sampling and mashables In the search for something new quotmediaquot has become the new quotcreativequotquotCanaan Schladalezinc wrote quotThe ideas are still there just a lack of people willing to execute something new vs copying something provenquotAnd along those same lines Rex Smith said quotLots of ad ideas left Just need the clients willing to try themquotSo is it true that the ads that agencies are delivering are more of a factor of clients wanting to stick with a winning formula or is it that clients have been so risk averse for so long that agencies are now simply programmed to recycle Another theory is that there are really no new ideas out there but given the innovations that we see in every other sector I find that hard to believeThere is of course one last theory that my friend David Altschul from Character LLC has offered He suggests that in the case of the Nissan Leaf Renault and Mitsubishi electric car ads that quotthe fact that the same spot can be used for all three brands suggests that no one has carved out any unique story territory yetquot I might also interpret this to mean that these particular nameplates at least have not yet created a defined brand positioning that is differentiated from its competitionHe goes on to compare this to what happened about a decade ago with the MP3 players before the iPod He states quotA large group of competitors were piling into the category battling with each other over a catalogue of features that conveyed very little meaning to most consumers By contrast Apple entered the category with a strong story that went beyond the literal new technology The iPod seemed like such a brilliant collision of technology and intuition that many consumers perceived it as an altogether new kind of device Toyota captured that kind of story energy for hybrid vehicles with the Prius It is significant that in both casesamp8212iPod and Priusamp8212the story energy was unique enough and authentic enough to reflect back on the parent brands themselvesquotI tend to agree with David Whether it is Audi Wheat Thins Renault or anyone else the fact that there are such similar ads in the same category is much more likely the result of a viral world where ideas are shared globally in an instant and where the proliferation of products has created a bit of a void in the area of solid brand positioning and differentiation I don39t doubt that clients and agencies alike share in the blame After all clients while perhaps scaredycats at times would likely never agree to copying an ad in its own category in this day and age and if they do well And it is the agencies job to provide that background and research to help to inform their decisions And no selfrespecting creative would really just copy another creatives ad and think he will get away with claiming it as his own RightWhether I am being naive or merely an eternal optimist I believe that most people want to do good work and to represent their brands well but unfortunately a tough economy puts pressure on resources which leads to sloppy behavior on everyone39s part For me the simple answer lies in the simple idea of brand Don39t skimp on developing a solid brand position and the stories that will follow will be all your own This is evidenced in the exhibits above Few will argue that Chrysler39s Eminem spot was uniquely their own and fewer yet will argue with Snapple39s messaging But at the end of the day like in these cases if someone does copy your work worry not because the chances are that their message will only reinforce the power of your own message and your brand fans will be the ones coming to your defense And hey imitation IS the sincerest form of flatteryJulie Roehm is currently consulting for a host of companies in the area of marketing strategy and execution The companies include large media companies ad agencies interactive television technology companies financial services private equity media companies automotive new media startups and others She frequently is engaged to speak at industry and corporate events globally and is a periodic guest contributor on Fox Business News blogs for iMedia and is the official marketing auto blogger for AOL Julie can be reached at roehmjuliegmailcomRead all Julie39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Julie RoehmCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

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