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THE BRIEF: “Insist upon yourself. Be original.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday May 18th 2011By TO411Daily Columnist
Linda Chandler
Take Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Two basketball icons who played for The Lakers and The Celtics back in the ’80s. They were arch-rivals playing for legendary teams. If Magic was the embodiment of west coast flamboyance, heroics and people pleasing, Bird was the east coast opposite – reserved, private, all work and no (apparent) play. Two strong brands. Two originals. Like the Mac and PC, anthropomorphically speaking.
Thanks to 66 commercials, we can all attest to the clear benefits of one legendary brand challenging another. The Mac vs. PC – “Get a Mac” campaign sparred so effectively, brand on brand, that when PC decided on a home court advantage their PC vs. Mac campaign was organic. Both brands are the result of original thinking. From innovation to execution, nobody else in the world can be a Mac or PC.
Imitation is the highest form of thievery. It’s an insidious form of Intellectual Property theft. The word we all dreaded in university comes to mind; Plagiarism. When one takes (ideas, writings, etc.) from another and pass them off as one’s own. Or a copycat who imitates an approximate of an original. Sometimes this aberration is the result (we’ve all heard rumour of this) of a client or agency coveting another brand’s success so much they actually think that doing the same thing will bring them the same results. Can’t you hear the conversation? “Why don’t you do something like… OLD SPICE? Yeah… that’s it! Give us a… ‘version’ of Old Spice.” And you feel like you can’t say IT’S BEEN DONE ALREADY YOU BIG FAT FART. BY OLD SPICE! or you’ll lose your client or your job. The truth is that when you steal other people’s ideas, what you really lose is your soul.
Rip-offs can only be one-offs. A big idea can go on forever.
I’m thinking of Equifax’s Edwin the Equifax Cop Accountant commercial as a pure and simple rip-off of Old Spice. View it now and come back immediately. See what I mean? Now watch these next imitations from United Moving. and from Dairy Queen who robbed Old Spice twice.
As they say in the DQ spot, “It’s reediculous!” While Equifax, United Moving and Dairy Queen got commercials on the air, they did nothing, absolutely zilch to expand the conversation between their customers and their brands. The Brief knows this because copying someone else’s original is a nowhere strategy. Whereas, Old Spice, the original, made Isaiah Mustafa and his “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ads an unparalleled viral success on YouTube. The agency Weiden + Kennedy took the campaign and social networked it on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites with personal video messages. The team of 35 created 187 video responses some within minutes of getting messages from consumers. “According to Visible Measures, an independent company that tracks viral videos, the videos had received 16.3 million views… Matt Fiorentino, senior marketing analyst for Visible Measures, calls the campaign “Unprecedented.” *
And that’s what you get with a greatbigoriginal idea and every star in the galaxy aligning itself for your success.
If you’re going to imitate Old Spice do it like Grover.
SOURCES:
- How Old Spice campaign changed social media thestar.com by Nicole Baute July 17, 2010
—–
Comment to Linda at this address: thebrief@to411.com.
LinkedIn // Facebook // Twitter
Front Page, Industry News
THE BRIEF: “Insist upon yourself. Be original.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday May 18th 2011By TO411Daily Columnist
Linda Chandler
Take Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Two basketball icons who played for The Lakers and The Celtics back in the ’80s. They were arch-rivals playing for legendary teams. If Magic was the embodiment of west coast flamboyance, heroics and people pleasing, Bird was the east coast opposite – reserved, private, all work and no (apparent) play. Two strong brands. Two originals. Like the Mac and PC, anthropomorphically speaking.
Thanks to 66 commercials, we can all attest to the clear benefits of one legendary brand challenging another. The Mac vs. PC – “Get a Mac” campaign sparred so effectively, brand on brand, that when PC decided on a home court advantage their PC vs. Mac campaign was organic. Both brands are the result of original thinking. From innovation to execution, nobody else in the world can be a Mac or PC.
Imitation is the highest form of thievery. It’s an insidious form of Intellectual Property theft. The word we all dreaded in university comes to mind; Plagiarism. When one takes (ideas, writings, etc.) from another and pass them off as one’s own. Or a copycat who imitates an approximate of an original. Sometimes this aberration is the result (we’ve all heard rumour of this) of a client or agency coveting another brand’s success so much they actually think that doing the same thing will bring them the same results. Can’t you hear the conversation? “Why don’t you do something like… OLD SPICE? Yeah… that’s it! Give us a… ‘version’ of Old Spice.” And you feel like you can’t say IT’S BEEN DONE ALREADY YOU BIG FAT FART. BY OLD SPICE! or you’ll lose your client or your job. The truth is that when you steal other people’s ideas, what you really lose is your soul.
Rip-offs can only be one-offs. A big idea can go on forever.
I’m thinking of Equifax’s Edwin the Equifax Cop Accountant commercial as a pure and simple rip-off of Old Spice. View it now and come back immediately. See what I mean? Now watch these next imitations from United Moving. and from Dairy Queen who robbed Old Spice twice.
As they say in the DQ spot, “It’s reediculous!” While Equifax, United Moving and Dairy Queen got commercials on the air, they did nothing, absolutely zilch to expand the conversation between their customers and their brands. The Brief knows this because copying someone else’s original is a nowhere strategy. Whereas, Old Spice, the original, made Isaiah Mustafa and his “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ads an unparalleled viral success on YouTube. The agency Weiden + Kennedy took the campaign and social networked it on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites with personal video messages. The team of 35 created 187 video responses some within minutes of getting messages from consumers. “According to Visible Measures, an independent company that tracks viral videos, the videos had received 16.3 million views… Matt Fiorentino, senior marketing analyst for Visible Measures, calls the campaign “Unprecedented.” *
And that’s what you get with a greatbigoriginal idea and every star in the galaxy aligning itself for your success.
If you’re going to imitate Old Spice do it like Grover.
SOURCES:
- How Old Spice campaign changed social media thestar.com by Nicole Baute July 17, 2010
—–
Comment to Linda at this address: thebrief@to411.com.
LinkedIn // Facebook // Twitter
Leave a Reply
Front Page, Industry News
THE BRIEF: “Insist upon yourself. Be original.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday May 18th 2011By TO411Daily Columnist
Linda Chandler
Take Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Two basketball icons who played for The Lakers and The Celtics back in the ’80s. They were arch-rivals playing for legendary teams. If Magic was the embodiment of west coast flamboyance, heroics and people pleasing, Bird was the east coast opposite – reserved, private, all work and no (apparent) play. Two strong brands. Two originals. Like the Mac and PC, anthropomorphically speaking.
Thanks to 66 commercials, we can all attest to the clear benefits of one legendary brand challenging another. The Mac vs. PC – “Get a Mac” campaign sparred so effectively, brand on brand, that when PC decided on a home court advantage their PC vs. Mac campaign was organic. Both brands are the result of original thinking. From innovation to execution, nobody else in the world can be a Mac or PC.
Imitation is the highest form of thievery. It’s an insidious form of Intellectual Property theft. The word we all dreaded in university comes to mind; Plagiarism. When one takes (ideas, writings, etc.) from another and pass them off as one’s own. Or a copycat who imitates an approximate of an original. Sometimes this aberration is the result (we’ve all heard rumour of this) of a client or agency coveting another brand’s success so much they actually think that doing the same thing will bring them the same results. Can’t you hear the conversation? “Why don’t you do something like… OLD SPICE? Yeah… that’s it! Give us a… ‘version’ of Old Spice.” And you feel like you can’t say IT’S BEEN DONE ALREADY YOU BIG FAT FART. BY OLD SPICE! or you’ll lose your client or your job. The truth is that when you steal other people’s ideas, what you really lose is your soul.
Rip-offs can only be one-offs. A big idea can go on forever.
I’m thinking of Equifax’s Edwin the Equifax Cop Accountant commercial as a pure and simple rip-off of Old Spice. View it now and come back immediately. See what I mean? Now watch these next imitations from United Moving. and from Dairy Queen who robbed Old Spice twice.
As they say in the DQ spot, “It’s reediculous!” While Equifax, United Moving and Dairy Queen got commercials on the air, they did nothing, absolutely zilch to expand the conversation between their customers and their brands. The Brief knows this because copying someone else’s original is a nowhere strategy. Whereas, Old Spice, the original, made Isaiah Mustafa and his “Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ads an unparalleled viral success on YouTube. The agency Weiden + Kennedy took the campaign and social networked it on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites with personal video messages. The team of 35 created 187 video responses some within minutes of getting messages from consumers. “According to Visible Measures, an independent company that tracks viral videos, the videos had received 16.3 million views… Matt Fiorentino, senior marketing analyst for Visible Measures, calls the campaign “Unprecedented.” *
And that’s what you get with a greatbigoriginal idea and every star in the galaxy aligning itself for your success.
If you’re going to imitate Old Spice do it like Grover.
SOURCES:
- How Old Spice campaign changed social media thestar.com by Nicole Baute July 17, 2010
—–
Comment to Linda at this address: thebrief@to411.com.
LinkedIn // Facebook // Twitter
Leave a Reply
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