Originality and integrity in a new advertising reality

by Herman Manson (@marklives)  Two ad agencies, in two countries divided by distance, circumstance and the mighty Atlantic Ocean, are briefed by two different local financial services brands. Both create strikingly similar TV campaigns —  both shot in Cape Town — that meet on the internet (and at Cannes Lions, as the case might be). The ad that breaks second is quickly, gleefully, brushed with the cry of “Plagiarism!” by more than one rival agency, not to mention an anonymous antagonist trolling the originating agency.

Not so straightforward

In a globally connected world feeding off the same entertainment and media culture in which both countries — thanks to a a struggling world economy — share similar economic worries, the answer may not be as simple or straightforward as was once the case.

South African agency, Net#work BBDO, faces anonymous allegations, mostly made by a person using the pseudonym Red Schuhart, that its ad for Coronation Fund Managers looks and feels similar to that of Canadian bank, Tangarine, created by Canadian ad agency, John St.

Coronation ad by Net#work BBDO

https://youtu.be/AcRNXIhS-Ec

Tangerine ad by John St.

https://youtu.be/Lemu4VPBJDQ

It was Schuhart, whose fake Facebook profile has been reported to Facebook and is currently unavailable, who suggested (see below) that the similarities between the two ads were more than a coincidence.

 

Above reproach, says Schalit

But, says Net#work chief creative officer Mike Schalit, his agency did not plagiarise the Canadian ad. And he has the timelines to prove it.

According to Schalit, he initially became aware of the similarities between the two ads when his team was working on the SEO for its Coronation ad. He was, in his own words, devastated, especially since his agency prides itself in creating ads he considers fresh and original. Schalit quickly reached out to his client’s marketing team, as well as to the Canadian agency in question, as he started his search for answers. After comparing timelines with executives at John St., he is satisfied that his agency is above reproach.

Both ads celebrate the hard work that goes into earning and saving money. Tangerine works off the payoff line “You work hard for your money. Does your bank?” Coronation’s one has been “Trust is Earned.” for several years.

Canadian trade magazine, Marketing, writes that the “new spot positions Tangerine as ‘human’ and empathetic to hard-working Canadians.” It was directed by Miles Jay, with Chris Murphy of Relish as editor, Tom Poole of Company 3 as colourist, and audio by RMW.

The Coronation ad takes a similar tack. “If your money came easy, you’d invest it with anyone” says the ad, linking to its payoff line. It plays less upon emotion than the Tangerine ad, focusing instead upon a sense of energy and empowerment in its ode to hard work.

Schalit notes that, while the execution appears similar, the stories told in the ads are different.

Colourist a coincidence

Net#work BBDO has been purposely moving the Coronation communication away from telling soft sentimental stories, as this has become the default language among South African financial services ads and thus potentially hard for consumers to differentiate between brands, as a result. To ensure the ad’s look-and-feel was suitably different to other local financial services ads,  Net#work brought in a younger director, Tristan Holmes from Starfilms.tv, and an international director of photography (DOP), Danny Hiele.

Poole, however, seems to have worked on both campaigns as colourist. Schalit says this was a coincidence, and, as Poole is one of adland’s go-to people, probably not as surprising as one would think. His agency chose an internationally acclaimed colourist to break further from the SA financial genre mold. “In any case, the grade happens right at the end of the process , so it would have [had] no material bearing on the content or integrity of the idea,” he says.

Timelines

According to Schalit, the Tangerine ad was shot in mid-November 2015 and and aired on YouTube starting mid-January 2016. Meanwhile, the Coronation ad had been approved by client on 31 July 2015, with the mood film approved on 10 September. By 4 November 2015, the Coronation exco had approved the overall campaign  and the directors briefed by 20 November 2015.

Schalit also points that direction, treatment and scripting had already been finalised and approved prior to the Tangerine ad being aired, and that the Coronation ad was in deep pre-production by the time the Canadian ad flighted.

Both the Tangerine and the Coronation ads have been entered into Cannes Lions, and Schalit says a jury should judge each according to its own merits. The Coronation campaign is also set to display only to SA audiences online to minimise any potential confusion.

Similar zeitgeist

The world is becoming a smaller place and, given the state of the world economy, many countries are aligned to a similar zeitgeist — everybody is tapping into the same trend reports and global research.

Sometimes, and probably with greater frequency, ads with a similar storyline or feel will appear in different parts of the world. When it happens, those agencies which value integrity in doing business will, on the one hand, play open cards, share timelines and set the record straight, and, on the other, refrain from throwing muck.

 

Herman Manson (@marklives) is the founder and editor of MarkLives.com. He was the inaugural Vodacom Social Media Journalist of the Year in 2011 and has, over his 20-year-plus career, contributed to numerous journals and websites in South Africa and abroad, including AdVantage magazine, Men’s Health, Computer World and African Communications.

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