You have probably already heard about the whole Apple vs. Postal fiasco! It’s only posted on about 80% of the marketing/advertising blogs around the web. A couple of months ago Apple was accused of copying Luggz for their new iPod campaign. Now they are under fire again for copying the Postal video for their new intel mac ads.
It turns out to be a “false alarm” after all. “There’s a simple explantion why Apple’s new cleanroom ad looks just like a music video for The Postal Service: they were both made by the same people.”
My question now is, Why would you pick the same people? Especially looking at the whole negative feedback after the Luggz incident? Why would TBWA\Chiat Day let this happen twice? They have done some great work for Apple, but I hope there won’t be a third “coincidental copy”, otherwise Apple will be looking for a new agency.
What is your oppinion on this? Does it hurt Apple or does it just make TBWA look bad?
Some more at the Wired Blog.
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Apple is known for communicating in a unique way. So for them, it lessens the strength of their brand. The average viewer will see the ad but it won’t have the same impact because they will have already seen the same execution.
It could be even worse for TBWAChiat Day. They have a long-standing reputation for doing such fantastic and innovative work.
It’s possible for two similar ad concepts to break in relative timing with each other — it’s happened before. The point is “similiar”. I can even understand two commercials looking the same from a style, lighting, editing, and directing standpoint if you use the same director and production crew. But these are just too close. Someone really fell asleep at the wheel on this one.
My question is, even if the CD’s at TBWAChiat Day missed it, I would think the director/production company would have said something? “Oh, by the way, before we shoot this really cool spot for you, wanted to let you know we already did it for someone else.” Doh!