Inspiration vs Plagiarism
The Social Network explores the beginnings of Facebook. At the heart of the movie is a question: “Where does one idea begin and another end?” For advertising, it’s an increasingly relevant question. As more and more people share information across the Internet, it’s getting easier for people to plagiarise ideas.
If one had to ‘appropriate’ another agency’s idea to deliver a brief… could you get away with it? Unlikely. A case in point: iBeer, one of the first big iPhone hits. Despite the fact that Carling had been in early discussions with the app’s original developer, in the end they got someone else to knock off a version on the cheap. Carling were subsequently sued for $12.5 milllion and ended up having to settle out of court. It’s unlikely to have been cheap.
It’s an age old issue. David Ogilvy’s autobiography ‘Confessions of an Advertising Man’ describes: “If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign, you will soon see another agency steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you; nobody has ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising… Imitation may be the ‘sincerest form of plagiarism’, but it is also the mark of an inferior person.”
So many links and virals arrive in our inboxes every day, they must surely leave their mark on our creative process. It’s worth considering where being influenced by others ends, and at what point you’re simply stealing ideas. I tend to use three criteria to judge the originality of an idea.
First, have I seen it before? One of the first books we like people at Evidently to read is ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’. The central thesis is that there’s only one great story which is told and retold. The truth is that all too often original ideas are few and far between. Whilst pure originality is great, an inventive spin can be as inspired as an entirely original idea. If it’s delivered in a fresh way, a tired message can find new life.
Second, does it resonate? For it to be an original idea, it’s got to inspire others. It has to resonate.
Longevity is third. Will I remember it? Will it be adopted by others? Longevity’s important because it stops random ideas from masquerading as original ones. I often play Scrabble and I’m always coming up with ‘original’ words. But they’re random. It’s just me trying to cheat for the sake of a triple word score with the letter X in it.
Whether clients and consumers care about originality is another matter. Clients might say “yes, I want an original idea” but all too often they don’t really come to us wanting original or artful, they just want good. If something’s good, it’ll shift more product. Consumers on the other hand want to be entertained and even inspired. They delight in the novel: if they’ve seen it before then it’s likely to be less interesting. If they haven’t then it’s new; so novel is in the eye of the beholder.
A case in point: everyone loves my ring tone (well, enough for the purposes of this article). “That’s so cute” they say before hazarding “I know… it’s from… umm, True Romance!” Actually, I’m afraid you’re wrong: it was Badlands first, a far superior and more original movie than the schlock drama which is True Romance. Now Badlands was the originator, but True Romance made it famous. And, all too often, that’s what ends up mattering. It’s owned by True Romance in the consciousness of consumers (except for a few cultured vanguards such as myself who are aware of Badlands and its role in the heritage of my ring tone).
Adverts are ephemeral, even great ones. Could finding out that one you liked was a rip off ever irk you in the same way as it would if it was your favourite artist or band? People do show a real affinity with ads that resonate deeply with them. I think it’s something that’s increasing, particularly now that consumers are vehicles for our ideas, can interact with them, develop them, choose whether to watch them or not. They’ve invested more.
In a way, each of those views clocking up on YouTube is a vote of confidence. It’s someone having watched it, telling their friend to check it out, their friend recommending it in turn and so on. The advert unwittingly transcends the product through its resonance. I’ve not Tippexed anything lately or worn Old Spice, but I’ve watched their ads by choice many times. People are going to book signings by the Compare the Meerkat mascot and its book sold more pre-orders than Tony Blair’s autobiography.
No matter how uncomfortable it may make us feel, we wear our influences and there’s no such thing as an entirely original idea. It’s tricky to evaluate and there’s a grave danger of “vanishing in a puff of logic.” Originality’s a shifting concept; it’s in the eye of the beholder. There’s no such thing as pure originality but knowingly stealing an idea surely takes the pleasure out of the acclaim. We’re in the business of selling product though, so ultimately it comes down to that. If there’s a spike in sales and consumers like it, then it’s mission accomplished wherever the idea might have come from.
