Ad awarded an Swedish Golden Egg accused of theft/brain sync.

No rest for the wicked, they say, so here is yet another pair of ads ready for Badland. A tip from an adland adgrunt who prefers to remain anonymous in this case leads us to twin ads for the same Nintendo client!

"The winner of a Golden Egg (Guldägg)in print/magazine category - Nintendo by Lowe Brindfors - is based on the same idea McCann Norway did three years ago. For the same client."

Our anonymous tipster goes on to gossip:
"The Swedish ad originated as an entry for the Young Guns LIVE Nintendo creative brief which later got produced for Nintendo through Lowe Brindfors, Stockholm.

The copywriter on the ad Johan Holmström gets very annoyed when asked about the matter:

From JBR MCCANN NORWAY winner Cannes Lion 2002.

"- It's a coincidence like it always is when things like this happen! Yet you point your finger more or less accusing people of theft, just writing about it you're suggesting we stole the idea!"

Ergo. The best print idea in Sweden is Norwegian... and we have always accused Norwegians of being stupid in our jokes.
Who's the fool now huh?
 

The old "Norwegian"  joke, updated: 

Do you know how to sink a Swedish Creatives submarine? You swim down and knock on the lid.
Do you know how to sink another one?
You swim down and knock on the lid and when they open they'll say 'HAHA! We won't fall for that one again.'

From a team at Leo Burnett, originally for YoungGuns Live Creative Brief where it won gold 2004, then the winner of the Guldägg in Sweden 2005
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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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caffeinegoddess's picture

Funny that it's for the exact same client! Something's a-foot! ;P

Dabitch's picture

Yeah the fact that it was a poster-idea done for a live brief from Nintendo at the young guns awardsss made me wonder if the breif perhaps had been asking specifically for more "foot-ideas" when we chatting about this in a Swedish adforum (Bold.se) last week. It's just such a bizarre sync that it's not only the same footie deal, but the same exact client, one has to laugh.

deeped's picture

And now the Norwegian print is accused to be a brainsync too...

kidkie's picture

An brain sync on a brain sync on a brain sync on a original idea using a foot?

Here's an ad from Erik Silver, BBDO Nyc:

http://www.ihaveanidea.adbeast.com/reels/sr_ihaveanidea/reel_5.html

which is supposed to be a rip from a feature film? "My left foot"? I've never seen that movie? Anyone else?

I think this witch hunt for brain syncs and "it's been done before" has gone mad. Should the TVC above ban feet from being used in advertising ever again?

Dabitch's picture

While I can see that these two posters look like they're part of the same campaign with their extremly similar feet-ideas and awesomely synced executions, I don't think the Fox Sports guy putting on his babies diapers with his feet is that similar. Even though the basic (I wanna keep doing X with hands, so I use feet for other things) is there. If we're going to go that far, then all of a sudden the Gene Kelly Golf GTI dancing commercial will have to be compared to the Ebay "My way" ads and the damn late nineties Gap dancing ads. Because they all feature dancing. Do we really wanna go there?

Also, it has nothing to do with My Left Foot the movie about a man born with cerebral palsy who only had control over his left foot. Whoever said that was either on (bad) drugs, or being extremly sarcastic.

All IMHO of course, your milage may vary.

AnonymousCoward's picture

Check the site by joelapompe (joecopy for the non-french speaking).
You'll find this story is just a last addition to the 'oh my god i didn't know it had been before, i won't do it again' syndrome.
The question stays the same : whose fault is this ? The creatives who swear they didn't know ? The creative director who should have known (better) ?
Address :
http://mapage.noos.fr/joelapompe/index.html

Neo's picture

No offence Mr Christianbaujard, but if people are going to bring up Joelapompe (a nice site) or Coloribus (another nice site) every time Dabitch posts a Badlander, which she has been doing since 1996 long before either of the two sites mentioned were 'born', it's gonna get real annoying real fucking fast.
Comments should be about this particular case of twins. Think about it.

Dabitch's picture

No need to cuss. Now wash your mouth out with soap.

andromeda's picture

Christian, click on this for hours of twin-ad amusement.

and this one for the spoofs:

Dabitch's picture

Like deep.ed hints at in the third comment the Norwegian version of the ad has been accused of being a plagiarized idea as well. In fact it was disqualified from the Norwegian ad awards Gullblyanten because the jury there thought that it was too close to this Fox Sports commercial.

"Now, if someone else is accused of copying us then the circle will be complete, said Paal Tarjei Aasheim strategy director from McCann in Norway to Resume. "One thing is certain this Swedish poster would never have been allowed to compete in Norway."
James Trickery's picture

And then the poster goes on to win Gold in this years Cannes Lions, while the one from JBR MCCANN NORWAY only got bronze in the Cannes Lions 2002 if I recall.... Strange.