To be fair, I don't know who is ripping off who here. Of course, it's also possible that it could all be a coincidence - a freak occurance that defies the laws of man and nature, like Tunguska blast of 1908 or Paris Hilton's celebrity.
Anyhow Goodby, has done a print ad for Ace Hardware showing a tiny Ace salesman hanging on a tool rack. (The headline: "Good advice is the best tool.")
Then, if you visit the website of a good yet somewhat obscure Denver agency named McClain Finlon, you'll see an ad for Xcel Energy Repair Care showing. . . a tiny repairman hanging on a tool rack. (The headline: "Very handy appliance repair.")
It's shocking how alike the visuals are. Like I said, I don't which ad came first. All I do know is that I had bookmarked McClain's site a couple of years ago (why, I don't know) and that it doesn't seem to have changed much since then - whereas I think the Ace ad is a relatively recent addition to Goodby's canon.
If it Goodby did rip off McClain, it makes you wonder. I mean, first Mad Dogs and Englishmen, then McClain. Who's next? Joe's Advertising Shack?
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You know, I think they should have gone with peg hooks instead of them clampy things - the expressions on the faces, the blood spatter, and the general writhing would have made for much more arresting visuals.
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PermalinkThe blood and the gore may be visually arresting....but it also may evoke images from The Passion of Mel Gibson!
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Permalinkit may also be something that might quickly go into 'overused' category, too. i saw that a lot in ad school. and just last month i was working at work and someone brought that in as a marker comp. maybe it's not that fresh.
granted those layouts are more than eerily similar. so that does make you wonder.
my burning question is, does anyoone really have one of those things to hang tools in their garage?
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Permalinkmy Grandfather and my Dad did in their toolsheds at some point - so it might be the tired-track of thinking thing: "Hmm, tools... where do they go, in red toolboxes and on those peg things in the garage.. ah wait, I think I have an idea here!" - although, one always has to make something that "everyone understands" so everyone is thinking in the same patterns about red toolboxes and pegholders... and voila, a visual idea is born in two heads (or three) just like that. ;)
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PermalinkYes. But the tools seems to dislike it and gather at the table or on some shelf in small groups...
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Permalink"Shop at Ace, our salesmen are tools."
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PermalinkCute Badlander - the comments here are priceless.
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PermalinkI saw a concept just like this not long ago!
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