Deja view: Saatchi Sydney’s Cadbury spot caught similar to McCoys campaign via Publicis London
As CB Bloggers pointed out yesterday, the TV spots in latest Cadbury ‘Catch Up’ campaign, via agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney, is rather similar to the McCoys Crisps campaign, created by Publicis, London in 2005, which was a Bestads Top 6 of the Week and a finalist at Cannes that year.
The UK spots were created by Aussie creatives Andrew Petch, now creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi Manila and Cameron Blackley, now creative director at Droga5, Sydney.
However, all credit to Saatchi’s Steve May, the writer of the Cadbury’s campaign, who wrote this comment on the CB Blog yesterday: “As the writer, I wanted to say, yes, it’s a coincidence. A bloody big one. My heart sank when I saw the link. Holy fuck. Yup, every creative’s worst dream. All I can say is that I’d never seen the chips ads before. And I’m not in the business of taking someone else’s idea and reproducing it. Who the hell would in the age of Youtube?All I can say is I suppose it happens to everyone in their career. Today it’s my turn.And I’ll take the hit.”
via Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney
via Publicis London
48 Comments
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Anonymous says:
I’m sorry mate.
This isn’t a coincidence, no matter how ‘massive.’
It’s absolutely identical.
The ONLY thing I can give as defence is that you saw it once and it buried itself into your memory – it’s happened to me before – you come up with something and have no idea why it’s so well-formed – it’s just a memory of one of the thousands of ads you’ve seen before.
Unfortunately for you, it’s the only defence you have.
As far as Cadburys go, well, I wouldn’t be happy.
Saatchis Sydney. Fuck me. Could it get more miserable? -
Hats off to May.
There is no way a creative nor an agency would let something so similar go out the door if they knew of that ad. So you can’t call that intentional plagiarism. There are entire sites dedicated to ads that look the same. It happens. We have all been shot down with the ‘been done’ line before, it sadly just missed a few people on this one.
And it was only a finalist in Cannes that year, and who looks at finalist work anyway?
It has happened before, and it will happen again, so I wouldn’t start shouting for blood, because it can happen to anyone in this business.
Well done May and team. These things happen. It’s a good ad, and the punters will love it, and it will flog some chocolate so job well done.
Move on. -
9:03
Saatchis is far from miserable you idiot.
‘Miserable’ is being the first person to pounce on someone else’s slight misfortune.
Fool. -
Good on you for being so honest.
I’d be mortified if this happened to me. -
Surely the blame should lie with the ECD.
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….not great timing with a creative review going on – even if it is an honest mistake….
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It’s very nice work.
9.03 must be a creative genius. Anyone who shouts that loud must have serious talent and balls. However, there is a small chance he has neither. Bet you 20 quid he is a cock to work with (If he actually has a gig). -
10:40
I work with him and you’re right, he’s a cock to work with. -
9:03 As a matter of fact I do believe it was a coincidence and not that massive of one. As a ECD I have seen at least four other versions of this script come across my desk in the last few years and from some pretty high caliber creatives. It’s not to say that it’s not a solid idea but by no means is it so original that no one else could have come up with it. In a world were 75% of briefs look the same it is not uncommon that this happens. Steve is one of the most stand up guys you will come across in the business perhaps just once Anonymous could cut him and Saatchi so slack.
A. DiLallo -
are snachi employees the only people who are allowed to post here…stick to your guns 9.03
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Hey Steve, a few years ago, I wrote a press ad for a financial client in which the opening line (approx 15 words) turned out to be exactly the same opening line for another financial ad. I’ll swear to this day that I never saw the other ad before I typed out those bloody words. Client not happy, to say the least, suits didn’t care, I survived but have never forgotten how it felt. I feel for you, mate.
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You can’t just let the one creative take the blame for the entire campaign!
Well done Stevie for taking the bullet on behalf of the entire agency.
Someone back him up.
Whose running S&S sydney now Backy has gone? -
Well, Steve and his team have some beautiful work coming up, work that will make most decent adwankers very envious indeed, and no, you won’t be able to say “Done!”
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Fuck me.
Much as I’m sure Steve is an obviously well respected creative (and hats off for the admission,) the simple fact is that the blog is incredibly two-faced when it comes to work that seems similar.
There simply isn’t an ad that gets posted without someone linking a YouTube video and a ‘seen it’ post.
Agencies are ripped to SHREDS for stuff like this.
Now it’s a testament to Steve’s obvious talent that his mates have leapt to his defence, but the same rules don’t apply to absolutely anyone else.
If the agency was Euro, Patts, O&M or DDB the vitriol on here would be palpable.
We would have pulled them APART.
What gives? -
Sadly, another nail in Saatchis coffin.
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Don’t feel so sad, Cadbury one is only half as good.
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Who are you people????
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What a load of shit…..congrats to Steve for fronting up when caught red handed.
Oh really…never seen the chips ad before…yep and I guess you never seen ads on youtube before as well right? Saatchi’s in NZ have also very recently created work that had already been done before (telecom ad etc) – the ECD moved to OZ shortly after it was pointed out, he lasted less than a year – just an awful coincidence as well right?
So now its your turn to take the hit, last year it was the ECD at Saatchis NZ’s turn, whose next in the Saatchi line up? WTF
I hope Saatchi’s have aleast refunded the all of the costs of the ad. -
i don’t get what the big deal is? the average punter doesn’t trawl youtube looking for overseas ads. ive never seen those crisps at a supermarket here so im assuming this campaign never made it to our shores. so as long as the cadbury ones arent shown in london, who will ever know?
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@ 2:27
Hey Columbo! You really caught them out there – you’re an advertising investigative genius!!! -
elbow are you serious?this is an industry with up and coming people seeking any opportunity and these saatchi creatives throw up this stunt. I’m sick of the amount of average stuff being churned out in Australia. Australia is a country moving forward and not the old badly educated slow witted bunch from previous years, so get some intelligent stuff and unique stuff made.
So, in summary:
Elbow you haven’t got a clue,
Saatchi’s needs massively change
and Aussie ad agencies need to start crediting consumers with having more intelligence than a Lemming.
cheesy shit being churned out in this country. -
Don’t sweat it Steve. It’s happened to me. When the co-incidences are this close you feel like everyone thinks you must have ripped it – but you know what…Fuck ’em. It’s not one ad that counts in this industry but your career. Just move on and try not to worry about it.
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@ 1:29 – ha, ha that’s so true – how tragic is that.
Rip off an ad and it’s still not as good as the original – poor Saatchi’s. -
This thread has some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen.
Grammar.
Learn some before you state your opinion.
Because without it, you just look stupid. -
12:34.
That’s a massive call! Fuck’n no pressure. -
I hear the sounds of a cadbury pitch coming……*please note this is not an original comment and may or may not be found on youtube, and if it is, it is just a coincidence. No really it is…..I feel terrible.
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9:03, (aka knob)
Saatchi’s miserable? Aren’t they one of the agencies dominating the Award shortlist so far? -
HATS OFF STEVE MAY.
THE ONLY BLOKE IN AUSSIE AD HISTORY TO MAN UP TO YOU WANKERS.
My only question is, why are S&S letting him cop it all? Surely other creatives and creative directors were involved or was Steve responsible for the ENTIRE thing. -
@ 4:16
Shhhhhhhh….keep it down,there is no need to shout. How am I supposed to watch youtube…….sorry, I mean come up with creative with all that noise. -
4:01
Oddly enough yes. And many of their finalists are for a campaign called ‘beer economy.’
This was, as I’m sure you’ll remember as a blog regular, an identical copy of a New Zealand campaign that their own agency put out.
The idea was simple.
People paying for things with….erm…. beer. -
9.04
you sound like a right cunt. -
A storm in the little advertising tea cup
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5:11
Hey there is no 9:04 – what blog are you looking at? I think that you have become so angry that you can’t read the numbers…..you must be a scary dude! (and no Im not 9:03) -
Same exact ‘insight’.
Same exact passing of the remote shot.
Same exact use and timing of slow mo.
Same exact music.
This is about as coincidental as any of us making a new TVC with a gorilla in a suit playing the drums to Phil Collins – and claiming to have never ever seen such a thing before.
I call bullshit on this one. -
Sounds like S&S could have a real problem as it looks like there could be a few ads that were less than original if 2:27 and 4:01 are correct – whats that, three ads within 12 months that were all rip offs. Yes it’s a coincidence. A bloody big one.
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Last one out please turn off the lights……there goes your credibility S&S Sydney
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Thanks to those who left some positive comments for me. To those who didn’t, that’s cool. You have an opinion and are welcome to it. Come and say hi at Award next week and have a beer and a chat. At the end of the day I gotta move on to the next brief and keep on truckin’. Go the Dragons.
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Oops I meant “a man in a gorilla suit”.
Although if it had been with a gorilla in a suit it would have been sufficiently different enough for me to claim it was a coincidence. -
One of the requirements for promotion from Senior Creative to Creative Director is the ability to help creatives – who are often highly focussed on solving a brief – to see the bigger picture. This might mean opening up an idea, encouraging a little lateral thought. Or, as in this case, being aware of what is going on in the wider world of advertising. The finger here should not be pointed at Steve, but at the CD who let this happen. Yes, it may be an honest mistake. But CDs and ECDs are paid the big bucks to make sure mistakes don’t happen. Plain and simple.
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Cam and Petch ripped off Kubrick and Strauss. Nobody gave them any shit.
At least this one complete the homage to 2001 with a packshot Monolith -
Of course it’s a coincidence.
Why make a blatant carbon copy and risk public dethroning? And upset a the client along the way?
MCCoys didn’t make much of a splash in London in the first place, ’05. An ok ad.
Prefer the saatchi take. -
joelapompe says:
amazing lookalike! To see hundreds of so called “coïncidences” visit my blog dedicated to copycats and badluck in advertising http://www.joelapompe.net
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Firstly, not everybody knows every ad that was ever produced in the world. Even CDs. Secondly, Steve has eloquently argued his defence. He’s right. Why on Earth would you copy anything in the age of YouTube and you could so easily be busted? Thirdly, and I’ve watched him rise from shy junior to where he is today, isn’t he the writer behind one of the best, most original spots ever, the Hilux spot on the island? Try doing that after the bar for Hilux advertising had been set impossibly high with ‘Bugger’. Having said all that, I think this is a very, very ordinary campaign and not up to Steve’s standard. But we all have a few shockers in the closet, don’t we? Fortunately mine pre-date the web.
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I just had a look on Joelapompe’s site. What’s amazing is not just the number of ‘coincidences’ but how many of the latter executions actually won something in Cannes.
So what’s the downside of plagiarism? If the industry award standard doesn’t care, why should agencies and creatives?
Saatchis have always been at the forefront of maximising their award haul. Perhaps this is the latest tactic. -
Interesting.
In fact, the ideas are quite different. One bloke turns off the TV to spend time talking to his wife. The other guy gives the remote to his wife – being a gentlemen.
There have been a lot of commercials over the years where the TV remote plays a part in the idea.
Where it gets uncomfortable is that the music is so crucial. The music isn’t THE idea, but it’s a bloody important part of it.
But here’s a question.
Couldn’t we also say that Carlton Draught Slo-Mo has borrowed the slo- mo idea from the Chips ad? Because the slo mo is just as important to the Chips ad as the music. Because that’s what we have to ask if we insist that borrowing not just key ideas but also executional idea is theft.
And another thing – the chips ad uses slo mo in a much more relevant and effective way than the Carlton Draught ad, where it is really very tedious after the first ten seconds or so. -
I’m bored now.
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Everyone (including May) is missing the point here. This is a great step forward for cross-brand advertising. One ad generating demand for two products that go perfectly together – the choco-crisp combo. Beauty.
Hats off to Staarchi’s – your vision is as powerful as it is accidental. -
Saatchi’s is on the downward slope……..Im sure the poor client must be gutted…..