The world is connected, your mom has a facebook page, and it's easier to find inspiration and spark new ideas than ever before. So why then are there so many recycled ideas out there ?
We are really excited about today's interview, and some people may get scared by it. You might be scared if you've ever copied an idea you found in another ad, or worse copied the ad exactly. If you have, then there is a pretty good chance you will end up on http://www.joelapompe.net/.
Joe's site has a bit of a cult following. He is the definitive source for outing the 'accidental ' copied ad and he was kind enough to peel away a bit of the mystery that surrounds him. As Joe is a bit of an expert on copied ideas, we thought we'd ask him for his thoughts on the matter.
Enjoy!
Hi Joe. Your real identity is a bit of a mystery. Do you work in the advertising industry or just a fan ?
I recently visited incredible advertising blogs and I was surprised that the authors where from completely different backgrounds and they didn’t even work in advertising. One guy told me he was working in the construction field as an engineer on asbestos removals. Anyway, I’m from the ad industry, on the creative side. Copy writing to be even more precise. But I won’t tell more…
What made you start www.joelapompe.net. Was it a personal crusade?
Once my Creative Director told me I was a thief only because the idea I was showing him already existed. I was really shocked. I was innocent, just lacking of creative culture. But one week later I discovered that the latest campaign he was really proud of already existed in Canada and was done quite the same way for the same kind of product ! So it got on my nerves and I began to look more precisely at what had or had not already been done … and that’s how I began my quest. It’s a very addictive process and now I consider it a real game.
The site has cult status amongst the advertising community. Are people upset when their work gets featured or are they happy to be part of ‘copied ad history’.
Sure some people are upset, ashamed or whatever, but at the end, guilty or not they are forced to reconsider the way they work and the way they are looking for new ideas. And that’s the interesting point of all this. I receive more “congratulations” emails than threats.
I found the hit parade very interesting. With so many big agency groups being caught out these days recycling ideas from YouTube and ‘viral’ emails , do you think some agencies are just crafting other peoples ideas and putting a logo on them?
Creative's always search for inspiration in various places. Yesterday they found many ideas in art exhibitions, books and photographer’s portfolios. Today it’s very convenient to browse movies on youtube to find something. But as long as it is “inspiration” and not copycats it’s ok to me. You can inspire yourself from anything but another advertisement. An ad that reproduces another ad is just useless. It’s a big waste of time and energy to do things over and over and it’s not pushing things forward.
With great creative collaboration hubs like www.behance.net springing up, is the internet going to result in a new way of producing great creative work?
The internet is a powerful tool for our community. Powerful to increase creativity and also a huge source of copycatting too. It’s easy to fetch some old stuff that nobody notices and bring it back to life. You can do it in seconds.
Where does the kind of thing we are doing with Idea Bounty fit into the process of creating great advertising? Will it compliment the process or change it completely ?
I really don't know… wait and see. But any initiative to change things and create new processes in advertising and creation is good. We just can't continue with the same old recipes again and again.
Tell us about your book and most importantly were can our French speaking friends buy a copy?
I published a book because it’s the natural place to showcase print advertising. It’s easier and more pleasant to browse than a website. I published many new and unseen examples on it and I interviewed some top french creative directors and creative stars as Olivier Altmann (Publicis) and Fred&Farid (FFL). They give us interesting points of view on this subject. They answer questions like “why are there so many twin ads ?” , “is it a big problem for our industry ?”, “What to do to avoid it ?”. You can purchase it via Amazon.fr or in any french book shop. It’s titled “Nouveau ? (new ?) the best of produced and reproduced ads” by Télémaque Editions Publisher (www.editionstelemaque.com)
Lastly, what’s your favourite copied ad you’ve ever featured on your site ?
The last one I found is always the one I prefer. But the closest to the original the twin is, the more I like it !
Cool interview and Joe - thanx for putting together a site like yours. Merci mec !
J'en peux plus de voir des créatifs de mes 2 copier d'autres pubs.
Que penser des designs de sites web copiés également en permanence ? What do you reckon about the current trend which consists of copying websites designs as well ?
Dernière question: y a t il souvent des recours en justice lors de gros plagias en pub ? Last question: do agencies often take these copyrights issues to court ?
thanx for answering these questions if u have the time to. Cheers. T.
matt
on 01/11/2008
Hi T. thanks! I cant speak for Joe , but similar website designs are going to become a more familiar sight as more people adopt template driven solutions like Word Press wich have such freely availble high quality themes.
Theo on 31/10/2008
Cool interview and Joe - thanx for putting together a site like yours. Merci mec !
J'en peux plus de voir des créatifs de mes 2 copier d'autres pubs.
Que penser des designs de sites web copiés également en permanence ?
What do you reckon about the current trend which consists of copying websites designs as well ?
Dernière question: y a t il souvent des recours en justice lors de gros plagias en pub ?
Last question: do agencies often take these copyrights issues to court ?
thanx for answering these questions if u have the time to. Cheers.
T.