Is it ok to steal ideas?

There are currently a couple ad campaigns from two Stockholm agencies that have created exceptional buzz. Execution-wise these two projects are really high-class. There's a problem though: The ideas are clones of other ideas. 

There's a saying: talents imitate, geniuses steal. But how true is this when it comes to creativity? 

In the short run, stealing pays off – it's a genius move. Your agency will win awards and your unknowing client will be happy. But in the long run, the advertising business has to deliver creativity – ideas that have never been seen before. Ideas that have been made no not change anything inside people's heads and are therefore not creative. 

If the advertising business isn't creative and creates it's own ideas I see few reasons for why it should even exist beyond being printing and production factories, since the ability to find funny stuff on YouTube is not enough to get a Cannes Lion, and it's definitely not worth 300 dollars an hour.

As I said. Stealing pays off in the short run so probably it's a matter of how you view creativity and how your agency conduct business in the long term.

"Rolighetsteorin" by DDB Stockholm. Inspired by this?

"Youtube Hits" by King. Inspired by this? 

Comments

[Per T]

Du är kritisk. Det är bra. Men är det verkligen rätt fokus?

DDB-exemplet är på sitt sätt väldigt bra, de har helt enkelt snott idén om att göra en trappa till ett piano (om de nu har sett den video du tipsar om).
Judith & Judith ... tycker inte att exemplet är lika klockrent, men visst. Men att göra om saker är ju en sport på Youtube, det brukar göras som replies på filmer.

Men, två rätt träffande exempel. Men är det ett problem? En vanlig definition av kreativitet är ju att använda en idé eller metod på ett nytt område.

Det finns mer eller mindre kniviga fall, men i huvudsak påstår jag att det hänger på utförandet. Idéer finns i överflöd, vissa är bra, men oavsett om de är bra eller dåliga, beror deras genomslag på hur de genomförs.

I fallet DDB är det inte bara en pianotrappa och minska fetman-instrument, det är ett (mer eller mindre seriöst) experiment för att se hur rolighet påverkar folks beteende.
Angående Judith & Judith är jag själv inte övertygad om dess storhet, men att låta två reklamkaraktärer replia på kända Youtube-klipp är säkert bra på sitt sätt.

Driver detta reklamen framåt? Jag tror att Rolighetsteorin gör det. Det är en handling, det är ett öppet format, ett experiment som tillåter användarinput, det sker i tillgänliga medier, det kan ge ett resultat ...
Judith & Judith påminner väl mest om Lokkos ”100 Youtube-moments”, eller vad hans listning hette. Och den fick ju Stora journalistpriset (duh?).

[Anton]

@Per, det var Strage som gjorde youtube-listan och det var inte riktigt samma utförande.

@Leon
WHO would want to work there? Highly talented persons without artistic integrity, perhaps?

WHAT client? Branded houses such as Unilever and P&G perhaps :D

Finally, brand equity. It depends on how you define brand equity and also on how fast you are adopting others' ideas. Outside the advertising industry, a lot of companies are percieved as first movers in a category and then tend to define that category, I have no doubt that it would be possible in the advertising industry. It's even possible in the Art world, where a swedish artist accused icelandic Olafur Eliasson for idea theft without any bigger success.
http://www.vilks.net/?p=755

[Leon]

@Per:
Det är helt ointressant om "stölden" i fråga har gjort originalet bättre eller sämre. Här ser jag ingen skillnad från t.ex. en låt (ta Bob Dylans låtar som gjordes bättre av andra). Som jag skrev i inlägget: på kort sikt funkar det utmärkt. Men det jag frågar mig är om det är en bra byråstrategi? Ska byråns kreativa strategi vara att ompaketera redan befintliga idéer, eller försöka hitta på nya? Om det är ok att sno/låna för en byrå/ett varumärke, då är det också fritt fram för andra byråer/varumärken att sno tillbaks!

@Anton:
Integrity is highly relative. A more relevant variable is creativity and your credibility as a Creative in the industry. Luckily, most creatives are against stealing ideas.

Unilever probably understands the economic value of uniqueness in creativity better than most companies. Not long ago they bought the Ben & Jerry brand – not because they don't know how to make ice cream but because Ben & Jerry is truly a unique brand. Lynx/Axe is another example of creative brand differentiation – their campaigns made by BBH (one of the most creative agencies there are) are outstanding. The Dove Campaign for Real beauty (another great campaign) by Ogilvy is another truly unique concept.

In this case I would define brand equity as the economic value in terms of discounted cashflows from sales based on brand preference that's a consequence from a unique association in the minds of people. The more differentiating the advertising, the more unique the associations. When it comes to speed of "adopting" ideas you are right. It is possible, but to me a possibility doesn't mean it's a good idea. On the contrary, a theft strategy is a risky strategy, because no matter how brilliant you are, you can bet your ass that someone is thinking of the exact same idea as you.

[Edd Lee]

I'm all for creativity, but as Voltaire once said, "Originality is nothing but judicious plagarism". Some are just more judicious than others, which ultimately defines whether something is more creative or just a tawdry imitation.

[Anton]

@Leon:

Not only does Unilever own Dove and the troo uniqueness behind its campaign, they also own Lux, Rexona and Vaseline. I think their steal-and-make-it-empirically-better-strategy is being executed by some brand managers.

Understand me, I'm all for creativity, but execution and context is also part of that idea.

Finally, another proposed measure of brand equity is the revenue premium, i.e. how much more you sell at what higher price than a benchmark competitor/a generic brand. (Volume and price, that is). An agency devoted to high insight/implementation/execution turnover could be renowned for just that. Even if they are stealing ideas.