It had been quite a few weeks that they were burning the midnight oil. Weekends cancelled, holidays postponed, diet reduced to cups of coffee. And at last, when the big idea finally dawned, they went straight to Lindex, the client, with the pitch. The big dream though, came down in crashes, when they were told the idea was not fashionable enough for the brand.
But the true shock registered after a few months, when they discovered their idea on print, only this time published by Lindex’s own ad agency.
Ad agency Badlord had to sue Lindex for a huge 1.5 million dollar. Let’s admit it, plagiarism is one of the oldest tricks in the advertising rulebook. And the most potential occasion for the mishap of ideas- the agency pitch.
Think about 4 to 5 agencies (or even more) sitting and bombarding their ideas on one day, ideas that can take the brand from rags to riches. The temptation is too high to resist. But the final call is taken based on pricing. So what happens to the ‘also brilliant idea’ of the other agency? Simple, it’s lifted, modified and taken over! We all know, it takes any creative team worth its salt just a few hours to make a campaign totally different. So even a Badlord way may not be of help, provided of course, you’re ready to walk the long legal path.
A stolen agency pitch costs a lot for an agency. It cost them the astronomical sum of money that they spend for a pitch. The agency always tries and gives its best shot in a pitch. And money never becomes a bar. Creative talents from outside are hired, researches are done, films are made. After all this, if a pitch is stolen, it means that the client is taking benefit of all the expenditure, without paying anything back to the agency.
A contract to not to use the idea? A copyright? Can actually any of these suffice to safeguard your campaign? Especially when we’ve just seen the tweaking of a campaign keeping the idea same. And no copyright can stamp safety on an idea. Believe it or not, Lindex’s argument was the same- that theirs was a different idea matching only by chance.
Company goodwill doesn’t always speak safety. Many a times, it just takes one person on the client’s side to make your idea unsafe.
If you believe prevention is better than cure, Information Rights Management systems like Seclore FileSecure can provide capabilities to remotely destruct documents in case business relationships change. What’s more is that you can monitor every usage of document after you have sent it.
After all, your work is yours, and should remain so.
