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Serial Entrepreneur, Social Media Fanatic, Merciless Critic of Everything, Founder of Preemo: Media+Technology and SoBizMiami
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January 6th, 2010 - 15:40
Yes, everyone has seen happy and sad faces because Francois and Jean Robert have been producing books with faces since 1978. Francois and Jean Robert have helped all of you SEE the world in a different way because of their books. An original idea? Perhaps, perhaps not… but they have produced 4 books (with copyrighted images), have had their faces used by Fortune 500 companies and have had exhibitions in Zurich, Winterthur and Rotterdam
The truth of the matter is that Ogilvy & Mather didn’t just happen on the faces idea because they saw faces in the world or faces on Flicker. O&M Johannesburg approached Mr. Robert through his rep in 2006 to use the faces concept to showcase the face lift Audi A3 with TV and print advertising in South Africa. They got away with plagiarism. Then in 2009 Ogilvy & Mather NY uses the faces concept again for American Express. Coincidence? I think not.
American Express spends millions and millions of dollars for these ads.
The faces ads run all of the time. And what do people remember? The message? The company? The agency?
No, people remember the smiley faces set to beautiful cello music.
The question still is, who owns an idea?
Is is OK to steal the idea for commercial gain in the case of Ogilvy & Mather and AMEX?
Is it OK because agencies do this all of the time?
What if it were YOUR idea? YOUR music? YOUR blog? YOUR ad?
How would you feel?