Voila, now SMB-PP has a new website which appears to have the same concept as what the agency presented. Did they get paid for it? No. Did they even tell the agency? No.
Sad reality of advertising. We sell ideas, pitch for accounts, and big companies steal it for nothing. Nothing.
See for yourself and tell me if it's not a rip-off of the pitch concept. I'm not making any solid accusations here (don't get me wrong). Plagiarism is hard to prove in court. But credibility & integrity is also not easy to earn.
Here's their pitch concept:
Here's the actual website, recently launched:
Judge for yourselves.--------------------------------------
UPDATE (06 May 2010): San Miguel has taken notice of this blogpost and has already contacted the agency involved. They're currently investigating into the matter on what had actually transpired. Apparently, the final web design was executed by their internal creative team, and whether or not it was copied or inspired by the pitch materials is still being looked into. San Miguel as a corporation has expressed their respect for creative ownership and has denied that this is a reflection of how they do business with their agencies and vendors. I'll keep you posted on further updates.
Wow, journalistic blogging! Kudos!
ReplyDeletePeople in the creative departments of big corporations are paid well. But they should not earn from creative ideas of others.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad that ideas or concepts are copied or imitated,even with slight variations, without getting permission from the owner of the idea.
Copying of ideas becomes abusive if the copier got the idea from a supplier which does not get paid for the ideas.