Hello Originality? You out there?

Remember that time when you were in school and you had on an outfit that you knew looked good on you? And then you look over and see that someone else is wearing the exact same thing. Oh the horror! Let's hope you didn't sit next to the person in class because that's even more awkward. In my own memory, I couldn't help but wonder if I at least bought the outfit first. However, why is it that we feel so territorial when we see that we own the same item of clothing as somebody else? Maybe because we want to create our own style, which means we ain't sharing our image with nobody else! Even though it's different in it's own light, I see the same thing occur with advertisements.


The other day I was sitting on my couch, soaking up life and watching TV when a commercial came on for the new Lavender Lilac Gain. The commercial had the potential to be great, but to me, it failed miserably. It starts out in a hotel room with a woman laying in bed, snuggling blissfully in the covers, and practically moaning as she sniffs the soothing scent of the freshly washed sheets. Cue to the door and in walks a couple who just checked into the room. The woman in bed turns out to be the housekeeper and she calmly and without saying a word, gets out of bed, makes the bed, throws two mints on the pillows and walks out the door. Funny right? Well then Gain uses the tagline, "could you use a moment?". With that, I IMMEDIATELY thought of Twix's "need a moment?" tagline. Ouch. That's not good. Shame on you Gain advertisers. Maybe the people at Twix will send you a pity box of Twix candybars so you can take a moment to think about what you did wrong. Here's a hint, where's the orginality?!


I'm sorry but if I worked for an advertising agency, which I'm trying to, I would not have let that commecial be produced until we came up with an original, jaulting tagline so that we could call it our own, rather than be perceived as reminiscent of Twix's commercials, which practically has the same premise with the awkward moments. Or if I liked the idea so much, I would have evolved it into something better, but different. The whole point of an advertisment is to make a mark in someone's mind. Twix already made their mark in mine with their "need a moment" commecials. Therefore, I couldn't accept Gain's "could you use a moment" commercial because my mind was already programmed to Twix.


Here's another example, there is this billboard for First Citizens bank that uses the same colors, font and similar design as Detla airlines. So whenever I'm approaching the billboard I think that it's an advertisement for Delta but then I read the words and company logo and realize it's for First Citizens Bank. Again, First Citizens had a chance to make a mark in my mind but they didn't due to the fact that my mind was already programmed to Delta's colors and font. I guess when brainstorming and comparing the different colors and fonts, Delta's just flew right over their head.


Any work I do has to be original and brilliant. I don't want to be a reflection. I expect the same from advertising/branding agencies, especially since their work is viewed and perceived by the general population of consumers. They have a chance to change the world and the only way they can do it is if they embrace the notion of originality and it's potential to make a serious impact on us.