Joe la Pompe, since 1999

Tout à fait la meme chose, non seulement à peu près. Et ceci ne tient pas de l’étrange. Le plagiat est malheureusement courant et pire encore, permis. Ces élèves le démontrent grandement!

Wanna get an easy A at your University? Just copy a Cannes Lion…

Actually, the Companion App was launched in its Beta version in November 2014…. BackMe App was launched MONTHS after that…. So yeah, maybe the students from University of Michigan copied the idea FOR THE PROMOTIONAL VIDEO. But the actual IDEA, what really counts, came first. And way before the other app. There is a difference between an idea and the idea you use for its advert. Also, it might seem UNBELIEVABLE, but: people all over the world have similar or identical ideas. Yeah, crazy right?

@charles : thanks for your comment. You’re right, people may have similar ideas. I’m not here to judge the technological side of this innovation. As far as I’am concerned I just compare advertising ideas. And in this case it’s pretty much obvious that one was « inspired » by the other…

Hi Joe, yes I am totally on your side for what concerns the « advertising » idea. But since we are talking about an innovative App which won in the CYBER category, NOT in the FILM category, I think it’s important to highlight that what counts here, in my honest and limited opinion, is the idea for the App itself. And if we want to be fair, the Companion App was launched first. The « technological » side of this innovation is the one side that counts. After all, how many movies and ads have we seen which portray as « realistic » people/things that are not actually in the portrayed place? (I don’t mean to me polemic, just factual). Good to share POVs anyways!

About the app, P&G started to work on it on 2013. And I’m pretty sure of that simply because I’ve worked on it since 2013 till now. No problem with the identical app, moreover we are pretty happy to see many apps helping women all over the world. What counts here, dear Charlas, is that this groupe of students has simply re-shooted the same commercial, just some months after the P&G one. May I repeat myself? It’s great to have more apps making woman more selfconfident, but copy a commercial in this way, just a few months after the online, is simply offensive.

Hi Sara, if you’ve worked on the App, great job. It’s a great App which is built on a serious and real need, and problem-solving apps are a winner, in life and in Cannes. Unfortunately, you might as well have started working on it in 1980…what counts is the release date, which makes it official. Or the date you deposited the patent. This is just how things work, in all fields. We can all say  » I had the idea first » 😉 So, if Companion was launched first, Companion was first. It’s that simple. And in fact, it was instantly a huge success (the US press, mainly the NON-advertising press) covered it a lot, and thousands of people have downloaded it. For what concerns the advertising film, I honestly believe they most probably ripped off your idea, this is pretty clear. I would be pissed too, don’t get me wrong. But when talking about Apps, in the current world, that doesn’t really count. Case-study videos are not to be considered as « films » (I am talking about award categories here). Moreover, how many « films » do we see at award shows that are based on identical stories? That’s no news to me. With a brave mind and a bit of luck, I would have not given it to P&G….I would have set up my own start up and make shit loads of money 😉 (or not… :)) Apart from this speculative chat, cheers to you!

Dear Charles. What counts for me is that I have a Silver Cannes Lions (and many other awards) on my desk and I’m looking at it right here, right now. 😉

Many apps are similar to BackmeApp. Infact, we always talk about « the new app that », never said « the first ». Anyway, « the huge success » made by Companion on international press have started many months after BackMeApp was launched. But hey, if you have some press talking about Companion before August 2015, I’m here ready to change my mind.

And, for the last time, we are talking about the commercial. No doubt about it, right?

Now I go back to work. Fortunately, I have great ideas every day and I don’t need to copy a commercial just to be famous for a couple of weeks.

(and yes, very often commercials are similar to other, but these two are identical, and one came out just some mothes after the first. Just to say…)

Just one thing to be clear – the Michigan team entered their pitch video with WalkSafe app (being exactly the same as back me up app) later renamed to Walky app to Microsoft Imagination Cup Canada and was awarded with honourable mention in Innovation Cathegory 9 December 2014. Which means they came up with it some time before and even made a pitch video. Here is the link: https://www.imaginecup.com/blog/details/meet-the-pitch-video-challenge-2015-winners and the ready app link http://www.walklyapp.com/ . So the question is – whos is the original idea?