DIARY: Rant

And thus it has arrived - yet another media issue with yet another example of shameless ad copycats ripping ad ideas off from other, usually better, ads. I refer here to the minions of ad trivia who've seemingly got the time to monitor virtually all the ads on the planet and graciously point out to the rest of us, when it seems like some poor writer in Bolivia has nicked a great idea from an awards annual. Happily today, we have a documented case of this not happening. On the right, an ad for BBC World selling its media information service. On the left, an ad for Business Week, selling its media information service. Amazing. While the headlines here may be too small to read, trust me, they mean the same thing: Roughly, that a good media service keeps information simple and organised so that media doesn't just "go in one ear and out the other". Now while the BBC ad runs currently, the Business Week ad hasn't been seen in about 17 years. It was produced by the Richards Group in the US and appeared briefly in a New York Art Directors exibition in 1985 but never in the annual. The chance of anyone in BBC's ad organisation ever seeing the Business Week ad is virtually nil. Over time it's possible that two people, unbeknownst to each other, will come up with similar concepts. This I can say with relative assurance. The Business Week ad is mine. Whoever you are, and whatever you want to get off your chest, send your rants to rant@media.com.hk and we'll print them anonymously.

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