BBH creative accuses Sky Sports of ad plagiarism
A writer from BBH London has publicly accused Sky Sports and its agency, Sky Creative, of ripping off a recruitment video he created for the Publicis shop.
Sky Sports Summer of Sport
The ad in question, a promo for the channel dubbed ‘Summer of Sport’, was released last week (9 May).
It features stills and rushes overlaid with bold facts and figures regarding Formula One, golf, rugby and cricket events set to take place in the summer months, narrated at a fast pace by a female voiceover artist.
Summer of Sport on Sky Sports from Liv Ross on Vimeo.
However Marc Rayson, writer at BBH London, has noted the similarities between the brand film and a separate spot he and Callum Prior had produced for his agency. He reposted Sky Creative’s video and subtweeted:“If you’re [Sky Creative] going to rip off my work, at least don’t use the same voice over artist, same typography and same music style...”
If you're going to rip off my work, at least don't use the same voice over artist, same delivery, same typography and same music style... https://t.co/avOfmoEgLN https://t.co/9cWKObcYho
— Marc Rayson (@marcrayson) May 14, 2018
He then linked to BBH’s film, an internal reel promoting the shop’s work, employees and clients that also featured bold facts and figures overlaid against a collage of archive stills and rushes. Ironically, BBH’s offering is entitled ‘Difference’.
BBH declined to comment, although did publicly tweet its own dig at Sky Sports.
Hey @SkySports we're so flattered, after all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. https://t.co/EnwssYIJDn — BBH Labs (@BBHLabs) May 15, 2018
A Sky spokesperson told The Drum, however, that any similarities between the films were a complete coincidence, made more unfortunate by the fact the same voiceover artist had been used.
They explained that other executions of the creative, including a Chelsea V Spurs teaser from February, used different voiceover artists, and appeared more distinct from BBH's work.
The spokesperson added the technique of statistics appearing on-screen in film is not a new one, using the 1997 Guinness ad 'Statistics' as a historic example.