Sell Advertising idea
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- meisterschueler
This might be a stupid question, but has anyone of you ever sold an idea for an advertisement to a company without beeinng asked for?
Will they except it?
Whom to approach?
- Horp0
Sadly, you have no chance. They'd sit you down and listen to your idea, then devalue it for you, then explain that there's no money in advertising, maybe offer you a work experience position or the door.
Months later, you'd see your idea in work on TV and billboards around the world and there's nothing you could do about that. You cannot protect an idea.
- chossy0
Get a confidentiality agreement signed and get some sort of copyright on the idea, advertisers are renowned for outright theft when it comes to ideas. Protect yourself first then approach advertisers if they are a good agency they will listen to anyone.
- eating_tv0
One thing you -can- do is try and get an appointment at a company with who ever is in charge of advertising and personally present your work to them. Have some coffee, chat, leave your businesscard and go home. If you've made a good impression and if they deem you useful (sorry, I guess we're all "tools" in some way) you might get a job out of it.
- chossy0
Apparently the intellectual property does not really protect you, but the confidentiallity agreement does more to protect you, because if they tell anyone your idea or use your idea they have broken the confidentiallity agreement.
- chossy0
just like that time my fucking grandad swapped his farm for a torch :'(
- Horp0
^ I can categorically state that a confidentiality agreement can be shot to pieces effortlessly. It means nothing at all. To prove your idea unique (in order to assert your intellectual rights over it) the burden of proof rests with you to prove that no-one has ever had that idea before. That requires extensive research by IP specialists into all relevant advertising and marketing history... which obviously costs a fortune.
An idea is worthless to advertising agencies. They are full to brimming with people who have ideas. What counts is the application of an idea, the client's receptivity to it, the focus-group's response to it, the ability of that idea to fit into the strategy of the ad agency.
Come on... ad agencie take all creative graduates for free and pass them around for up to two years milking them for their best stuff before considering giving them a salary. They don't pay for ideas, not even great ideas.
- I sound so good when I categoically state things.Horp
- +© Advertising pay fpr experience and get the job done.roundabout
- chossy0
After further reading it is suggested you need to make a shitty mock up of the idea say it's an ad. on telly make a quick and dirty version of it and this holds more weigh in the protection of your idea, but as spooky points out, it appears very very hard to protect it simply and effectively.
- kelpie0
its just the nature of "ideas" they're fundamentally ethereal things that don't really translate well in legal terms. How the hell do you prove something totally abstract like that came from you first? only when something is executed and has a physical form can you protect it, bind it to a time and place and call it "yours".
That's why you should play your cards close to your chest with these things. I remember pitching some work to San Miguel through a "experiential marketing" company we used to occasionally work with, as part of a campaign of ads and events they wanted to do. They themselves were taking the stuff to an ad agency who had the account. I never heard back after putting in a week or so of what I thought was pretty cool work. I was a bit pissed off.
4 motnhs later the cerveza de passion campaign launches and it looks 95% exactly the same as the mocked up as I did, with the same kind of tone to the message.
Think about that though, how on earth would i be able to say that they took my stuff and not that they just had the same idea?
Newton and Liebniz invented calculus at the same time too, you know? and another guy tried to file the patent on the telephone the day after Bell had. Ideas don't stand up on their own
- 23kon0
theres the urban myth (truth?) of the guy who got in touch with Swan Vestas matches and asked for a wad of money for an idea that would save them thousands of pounds a year.
His idea was: just put the sandpaper strip down ONE side of the boxes instead of two.
and it got implemented.- sounds a bit like the old NASA space pen myth, but nice nonethelesskelpie
- paraselene0
so, tell us about this idea...
- harlequino0
You don't sell ideas (in advertising, anyway), but you can sell the execution of an idea. More often to brands or client side than agencies. And usually in the case of specific web application or something.
Also, btw, you have virtually no recourse for someone stealing your idea, even with an NDA. Only executions.- ups, two late. That was my 2nd question. So how do i do that? Mockup the idea and send a long a quote for teh execution?
meisterschueler
- ups, two late. That was my 2nd question. So how do i do that? Mockup the idea and send a long a quote for teh execution?
- meisterschueler0
ok my idea is simple and awesome!
Imagine a guy in a ...
;-)Thanks for the plenty of feedback, but one more thing. Most of the answers deal with selling the idea to an advertising agency. But what if you sell it to the company direct. Say you have an idea for a certain product of a company. So you don't only sell the idea but the whole realization (website, print etc...)
- Major companies put their ads through rounds and rounds of focus groups and have relationships with their ad agencies, they don't just take ideas off random people on the street who may or may not have a cluemax_prophet
- agencies, they don't just take ideas off random people on the street who may or may not have a cluemax_prophet
- _me_0
produce it as a spec ad. put it out on the web with your name on it.
- paraselene0
same applies, really. you still have no protection. there is a well-known smoothie brand who are notorious for nicking ideas from ad agencies that pitch to them - to the extent that they've been blacklisted by certain global networks.
- innocent my ass eh?!!chossy
- SHHHH SHHHS HSHS SHS HSHHSHSHS SHSSH SSLANDERkelpie
- i don't know what on earth you are talking about...paraselene
- innocent are a bunch of pig fucking lawyers, don't believe a word about their niceness, it's a huge jokemax_prophet
- roundabout0
This is all back to front, Advertising have the ideas, they just need to sale them to the bloody clients. But if you want to give us your ideas too, fill free. :)
- Jimbo820
I had an idea that I used in a series of pieces for my final presentation at uni, really simple but interesting concept. Anyway, six months later, Orange used the EXACT same theme/execution for a billboard campaign.
Coincidence? I THINK NOT!!! It might have been. But definately they stole it. Or maybe they also thought of it.
- caput580
I did try once, I had an idea for a series of TV commercials for a product, and was laughed off the premises...
- NickInfozure0
Ive had ideas stolen before. Its part of the process most of the time.