TELUS, running away from animals to rip off Old Spice?
Sometime in August of last year TELUS thought it would be clever to rip off the famous “Old Spice” commercial. It launched its own version of the campaign and it seemed to be almost identical. I wonder why Telus would even bother trying to do such a thing, given the popularity of Old Spice’s version as well as the similarity between the two. You think someone, somewhere, would have stopped them.
The reality of the matter is that it only damaged their brand image as they strayed away from their classic and compelling “animal and catchy music” campaign (which I have always loved). It didn’t offer them any additional value and they merely came off as looking like copycats.
Now you can’t even find the campaign anywhere on the Internet. I assume Telus quickly realized their mistake as negative messages bounced around the Internet and began pretending like it never happened. However, it did exist. I saw it with my own two eyes, as did many others. See comments made by The Globe and Mail, Mobile Syrup, and TechVibes, and pay particular attention to reader’s comments on Mobile Syrup.
Beat-boxing Owl Commercial by Telus
If Telus is looking for innovative ways to reach its consumers, it shouldn’t completely disregard what works, and what they’re known for. Instead of replacing their cute and visually appealing animals with buff and obnoxious men, they should find ways to communicate the personality of their brand image through digitalized animals in new and exciting ways.
Recommended alternatives to copying Old Spice:
- Online Telus mobility site where you can download interactive backgrounds of your favourite Telus commercial characters
- Free mobile downloads of the songs featured on their TV ads
- A media contest where you can send in pictures or videos of your own cute animals to be digitalized into a Telus commercial.
There are a lot of ways for Telus to engage consumers with their current theme, they just aren’t thinking outside the box (clearly) or trying hard enough.