Cut from the same elephant?

Two identical ideas created around the same time in two different countries.
Only today we featured on Campaign Brief Asia the Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok created print ad for WWF (below). Then later today, after the agency had noted the Ogilvy Bangkok ad, we received a submission from Bates141 Jakarta saying they had a very similar ad that ran on August 30th this year. It’s scaringly similar (see top), but it appears both were created without the knowledge of each other.
Credits for the top ad: Agency Bates 141 Jakarta. ECD: Hendra Lesmono. Copywriter: Iyan Susanto, Hendra Lesmono. Art Director: Andreas Junus. Account: Mohammad Rangga. Digital Imaging: Procolor. Photographic Studio: Lai, Groovy.

7 Comments
Well the one thing in common is that both ads blow. Both headlines lame and passive. And visually, whats the big deal having elephants carved onto a tusk….am i missing some great irony here…..like, what’s the deal man?!
You’re right. Lame headlines but The idea and visuals are strong. Shame they came out at the same time for the same client.
When did both ads run? Bates 141 was in August, what about O&M?
must have been a sculpture created by an artist first. then the agencies both saw it and thought it would be a good ad.
That’s the problem when some creatives surf too much weblogs such as ffffound, booooooom or reformrevolution! They surf, they see, somehow that sticks into their mind and it’s “Hey, this will work for WWF or Greenpeace or Animal Planet”
This may come as a shock…but if you have a visual that you think has an idea and an inappropriate headline…sorry….you have no idea left.
This is awkward. Prefer the O&M version. More thought thru