Cat Fight! Catvertising vs Kittywood
John st. Catvertising versus Kittywood as Competing Cat Advertisers
Toronto-based ad agency, John st., created the first Catvertising agency, but Kittywood Productions claims the advertiser stole the idea from them.
The Internet continues to be the go-to location for all things cat. A new movie studio and ad agency, both dedicated to producing cat videos, are clawing it out. Did advertising agency John st. steal the idea from Kittywood?
To stay on top of the ever-changing advertising landscape, John st.., a Toronto-based ad agency, generated some buzz last week with this video, claiming they opened the world’s first “Catvertising” agency.
John st. issued a press release which noted that by 2015, cat videos will represent 90% of the content on the web. Why? No one wants to see ads anymore. They want to see cat videos. You think sometimes you’re gonna run outta material, but you never do. Then, you come in the morning and are like OMG Trombone cat!
The clip went viral—Catvertising had more than 300,000 views (and counting) since John st. uploaded the video on November 10th.
With tongue firmly planted in cheek, a marketing exec at John st. proclaimed No-one wants to see ads anymore—they want cat videos, and it’s a sentiment I can vouch for. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve sat in high-level marketing meetings at Wired, during which the conversation trudged along the following conversation.
Marketing: “Nate, we need to develop some innovative new ads for Wired.co.uk, what we’re thinki…”
Nate: “Use a video of a cat. Doesn’t matter what type, just use a cat.”
Marketing: “That won’t work, the advertiser really believes…”
Nate: “Trust me, shove a cat in an MPU. Clickthroughs will quadruple.”
Sadly, the advertising video is a highly polished hoax. The agency set the highly entertaining video to capitalize on “Catvertising” business models.
There’s another problem. Hundreds of viewers commented that the idea bears more than a passing resemblance to Kittywood, a YouTube short about a cat video movie studio uploaded August 10th, which garnered more than 500,000 views (and counting).
Joe Nicolosi, the Austin-based director of Kittywood, isn’t laughing. He wrote an angry post on reddit last Tuesday entitled “what can I do other than call them copycats”?
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but the similarities are too much for me to suspend my disbelief. The funny thing is I originally came up with the premise thinking about how so few things in my life aren’t part of some massive corporate machine. Now, an agency has ripped off my video for purely capitalistic reasons. The experience has left me pretty bummed out.”
Nicolosi later tweeted that he wasn’t interested in dragging the Canadian agency into a U.S. court in a copyright battle over his $500 video. Not really looking for a legal solution. Just hoping more people give them sh*t about it.
He told Mashable.com
I have no plans to take any sort of legal action against anyone, hopefully ever. That seems like such a negative way to go.
People are enjoying the John st. video, I think that’s awesome. I think it’s a well produced video. It’s frustrating to me because I don’t have near the production resources they do, it’s tough for one person to compete with an entire agency.
As for their ‘honest mistake’ comment. Whatever. Anyone putting that much work into video does research, you go out and find similar videos and figure out where yours fits in. I’ve done it with every film I’ve ever made. Kittywood doesn’t have a millions hits, but it has enough that you’d find it pretty fast.
They reached out to me today after four days of radio silence to tell me that “Great minds must think alike.” That didn’t really make me feel much better. Every single YouTube comment about Kittywood, however, does.
I just hope when they say they want to partner up it doesn’t mean they’re planning on copying anything else I’ve made.
When John st. heard of Kittywood’s video, the agency protested its innocence, issuing the following statement: Sorry folks. Don’t know what to say. It’s an honest coincidence. Hadn’t seen [Kittywood] before, but we can see the similarities. Maybe we should partner up for cat domination!
These spoof documentaries may highlight the truth; the truth that an agency set up to make online ads using cats as actors would almost certainly be a profitable venture.
Or, become the most fun place to work in the world.
Mad Mike’s America thanks CBS, Wired UK, and mashable.com.
Will cat advertisements capture 90% of the advertising revenue by 2015?
Love the both! Inspired my own catvertising spoof >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozOnv-o_GH8
I think that without a doubt, my students would find class more entertaining if I could integrate cat videos.
LOL LOL!
If I had to vote on it, Catvertising is the funniest.
I’m with you on that one.
I loved this article and those vids were a riot. Thanks.
This is a hilarious coincidence. I was just getting ready to put together the same dadgum post. Ha! You just saved me an hour of my life.
Didn’t this happen with the Cain post? Great minds, you know.