Deja screwed

It happens to the best of us. You create a never-before-seen campaign that you're sure is going to cut through the clutter. But then you see it. One week before the campaign goes live, there it is on the small screen: Your idea dressed up in someone else's logo.

Take for example Subaru and Superpages. Both have their caped crusaders fighting for truth, justice and your hard-earned dollar. Of course, they're not competitors and each brand has its own unique creative tone and integrated follow-through, mind you. But now Mazda has thrown their billowing banner into the fray to take a little more wind out of everyone's sails. Sure, one has a cape and the other has some flags, but in the ever-shortening attention span of consumers, imagery is everything.

If that Superpages mechanic is checking out a Subaru SX4, we might have a rip in the space-time continuum.

But that is a rather innocent, innocuous example to be sure. What about when this double-take happens between direct competitors? Glad you asked. Currently, financial giants Prudential and Fidelity, both have very similar "road to retirement" campaigns. In one corner, we have Fidelity with its green arrow pathway mapping out your route to financial security like a TomTom (not Tauntaun). In the other corner, we have Prudential leaving little logos in the wake of every step you confidently take.

As casual observers, consumers might not know if they're coming or going. I saw these run within the same show.

Used to be, companies had to ride out this awkward duplicity and say, "May the best brand win." But now there are so many opportunities to tweak and enhance an idea through web, mobile and offline efforts to create greater distinction and flesh out the legs of the campaign on the fly to make it smarter, better, faster than your competitor's.

Unfortunately to date, neither has really taken their concept to another level to play out the total campaign. I've seen nothing beyond the TV spots for Prudential (though there is undoubtedly more.) And although Fidelity has wisely attempted to incorporate the pathway idea into their online presence in the form of a Guide to Personal Savings, the path to get there is ironically complicated, woefully buried and sets up like the opening credits of My Two Dads.

Having said all that, each of these TV campaigns has a lot to be proud of in terms of simplicity of idea and strength in execution. It's just uncanny that all of this is happening concurrently, and that I caught it all despite Tivoing everything these days. I mean, what are the odds?

Just goes to show how difficult it can be to uncover that one thing you can say about a brand that no one else can. And like I said, it happens to the best of us.