Ogilvy-Vivo put ‘plagiarism’ spat to rest, reach an ‘amicable agreement’ outside court

• In an official statement, Kunal Jeswani, Chief Executive, India, Ogilvy said, “The leadership of both companies has reached an amicable agreement and the matter has been resolved.”
• This agreement was reached weeks after Ogilvy dragged Chinese smartphone maker Vivo to court claiming that the idea for a Vivo ad starring actor Aamir Khan for its V17 Pro campaign was first conceptualised by Brand David.
• The incident sparked a debate in the advertising industry, with a lot of industry veterans coming out in support of Ogilvy.

In an official statement sent out by Ogilvy, the agency said that the leadership of both Ogilvy and Vivo have reached an 'amicable agreement' and that the matter has been brought to a close.

This agreement was reached weeks after Ogilvy dragged Chinese smartphone maker Vivo to court claiming that the idea for a Vivo ad starring actor Aamir Khan for its V17 Pro campaign was first conceptualised by Brand David (a part of Ogilvy). The campaign, which Ogilvy had claimed looked very similar to their idea, had been conceptualized by Dentsu Impact.

Having reviewed the matter at that time, the Bombay High Court had passed an interim order asking Vivo to pay ₹1 crore or furnish a bank guarantee.

In an official statement, Kunal Jeswani, Chief Executive, India, Ogilvy said, “The leadership of both companies has reached an amicable agreement and the matter has been resolved.”

The incident sparked a debate in the advertising industry, with a lot of industry veterans coming out in support of Ogilvy.

Following the resolvement of the issue, Dentsu Impact said in its official statement,“As the issue is now resolved between Vivo and Ogilvy, we do not wish to provide any further comments. However, we stand by our earlier statement and reiterate that what we created is completely our original work, and we have always maintained this before the Hon’ble Court, as this is the fact. We are an agency of strong integrity, ethics and brilliant creative talent. We have absolutely no reason to resort to any kind of plagiarism, as we have no dearth of talent in our agency and have enough great work and awards that prove our worth.”

Speaking about the resolution of the issue, a Vivo spokesperson said, “We at Vivo strive to grow together with our partners, the local community, consumers and shareholders. Vivo has been built on strong ethical and contractual foundation and the vivo family takes immense pride in its values. We are happy to resolve the concerns with our partners-Ogilvy, and look forward to working with them in the future.”