Today's Sure cricket ad from the Metro

Last year's Nike rugby ad.

We've often observed that brands trying to build credibility in the
sports arena will 'borrow' the Nike tone of voice. One result of this
is that misattribution of other brands' advertising often contributes
to Nike's ad awareness figures. Which is nice for our client.
But the resembalance above goes beyond tonal similarities.

White-clad English sporting heroes? Tick.
'Not without a fight' line? Tick.
Defiant, aggressive attitude? Tick.
Tick-shaped logo? Tick.

In the past when we've pointed out such things on this blog it's prompted a host of negative comments. So, to be clear, I honestly think this must be a coincidence and that somehow no-one at Sure or their agency was aware of our campaign for Nike from last year. (Despite the fact that it ran widely across a number of media, was widely reported and awarded and could reasonably be assumed to be part of the competitive set for this Sure campaign.) This is the only reasonable explanation for such a potentially embarrassing coincidence. Isn't it?

Ben writes:

Yes, we thought it was hard to believe too.
So we wandered in. And it is indeed a free shop.
People donate stuff – clothes, books, toys, food, anything really.
And you can simply pop in and commandeer what you want.
Obviously not everything is quite up to scratch.
Can’t see Sam Brookes wandering in on a Sat afternoon for a browse.
But it’s quite a mad place and worth a visit.
It’s on Commercial St opposite The Commercial Tavern (a little bit further up the road).
It occurred to us that with all the crapola – er, valuable but superfluous treasure – we have hanging around W+K Towers unclaimed since the move into the new building, this shop would really appreciate it.
So instead of binning it we'll try to pop down there with some of it.
So, visit FREESHOP and you may be able to pick up some lovely W+K memorabilia for free.
Quite literally priceless.