Say the words “artist” and the image of a hippie-like figure in torn baggy jeans and flip flops springs to mind. So it was surprising to see a stylish black jacket and pair of athletic figure-hugging jeans stand up from behind a huge conference table and introduce himself as Laine Barnard.
We are sitting around the conference table at the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation headquarters and the air is thick with anxiety. The man behind the BTC – Be Line mobile phoneÔÇô brand and advertising creative work clicked at his computer lap top and for the first time since the interview started, leaned back against his chair and exclaimed: “Now that gentlemen is a kick ass identity.”
For the past thirty minutes or so, Barnard has been on the edge of his chair as he tried to parry allegations of copyright impropriety. In a moment of heightened passion, he even said things like, “I am upset that you would even suggest that.” These are not the rumblings of an arrogant genius, far from it.
In fact, Barnard is a respected figure in international design and branding circles. He is Group CEO of 8T Image and Brand creation/ta 8 Seconds which is ranked 6th in the top 10 brand and design agencies in South Africa. Barnard knows very well that if he were ever to get his wires crossed, the repercussions would reverberate throughout the branding and design world. Among his associates and acquaintances, he names the likes of Wolfolifsen, the designer behind the world famous Beeline brand. And perhaps, great minds think alike, because Bernard’s’ BE Mobile brand designs bear a striking semblance to Wolfolifsen’s Beeline brand designs. Some Batswana are, however, reading worse on the similarity.
Word on the streets and in the BTC corridor is that the corporation’s newly launched mobile phone company ÔÇô Be Mobile ÔÇô has paid close to P2 million for a brand and brand advertising material that may have been stolen from Russia’s leading Cellular phone service provider, VimpelCom, operating under the famous Beeline brand.
Botswana’s third cellular phone service provider brand and brand advertising symbols bear an uncanny similarity to that of the Russian mobile company. Of course, there are substantial differences between the two. But some BTC insiders, who have had calls from friends complaining about the similarities, believe there is too much of a coincidence – particularly as Barnard last year attended the Berlin Branding Conference where guests were given kits of the Beeline Logo and advertising images as mementoes. It was at this conference where Barnard met Wolfolifsen.
Besides, if you were to change the BE Mobile logo from green to yellow and replace the dots with stripes, the BE Mobile Logo would be a direct replica of the Beeline logo.
Barnard, however, is surprised that this should raise any eye brows at all. After all, a lot of companies use sphere shapes for their brand logos, because they are “soft, warm and approachable.” He goes on to explain that the Beeline brand logo was created from “a bee that pollinates flowers” while the BE Mobile spherical logo has linked dots to symbolize communication.
BE Mobile, however, has been running a number of adverts showing a green and black spotted butterfly next to a caption saying “Be Free.” Similarly, the Russian mobile company has, in the past, run a brand advertising campaign showing a yellow and black stripped butterfly.
BE Mobile has also run an advert showing black flip flop sandals with green dots while the Russian Cell phone company has in the past run brand adverts showing black flip flop sandals with yellow stripes. Again, if you changed the green color to yellow and replace the dots with the stripes, the BE Mobile advertising images would be the beeline advertising images.
Barnard is at pains to explain this similarity. For the next thirty minutes or so we skirt around the issue as he clicks repeatedly onto his lap top computer to explain how the images come about. In what appeared to be a moment of lapse, Barnard clicks onto another image they were working on for the BE Mobile logo. This logo, like the beeline logo, was also spherical and stripped. However, while the beeline logo was taken from the “bee that pollinates flowers” this BE striped logo was taken from the zebra. This logo, however, was abandoned for the green spots.
After a long presentation fraught with advertising and branding terminology, we again ask Barnard to explain the similarities in the advertising images between Be Mobile and beeline adverts. And again we go off on another verbal cat and mouse chase. After a while, Barnard acknowledges that like Beeline, they used the butterfly in the BE Mobile advertising teaser, but goes further to explain that “I know of a lot of companies that have used the butterfly in their advertising images. No one can claim ownership of the butterfly image.”
Barnard, however, claims that he is not aware that Beeline used flip flop sandals in one of their advertising images. After a short debate, Barnard finally backs down with a “well, no one can take ownership of flip flops and butterfly.”
Operating under the Beeline brand, VimpelCom has a cellular license portfolio that covers territory of approximately 240 million people. As of 2006, VimpelCom’s total number of subscribers exceeded 55 million, with over 48 million in Russia and another seven million in six CIS countries.
For competitor differentiation, VimpelCom wanted to reposition the Beeline brand to better align with subscribers’ mobile lifestyles. The challenge was to implement a marketing strategy that would encompass this vision and actualize VimpelCom’s promise of “Live on the Bright Side” slogan. Therefore, it needed to develop a deeper understanding of young subscribers’ interests, and build relevant promotions and loyalty schemes with merchandise that would increase youth identification with the new Beeline brand.
BE Mobile, which also targets young subscribers, is also pursuing a similar branding and marketing route. Barnard, however, says there is nothing strange about that, “any third entrant in the market has to target the youth if it is to survive”, he says.
BTC has, however, closed ranks around Barnard and his agency, 8 Seconds. In a written response, BTC Public Relations Officer, James Molosankwe, said “we dismiss allegations as unfounded and damaging. The BTC mobile brand is exceptional, unique, fresh and one of its kind. However, of late, we have been made aware of some similarities in the use of some elements in the teasers campaign.”
