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Was 7-Eleven idea shoplifted from Burnett? Looking at all the rabid free publicity for The Simpsons Movie, it’s easy to think, “Man, wish I’d come up with that.” But when it comes to those awesome real-life Kwik-E-Marts, the folks at Leo Burnett are saying, “Hey wait, we did come up with that.” According to an NPR report, Fox and Simpsons creator Matt Groening invited Burnett to pitch campaign ideas for the movie. The pitch reportedly included a “World Gone Springfield” campaign, which would place the show’s iconic fake brands in real-life locations like Wal-Mart. Creative director Reed Collins says Burnett not only proposed turning 7-Elevens into Kwik-E-Marts, but even began negotiations with 7-Eleven marketing agency Freshworks. Time passed, and the deal fizzled. Now that Kwik-E-Mart fever is sweeping the country, Collins says Burnett has been left unpaid and uncredited. The Burnett team was last seen drowning their sorrows in a dank corner of Moe’s. Photo by rdr07. —Posted by David Griner

July 19, 2007 in Griner | Permalink

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I consider that idea to fall under the "duh" clause of intellectual property, where if the general idea is obvious enough, nobody really deserves credit.

Posted by: Jeff | Jul 19, 2007 11:52:26 AM

It's a nice idea. And Burnett could sure use the publicity surrounding it. But why didn't this come out earlier? I mean if somebody blatantly steals your idea why not bring it up right away?

Posted by: pete shotton | Jul 19, 2007 5:17:30 PM

And if you're so sure they stole it, why bring it up in such a passive-agressive, court-of-public-opinion way instead of just letting the lawyers handle it in due course? Why the need to call NPR? If I were the person/agency who probably did beat Collins to the idea, I'd be pissed.

Posted by: mark | Jul 19, 2007 6:31:42 PM

Given the assignment of a convenience store sponsoring the simpsons movie, who wouldn't have this idea? It's a complete no-brainer. To burnett, I have one thing to say, "ha ha."

Posted by: stevehappens | Jul 19, 2007 10:05:00 PM

Given the assignment of a convenience store sponsoring the simpsons movie, who wouldn't have this idea? It's a complete no-brainer. To burnett, I have one thing to say, "ha ha."

Posted by: stevehappens | Jul 19, 2007 10:05:40 PM

Leo Burnett should really go on a fact-finding mission before they make such outrageous claims. As a member of the team that brought this concept to life, I can say, without hestitation or reservation, that the idea was in the works prior to LB ever presenting this. In fact, it went through consumer testing before LB ever made a single presentation to Fox.
I can empathize with the creative's assertion ideas flow too loosely these days in the industry, without proper recognition or reward. But I can assure that it's not the case here.
As anyone who is a Simpsons fan can attest to (and I have been one for 18 years), the connection between the Kwik-E-Mart and 7-Eleven is somewhat of a no-brainer. Matt G. has, for 18 years, been extremely vocal about the connection in numerous interviews. The Kwik-E-Mart is a direct parody of 7-Eleven.
The real creativity and genius in the whole promotion is in how an agency sold this type of an idea into a client ... convincing a client to "get the joke" (about itself). And the icing on the cake is the flawless execution that happened in order to bring the idea to life in a way that has caused customers to wait in line for up to an hour to experience a brand activation that has broken all the rules.
If Leo Burnett wants to get some credit for making the association between the 7-Eleven and the Kwik-E-Mart, I'll go ahead and give it to them. WAY TO GO CREATIVES! YOU GUYS ARE GENIUS!
If they want they want to lay claim to being the first to do so, they may want to check their facts and then stand in line.
Even though we were the ones to bring this to life, we would never be arrogant enough to think we were the first ones to have this idea over the past 18 years.
We, fortunately, just were the ones tenacious and creative enough to get it done.

Posted by: Sterling | Jul 20, 2007 12:23:59 AM

i think jeff is right on with the first comment. i love the execution of this idea, but it's not one of those 'i wish i'd thought of that' ideas because it's pretty easy to see how they came up with it.

Posted by: t | Jul 20, 2007 11:52:57 AM

On a gut instinct level, I'd take the word of a Burnett CD over that of a FreshWorks (nee Tracy Locke), um, "creative." I had the misfortune of working in the underbelly of Omnicom's integrated marketing group for a short time. Most of those people wouldn't know a good idea if it slapped them in the face and left a Thank You note.

Posted by: ad_scribe | Jul 20, 2007 12:43:00 PM

Well, that's exactly what Reed Collins was hoping for with his little golly-geewillickers-they-stole-from-me whine to NPR.

Oh, and if you worked there, you are one of "those people."

Sorry, scribey.

Posted by: puhleez | Jul 20, 2007 2:59:23 PM

RIP OFF!!!
is this a growing trend in advertising industry?

A friend from school who's now in Hong Kong show me this:
http://sandeepmakam.blogspot.com/2007/06/science-diet-dog-food-cannes-2007-lions.html

because he remembered this: (check out the one for Streamlight Flashlight by Academy of Art Unviersity students)
http://www.aef.com/exhibits/awards/clio_awards/2005/11

Posted by: -0- | Jul 25, 2007 12:36:05 AM

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