Hostway Says Netscape Nicked Ad Idea

• By theWHIR.com , June 17, 2005

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By Justin Lee, theWHIR.com

June 17, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Comparable ideas are bound to arise in industries as saturated as marketing and advertising, where ad agencies strive to one-up one another, and often end up tapping into the same elements of culture.

Whether it be creative inspiration, interpretation, or coincidence, similar advertisements often appear in print, television, on billboards and, more recently, online.

But Web hosting provider Hostway (hostway.com) says its viral promotion, "Bob's Cube," was more a target of blatant plagiarism than a source of inspiration.

Hostway's BobsCube.com takes an interactive look at the proverbial worker ant's habitat - an eight by eight office cubicle decorated with a computer, office supplies, loose paper, pictures, filing cabinets and a few toys thrown in for good measure. Visitors exploring the virtual work area are met with equal measures of amusement and Hostway advertising.

The similarities between Bob's Cube, launched on April 1, and Internet browser giant Netscape's "The Cubicle," launched on May 27, are too great to be called a coincidence, according to Hostway.

Netscape's The Cubicle also offers an interactive visit to an office cubicle littered with many of the same objects found on BobsCube, including some similar toys.

Bobscube has averaged nearly 10,000 visits per day, as well winning the "Site of the Day" awards from both Coolhomepages.com and Favouritewebsiteawards.com, says Hostway. The campaign has brought in a considerable amount of business for the company.

"When we rolled this out I did not expect it to be an order driving campaign, but it has actually been one," says Drew Mitchell, Hostway's marketing manager. "We've had about 130 orders placed from people who visited Bobs Cube, then went to the [Hostway] site and ordered a domain name or hosting plan."

After learning that taking any legal action would be a "long and drawn out process", Hostway decided to draw attention to the plagiarism in an arguably less effective, but nevertheless public way, sending out a related press release on May 27.

"With the great buzz Hostway has received, its no wonder Netscape wanted to join the fun," said John Lee, Hostway's vice president of marketing, in Hostway's tongue-in-cheek press release. "The team at Hostway is extremely flattered that Netscape chose Bob's Cube to inspire its design of The Cubicle. We're eagerly awaiting Netscape's thank you letter."

The incident was noticed by the popular Web site Adrants, which publicly criticized Netscape for blatant plagiarism.

"There's a posting on [Adrants] that talks about how Netscape ripped us off and that they did a poor job of it because it's a pop-up and pretty much any pop-up blocker is going to block it," says Mitchell. "So they sort of shot themselves in the foot."

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