Gigantic Goes After MDC's We Are Gigantic For Trademark Infringement
Over two years ago, Bernard Urban rebranded his URBANadvertising company to become GIGANTIC. In April, agency We Are Gigantic was born out of an MDC consolidation of its MFP and Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners agencies. We Are Gigantic is headed by Niel Powell who formerly was a partner at the now defunct MFP which suffered significant client loss.
Both GIGANTIC and We Are Gigantic are located in New York. Urban has taken issue with MDC naming its new shop We Are Gigantic and has filed suit against We are Gigantic, L.L.C. and Neil Powell claiming trademark infringement.
Urban tells us, "Neil has offered to peacefully co-exist with our company by offering a plan for differentiating our brands, but so far I have seen nothing that remotely attempts to accomplish this. I am flummoxed as to why this so difficult a document to produce for someone who is supposedly so proficient in branding. Specifically, I find the use of the color red in his logo to be particularly naive, given the use of red in our logotype."
Powell doesn't see a problem and told Advertising Age, "We love the name. We think the lawsuit has absolutely no merit. So does our counsel and so does MDC. We plan to vigorously defend it to the bitter end."
It's very easy to understand the potential confusion. With everything becoming an acronym or an abbreviation of itself, it's fair to assume We Are Gigantic could certainly be casually referred to as Gigantic which is why Urban seems to have a leg to stand on here.
Comments
Urban, no need to worry, powell, his ego and his agency are on a downhill spiral. Keep doing what you're doing and don't bother wasting your time. 'We Are Gigantic' will follow the fate of MFP and eventually lose their important clients. If you can't deliver what you promise your clients, you're nothing but smoke and mirrors...
These two miniscule agencies fail in every sense of the word Gigantic.
Powell's history of self-importance, egomania and pomp has only been out weighed by the consistent and significant account losses under his reign. He seems to have championed the role of loser leader since running Duffy NY into the ground. Powell is a talented, though one dimensional, designer who needs a concept guy to think for him. His legacy of agency failure tallies Duffy, Fallon, Powell, MFP and now WAG. MDC will logically not give him the opportunity to fail a third time under their backing. I believe this lawsuit is the end of the line for him.
Gigantic Marketing Bernard Urban is just the opposite of Powell. He's successful in a direct marketing type way. Unlike Powell's Gigantic, Urban's Gigantic actually does have paying clients and have been featured in AdAge for over two years. They don't however, seem to have any creative ability. Their website is cheap, tacky, hard to read and lacks significant examples of their ability. Where are the big ideas? Where are the awards? Where is the market increase? Urban makes a very good point though about the red logo issue and this thread makes an even more important point about the way the industry uses acronyms. A huge issue actually.
Gigantic Idea Studio who's URL is the same as Urban's minus the "s" at the end is another law suite contender here.
The online ticket agency Gigantic - who actually owns the only true iteration of the URL - may also take issue.
Overall, I think Urban and Powell should just merge. Powell would again get clients he didn't earn. Urban would get a creative staff that is totally full of themselves and finally they both would be Gigantic. They are both destined to fail, so why not go down together?
I just read the We Are Gigantic about us profile. So weird. They are ego crazies. I also heard Neil Powell never was the ECD at Fallon for 10 years, but ran Duffy Design instead. The two companies were in a partnership, so his profile isn't honest. I'm rooting for the Urban guy now.
I have to agree with the comments here. Neil Powell is going to evaporate soon. It's really amazing how many people write about him and it's "all" negative. He sounds like such a bad human being. I applaud Mr. Urban's lawsuit. Protect your rights!
i have to agree with Andy B. Bernard Urban is a hack and a tool! I heard that they don't even have planners at his agency Gigantic b/c they are too dumb to know better! I also heard that Neil Powell's agency has super bad catering at their client meetings--it's just Cosi y'all! I heard that, so it's definitely true!
I also heard that there was this big conspiracy surrounding the death of JFK. Can you believe?!? Thank god for these anonymous comments in blogs, otherwise, we would never know what is real and what is just random people with an axe to grind.
Neil Powell = Vanilla Ice
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