FEATURE
THE BIG BOYS
APPLE AND SWATCH TANGLE OVER SLOGAN
Apple vs. Swatch
– and other legal affairs
Apple has taken Swatch to court over its use of the phrase ‘Tick Different’ in its latest ad campaign saying it is
too similar to its own ‘Think Different’ slogan in the ‘90s. But this is not the first time Apple and Swatch have
sparred over trademarks, as SHEKINA TUAHENE explores
According to Apple, Swatch’s
phrasing too closely resembles
its own grammatically incorrect
catchphrase, ‘Think Different’ -
no longer actually used on any
of the firm’s official promotional
material, it’s worth noting - and it
has accused Swatch of capitalising
on the success of what was an
iconic campaign two decades ago.
Apple used the phrase in the
1990s in adverts featuring many
celebrities and recognisable faces
such as Einstein, Martin Luther
King and John Lennon. At the time,
the phrase was thought to be a
response to IBM’s slogan, ‘Think’.
The advert was critically
acclaimed and won Apple a number
of awards including the 1998
Emmy Award for Best Commercial
and the 2000 Grand Effie Award
for most effective campaign in
America. Apple stopped using the
phrase for its campaigns when it
released the iMac G4 in 2002.
Fast forward to the present, and
the key question is how strong is
Apple’s case? To win the current
dispute, Apple has to prove that
Swatch’s latest slogan creates a
correlation with the Apple brand in
at least 50% of consumer’s minds.
Swatch has denied capitalising on
Apple’s success, with its defence
for its use of ‘Tick Different’ being
that it is a play on Swatch’s own
slogan that it used in the ‘80s:
‘Always different, always new’.
Swatch’s CEO Nick Hayek has
insisted that the similarities are
merely coincidental.
APPLE AND SWATCH’S
HISTORY
This recent butting of heads follows
quite a long line of disagreements
between the two, which have met
in court multiple times over the
years: neither is unfamiliar with
June 2017 | jewelleryfocus.c