Angel of Dream Jurgis - Ad comparison to Soom Io layout

Why did they do that? XD They had to know people will assume they coppied Soom's format since it's very clear.
That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the ads.
I would love to hear AoD explain this lol Who knows, maybe they did get permission
but without that assurance, I can only assume they copied the format.

 

The whole ad comparison aside, I'm curious about their 90cm body instead. Looking at Jurgis, especially his arms and legs, they're rather thin for that height. The torso in the pic with the wolf-head is pretty defined but I was hoping for something beefier. Well, if someone would just get the head and then blush it to match a more muscular body, it'll be awesome.

On the presentation, when I saw the rest of the pics, it definitely strike me as being similar in terms of format, layout and style of Io. Probably they did get the "inspiration" from Soom and tried to present it in a similar way, though it would have been much better with a different approach.

Nicole has an interesting sculpt. But yea, would love to see the bodies of the 90cm for both too.

EDIT: Just realized that this is not the official thread so please just ignore the other details referring to the dolls... >_<

 

Thank you all for your comment.We would love to hear your voices.^_^

 

ummmm wolfman is awesome! but he sort of delicate looking really...and well to lean? more muslces i think. Well it still a lovely wolf.

 

Might I suggest changing the discussion thread link in the news thread, or at least clarifying what this link is FOR, then? Because imhitomi's current link makes it seem like this is just a general discussion thread.

 

But W eregarurumon was blue, wasn't he? D=

I don't think anyone is saying he's an actual copied doll - original sculpt and all that - no need to debate that. That makes it kind of more disappointing - AoD definitely had the skill to make him completely original, they've proven it with the very interesting Nicole, and the well-sculpted scary wolf head and original <s>indigestion</s> snarling head - and just look at the gorgeous background art for his backstory! The evil-human-city is really pretty o,o Yes, yes, it's evil... But still pretty!

But instead, they chose to market him as a "Look! It's like Io! =D" kind of thing... it was really the crawling+on-a-cliff pics that did it. I can totally see where everyone that disagrees is coming from, but... it's just too much, partly because they didn't *need* to do that to have an original and successful doll. I'm hoping that they'll realize that and market their stuff in a more original fashion in the future. *nodnod* Sorry if I just offended anyone =C it's certainly not going to hurt Soom, as has been mentioned (I mean, how could it? Io isn't for sale anymore >_> everyone who wanted him has ordered him already...)

aceinit - Nicole and Jurgis are part of their 60cm line, I'm fairly sure. The 90cm dolls, are not for sale yet. (They're more than half as tall as me, as well 0-0)

mahoubunnybell - To be fair, before the thread title was changed, it was for general discussion of the fullsets - that's why it's linked there. Idrisfynn's post, I guess, means that after the title change, it's now for only discussing comparison to Io - but it wasn't when the OP linked it on the news thread, which is why she did.

(Personally, I suppose they're convenient to have, but I don't think Soom/AoD want their copyrighted images posted all over the place >_> links to the sales pages would work fine as well...)

EDIT: ...editing the post in the news thread to change the link is a GREAT idea ._.

 

I think that the ad layout (and the development of their 1/2 doll) shows that AOD is using SOOM as their template for sucess (I hope this makes sense ).

Soom's layout style is beautiful, easy to follow, presents their limited dolls and stories in a cinematic way.

I hope in the future that AOD will find their own ad style, as other companies have.

 

I thought they were too similar to Soom at first, but hey, Soom does good, why not jump on the bandwagon?

 

Because that would dissapoint people.

At least they dissapoint me. I am very into werewolves, they could easily make their own story, there are so much different ways to become one...

Well, at least the mold does not look the same.

 

What, does AOD think we dont know Soom, or something? I dunno, this was kind of a bad idea on their part. LOVE the idea for the doll, but the Soom-ripoff takes something away from him. AOD has such a unique aesthetic when it comes to the sculpts.... they should strive to be unique in ALL ways to suit their style. I just think copying a successful company's style is ... well, lazy more than anything else.

I do love those paw hands and feet though... maybe I'll split with somebody for them.

 

I was very irritated and disappointed when I saw this ad. I think AoD is capable of unique things. Their doll bodies are very nice and a lot of their 1/6 dolls are very cute! I don't see why they feel the need to blatantly rip off SOOM's presentation. Perhaps they should look into hiring a graphic designer or two for their website.

It probably irritates me more than it should because I do graphic design for a living. Anyways, I made an LJ post about this issue, but it reiterates a lot of what's already been said. You can read it here if you want, though.

 

I don't see it as lazy so much as 'playing it safe and sticking to what they know sells'. Few companies can afford to take risks, and if a certain design style seems to work, they're going to use it.

That said, I still think that AoD were... rather too blatant about the fact they were copying another company.

 

Well the ads do look mighty similar. I think this thing between the two BJD companies could work work like the relationship between the Rolling Stones and the old Blues guys like Robert Johnson and Bo Diddley, or so many other bands that start off copying and then develop their own style.

I am sure AoD will develop on their own too. They were probably just trying this Soom inspired layout on for size. Its probably super exciting for a company like them to attempt to do an ad as slick as Soom's. Now they have, they will be more confident with their own original ideas in future.

 

This kind of thing is done all the time in marketing/advertising in print and television ads.

To me, it does show a lack of originality, but sometimes a theme is the latest hot thing as in the circus themed dolls that you see several companies doing. At least they put their own twist on the sculpt, and the design.

This campaign is so much more professional than anything AOD has done in the past, I think it is a step in the right direction for them. Maybe originality in format and content of their ads will continue to improve as their advertising budget grows and they add more creative staff.

 

When I first saw the news thread I thought "What does a Soom doll do in an AoD thread? Oh my, what happened to their sculpts?" and then I clicked on this thread and realized what really happened. Tricky. I don't get why they had to rip off the ad. It should not be really hard to make up their own ad style, should it?

 

speaking of "the poor man's IO," I'm just curious as to why, with the discomfort this ad campaign has produced, nobody seems to be calling Faryland's new LittleFees "the poor man's Yo." I mean, they have wings that look distinctly similar to the Yo-Tenshis and everything.

I'm not saying this to hijack the discussion...I'm wondering if part of the reason people feel so disappointed isn't because there's such a significant difference in price and, well, status between the two companies. As much as more and more people are coming to the realisation that less expensive companies are putting out good products, I wonder if we would have seen the same amount of upset if SOOM's advertising had been copied by, say, Iplehouse. I also wonder if it's not partly because this is a big jump for AoD's graphic design--while I've only occasionally browsed their site, it seems pretty basic for most of the photography. When their new 60cm dolls came out (Sara is one, I forget the other), there was a big jump in makeup style and in the stock photo quality, and this is an even bigger jump. But I wonder, if a company that was already putting out photos of this calibre had done some that were similar to another company's ad, would people be so shocked?