Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Civil war - Sami Saab vs Clementine?

 Home City by Clementine (Unpublished layout)
Home City by Phenmona

Now this threatens to be a civil war of some sorts. Sami Saab, former creative partner at Clementine, has opened his own boutique agency named Phenomena. Apparently he has taken clients with him, including Herro Home Holding which is the mother company of Solet Tapis, Home City, Drapd'lit and Flair.
I am here to question the ethics of the move, but in a very eerie event, Clementine has made public all the unpublished all the layouts they have done for the Herro Home Holding in 2013....
Now this is very freaky. It turns out what Clementine had prepared for Home City is almost a lookalike for what Phenomena ended up selling them. This means that the ideas had been brewing in Clementine before they were transfered to Phenomena (including typography, image chosen, layout, concept, etc...).
Did Clementine make public all those unpublished layouts to stop Saab from using what essentially agency material? Did Saab not just take the client with him but also the ideas he has previously sold when he was still at Clementine? Was Herro aware of the duplication of ideas? Where does the ethics of this matter lie and who or whom trespassed the boundaries?
This post has been written without resorting to talk to any of the protagonists and I am willing to amend it if a clear response gets me from any of them.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bi charafak who the hell cares!!!

Tarek Chemaly said...

I, Tarek Chemaly, care. For me it is a matter of ethics, values and legitimacy. So yes, I care. Now you want to keep living in a corrupt country where no one does the effort to make things right, better, and more transparent, there's nothing I can do about it.
He who steals ideas, clients, livelihood, concepts, is the same thing as someone who steals actual money, property and tangible objects.
I care. Any questions?

Anonymous said...

ou3a tef2a3... what a nut case... go see a shrink dude!

Tarek Chemaly said...

@saabkteer 3aleik tektob esmak?

Anonymous said...

SAMI SCAM!!!

Anonymous said...

lezim yen3amal no3 men el " awareness campaign " la kel el clients li 3am yedfa3o mabeli3' bel 40 wol 50 000 usd, aghlab el clients mech 3erfin yemkin me2ten3in bel mawdou3, menon byejo men gheir dowal 3arabieh, aham chi ya3rfo 3ala chou 3am bi kebbo hal ad massareh,fa lezem y koon fi no3 taw3iyeh,3aber "newsletter" masalan, la2ano hayda no3 men anwe3 el TONSIB, eza mech aktar.

nisrine said...

The only crime here is the duplication of shitty advertising. Glad to see failing advertising supermarkets multiplying. Gives hope to the already declining design scene in this country.

Anonymous said...

Saab invented the very first ad reselling service in the world..... :P

Anonymous said...

what are you expecting to get from a shitty country like ours where people are too educated to read books and they are all born doctors. Ads are supposed to target people and if the majority is ignorant so the ads will be as stupid as the people. What to do when most people prefer to have pe**ses in their hands (girls or guys) rather than a book that will stimulate their intelligence.

Maya no.