Getir accused of stealing advert ideas

Finance

Billion-dollar grocery startup Getir has been accused of intellectual theft by a marketing firm.

Issa PR head Viet N’Guyen claimed the delivery giant stole advert concepts and plagiarised its slogan after a meeting in January.

A number of marketing agencies, including Issa, made pitches for Getir’s London launch this year.

The Istanbul-based business eventually gave the contract to a different PR firm.

READ MORE: Getir becomes unicorn with $2.6 billion valuation

N’Guyen accused Getir of taking Issa’s ideas for advertising on bike boxes, buses and bus stops.

She added that its slogan, “groceries in minutes”, was lifted from her firm’s proposed “groceries in 15 minutes” tagline.

A Getir spokesperson told PRWeek that it had already used similar advertising tactics in Turkey.

“Getir has successfully grown since our launch in 2015 through many marketing ideas and channels such as outdoor advertising and branding on our bikes, couriers and bags,” they said.

“To suggest such ideas carry IP [intellectual property] value is baseless and without merit.”

N’Guyen said the startup had told her the bike box adverts would be “distracting” and “dangerous”, weeks before using them around London.

She also denied that the “groceries in minutes” slogan had been used overseas.

“We reviewed all of their previous marketing […] and they have never used a time promise or explanation of their services as groceries on any bike boxes in Turkey,” she claimed.

It marks the latest copycat controversy to hit the grocery sector this year.

In April, Marks and Spencer accused Aldi of infringing its Colin the Caterpillar trademark with “Cuthbert the Caterpillar” cake.

It lodged an intellectual property claim with the High Court to get Cuthbert off the discounter’s shelves.

The following month, Lidl was banned from selling its own-brand gin by the Court of Session for “riding on the coat-tails” of Hendrick’s.

Two weeks ago, Marks and Spencer was criticised for laying claim to a bacon, chilli and naan recipe.

It later admitted the meal had been “inspired” by the Indian restaurant Dishoom, having originally said it had been created by one of its sponsored chefs.

Finance

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