Oops! Did That Go Out?
Tuesday, 29 November 2011 09:50
When we think about great marketing, we think about the list, the offer, the response incentive. But do we think about proofreading? If not, we should!
Here are some “laugh out loud” typos and other direct mail mistakes collected from marketing and advertising executives around the industry. While they are funny, the more serious message is that, while entertaining in hindsight, disaster could easily have been prevented by someone taking a few extra minutes to look more carefully at the copy before letting it slip out the door.
Years ago, the company I was working for did a sales piece for Pepsi. They were promoting one of the beverages as "Code Red." In the final piece, it read "Coke Red." OUCH! Needless to say, those pieces never saw the light of day.
Back in the early ‘80s, when we had to typeset then paste up projects, my graphics shop produced a local magazine. We were handed a rush, last-second ad for a dinner/cruise ship that sailed the Potomac. We had a very short time to create the ad and get the magazine to the printer. The next day we realized that the line "Our uniformed captain and crew will make your evening memorable" was printed "Our uninformed captain and crew will make your evening memorable.” We stopped the presses to make the correction. What a difference an errant "n" can make!
Years ago, we printed a catalog for a national plumbing products manufacturer from art they supplied. Three years after the production, their national accounts manager called me and asked if I still had a copy of the catalog. He asked me to look at the front cover, which featured the word "Plumbing" in 76-point Helvetica caps. I told him it looked okay to me. He said look again. I again told him it looked okay to me. He said look again. I did and discovered that the word was spelled "Plumming"! I asked him why he didn't call me when they got the catalog. He said that he just noticed it, had received no calls from their customers, and that their CEO did not know about it. He made me promise to not tell!
I worked for a major insurance company and watched one of my co-workers cringe when his print job of seven million pieces headed for the recycle bins. The offer was for a policy for a husband and wife. The copy was supposed to read "you and your spouse." Instead it read "you and your souse." Guess you had to be married to a drunk to qualify for this one!
These typos are funny, but there is a very serious message here. Proofreading is an important step in the creative process that shouldn’t be overlooked. Even if you overlook it, your customers might not be as forgiving!
