Layout Error in Advertising Material - A Real Damage Event
A small mistake can trigger an avalanche of unpleasant consequences. This was the experience of a design agency that was commissioned by a company to design product flyers. Unfortunately, a mistake was made in selecting the print files and 20,000 incorrect flyers were produced. Find out how it all ended in this article.
Agency Mixes Up Print Files
A design agency was asked to produce flyers for a company's new product. After the client had approved the artwork, the agency accidentally sent the wrong layout file to the printshop. By the time the faux pas was discovered, the 20,000 flyers with the wrong product prices had not only been delivered to the client, but some had already been sent to the company's customers.
Incorrect Flyers Distributed
In order to limit the damage and avoid any incorrect orders or complaints, the company immediately sent a sales representative to collect the incorrect flyers. Needless to say, the company then reclaimed the costs associated with the mishap from the design agency. In addition to the 2,000 euros for the sales rep's work, a further 1,000 euros were claimed as lump sum compensation for the damage to the company's image. In total, the claim amounted to approximately 3,000 euros.
Professional Indemnity Covers Damage
Fortunately, the agency in this case had taken out Professional Indemnity Insurance through exali and immediately reported the claim to our customer service department. The exali insurance experts took the details, checked the documents and forwarded them to the insurer. The insurer settled the claim for 3,000 euros within a few days.
Minor Oversight, Costly Consequences
This case illustrates how even a tiny error can have costly consequences. Although it may be of little comfort to the agency, they are certainly not alone. To prove the point, we have collected a few real damage cases where small mistakes have also led to costly outcomes:
Wrong Advertising Materials Ordered
In this instance, the mistake was also made when ordering promotional material. An agency was asked to print carpets for a trade fair to demonstrate the latest model of a vacuum cleaner manufacturer. Unfortunately, the wrong material was ordered and the company's exhibition could not take place as planned. The result was an angry customer and a claim for damages totalling 15,000 euros.
Read the full case here: Ad Agency Orders Wrong Advertising Material
Comma Error Causes Facebook Ads to Explode
In this damage event, a German online marketing freelancer was commissioned by a company to set up a Facebook advertising campaign with a budget of 15,000 euros. When specifying the cost, the freelancer made a serious mistake: he used commas to separate decimals - which is common in German-speaking countries - so the figure fifteen thousand would be represented as follows: 15.000. However, Facebook is a US company, so the system is based on American numbers, which use commas to separate thousands. So instead of entering the budget correctly as 15,000 for fifteen thousand euros, he entered it as 15.000 according to the German spelling, so Facebook read and created the budget as 15 million euros. By the time the mistake was realised, Facebook had already spent 250,000 euros of the budget.
Read on to find out what happened next: Comma Error Causes the Cost Of Facebook Advertising To Explode
Overlooked Cease and Desist
An advertising agency was hired by a car dealership to promote its latest branded SUV with posts on Facebook. However, the agency overlooked a cease-and-desist declaration that the dealership had signed with an environmental organisation. In it the company agreed to include the following information in advertisements, in addition to the specific car model: Fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and a reference to the fuel consumption and emissions guide. As a result, when the environmental association saw the ad again with the missing information, it demanded that the car dealership pay the contractual penalty of 6,000 euros as agreed in the cease-and-desist letter. The car dealership demanded this sum back from the agency.
You can read the full case here: Watch Out for Written Warnings
Online Editor
Daniela has been working in the areas of (online) editing, social media and online marketing since 2008. At exali, she is particularly concerned with the following topics: Risks through digital platforms and social media, cyber dangers for freelancers and IT risk coverage.
In addition to her work as an online editor at exali, she works as a freelance editor and therefore knows the challenges of self-employment from her own experience.
