My client recently had me write and prepare them a ¼” vertical magazine advertisement.
They said, "We want this ad to be like nothing else in the magazine. We want to shock the ---- out of people. And we need more response to the ad."
When they received their finished product they said, "We love this; you gave us exactly what we asked for."
I told them:
1. Since there's nothing else like this in the magazine they may not run it
2. This is a really powerful ad, and it's YOUR ad.
3. Understand that I would never run an ad like this for my business
They understood all of the above and sent it to the magazine...
Instantly at the magazine’s HQ, an executive meeting was called to deliberate over my client's ad. They rejected the ad.
Until after a flurry of emails between client and media, media significantly watered down the ad to allow it to run.
I took the $500 check paid me for that particular ad back to my client; I told her this watered down ad isn't going to work as well as their original one and I'm completing disassociating myself (in client's mind) from this month's magazine effort.
She emailed the magazine and their response for the Sept. issue finally was to let my client run their original ad (the one that demanded executive counsel).
So the magazine’s final word about the original ad was, “we will let this slide and see what happens."
We shall see...and I'll let you know what happens too (maybe).
 Read About Joshua A. Stevens
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