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by Melanie Burger. It was the famous author, Mark Twain, who said in 1889: “Yesterday Mr. Hall wrote that the printer’s proof-reader was improving my punctuation for me, & I telegraphed orders to have him shot without giving him time to pray.”

And not much has changed. Proofreaders are still largely greeted with a sprinkle of disdain. In fact, in the advertising industry, it’s a dying, thankless art. Changes marked are not always changes made, and salaries paid are grossly out of sync with those paid at publishing houses.

100% quality stampNot limited to

For the record, proofreading is not simply limited to being pedantic about spelling, punctuation and grammar. And “proofreading” as a term should also be relegated to same century as the above-mentioned quote.

Advertising has changed — everything is now regulated. The new Consumer Protection Act, Banking Act, financial regulations, and Advertising Standards Authority regulations are but a few to consider on a daily basis. This is where traditional proofreading organically morphs into the even bigger dragon called “quality assurance” (QA).

We now need to consider so many variables across campaigns: trademarks, product and price, legalities, plagiarism and consistency. It’s not just about full stops. The. List. Is. Endless.

Critical to any agency

A well-functioning QA department is critical to any agency — from reputation to the bottom line. Consider a simple typo in a Sunday Times DPS. Or an incorrect price point that, according to some contracts, the agency would be legally bound to honour.

The big mind-shift that needs to take place is that QA is not there to kill creativity or to redesign ads:

  • QA is there to ensure that an ad doesn’t get pulled after 500+ hours have been spent on it.
  • QA is there to amend language so that agencies have a shot at the award they and their clients have been hankering after.
  • QA is there to partner with account management and creative, and to be the bad cop when someone is briefed to use a song without rights or that infringes upon a trademark.

The crux is that we are good at what we do. We take pride in our work. We’re not being difficult for difficulty’s sake.

Consider this

So, before the creatives out there ask if we are “sure” about the changes we have made, consider this: “creatives” is not a real word.

 

Melanie Burger is operations director at Y&R SA’s Johannesburg office.

“Motive” is the new by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup.

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