By Raj Nair
Regional Creative Director, Contract Advertising
Atlast. Inspite. Ofcourse.
Everyday when it should be every day.
In stead when it should be instead.
CD’s. DVD’s. Does’nt. Was’nt. Could’nt. Did’nt.
Its a great day for walking on the beach.
Disbeleif. Releiving.
Shekhar,s shoes are ugly.
If you haven’t winced even a teensy-weensy bit till now, then read no further. After all, there’s no hope of impressing upon you the everyday errors that plague writers today, if you can’t see them either. Call me a typically obsessive, compulsive personality, but almost every single time I review a new portfolio or work within the agency, I’m also pointing out typographical/ grammatical errors. I have a simple input to give all those who use English as the language of communication – use it correctly. Else, why use it at all?
That said, let me narrate an incident that occurred early in my career as a writer. Three writers (including yours truly) and a servicing head checked an artwork. It still got released with a glaring error in the headline, no less. To be specific, the word celebrated got spelt as celeberated. Needless to say, we got collectively berated. And the cost of the release was deducted from our collective salaries.
To err is human. And always has been. But to carry on as though nothing ever happened, now that would be a cardinal sin. Early in my working life, I was taught by illustrious souls such as Mohammed Khan that God lies in the details. (So all you English writers, fret over where you place the apostrophe. All you art directors, body copy isn’t just a design element that has to figure somewhere in the layout. It’s meant to be read. Especially if there are no errors in it.)
Talking about attention to detail, the attention span of an erstwhile client from Delhi comes to mind. He would always come into a meeting full of energy, insist on knowing the agenda of the meeting and go over the details all the while peeling off his socks and shoes. he would all the while be nodding vigorously, leaving you with no doubt that he was fully present in the moment. Then, even as the hapless planner would be mid-slide or hopeful creative would be mid-script, he would lean back in his plush armchair and promptly nod off to sleep. To plumb new depths of inattentiveness. Usually, his thing was to surface approximately towards the end of the meeting, with one word uttered loudly. Take your pick between “Agreed/No/Approved/OK/ Repeat that”. He would re-enter the conversation and pick up as though he had never left it. Needless to say, we never got any campaigns approved.
The thing about paying attention to detail, dotting every single i and crossing every single t, is that there are bound to be casualties. Like I know this ex-colleague, an art director who was working on an artwork that had to go out in the night. He had also invited another creative friend from another agency to join him the same evening, for a drink. The friend was told that the delay before they headed out would be no more than 15 minutes. The fastidious art director that the gent was, he suddenly, allegedly, discovered a blemish on the face of the model in the artwork image, that given the quality of printing and the screen that is used in newspapers, would not even have been visible. Nevertheless, the art director proceeded to clear up the blemish. For five straight hours. Till he was fully satisfied that the blemish was gone. His hapless friend was seen sleeping on the sofa in the reception. Till the wee hours of the morning. Collateral damage.
Then there was the instance of the art director who had to redo a layout no less than 15 times because that’s precisely how many times the copywriter chose to revisit the body copy. Which had wrap-around text around no less than five small objects placed in the body copy. The art director, the great sport that he was, carried out all changes with a smile on his face. The campaign went on to win awards all over. So, in short, it’s good to be fussy. It’s enriching to be exacting. It’s rewarding to persevere. Never settle. There are no short cuts.
Feedback: rage.nair@gmail.com
