Learning to love your mistakes

I've done a lot of great work in my career. I've also made my share of mistakes. My silliest war story? About fourteen years ago, in my first "marketing director" position, I was in charge of marketing several retail centers in several states.

It was a completely consumer-focused position (I still do consumer work but much, much more BtoB work now). It was a terrific job for me to really cut my teeth. See, each retail center had vastly different demographics and selling points so I needed to tailor each strategy and plan accordingly.

Some centers were bigger, some catered to singles (vs. families), some faced mighty competition, some were in the lead. Some had large budgets and some had laughable ones. About 14 of them altogether.

For one shopping center smack dab in a suburban environment we held an Easter event. It racked up customers, sales, goodwill and loyalty as we held several Easter Egg Hunts throughout the day for different age groups (think thousands and thousands of candy-filled eggs). We also had fun rides in the parking lot and special prizes in each of the stores. So it was like Halloween and Easter all in one. I'm likely responsible for many cavities.

To advertise the event we used local radio, regional TV spots and in-store flyers. And for the flyers, you should have seen the design and the copy. A work of art. No stone left unturned.

Except...well except the date of the darn event. (oddly I didn't forget the time, though.)

I must have looked at that bunny flyer a hundred times. Didn't matter if I'd looked at it a thousand times. In my mind it was there. But what my mind needed was another pair of eyes to review it.

Those poor retail merchants were flooded with calls asking "Well, when is it?!!" So with one flyer I put-off my two audiences: customers and merchants.

Another lesson learned: parents take Easter Egg Hunts very seriously because kids are important and Easter Bunny comes but once a year (a year is a long time to a kid).

Luckily I'd been respectful and kind to my vendors so we had re-issues of the flyers within 24 hours (marketers, be kind to your vendors and they'll help you out in a pinch without charging you extra).

All told, the event went smashingly well. But man oh man did I get roasted for months. My coworkers kept messing with me and telling me I'd forgotten to date my memos. And payroll told me they were sorry that I would have to wait on my bonus...as they had forgotten to date it.

(it came the next day, with a date on it ;-).

So feel free to tell your biggest snafu, or your silliest. It need not involve bunnies.

PS: Since we're sharing snafus, I'll share another. One event featured a 20-foot x 20-foot cake we had created to commemorate a 20th Anniversary along with a fashion show hosting some of the local "celebs" walking the runway, including the UConn Basketball players. But they decided to get all impromptu without permission and threw balls into the cheering crowd.

No, they didn't hit the cake.

They did hit an elderly woman (she was absolutely OK, but bruised. I still hold the guilt). I even screamed at them, "You miss a 20-foot cake but you hit an elderly woman?!" Lesson learned: watch your talent closely, they'll often surprise you at the last minute.

Comments

[Valeria Maltoni]

That's really funny, CK. I think I make at least one small mistake per week ;-) Yes, it would be great to see it all and have many people help check things out -- most of the time it works. Sometimes we do something new or resources are so stretched that one thing slips. We remember the slips more than the perfect storms... and boy, do we learn!

[Connie Reece]

*deep breath* 1984 election. Direct mail campaign that included a lapel pin. Delivered to mail shop affixed to cards that were supposed to be machine insertable but weren't. Total miscommunication w/ the manufacturer. Had to hire a crew to hand insert & pay dearly to get them mailed in time. *exhale* (mailing was still profitable, but man was it a production nightmare)

[CK]

@Valeria: Yep, we have to be really careful of the "slips". Just like I thought that one flyer was fine (oy!).

@Connie: Exhaling with you--and glad it worked out well. Yeah, communication is a tough one. I swear I can have the same convo with 10 people and 9 got the message. The 10th is usually the printer ;-). I've done my share of midnight stuffing before. One day I'll tell ya the story about the "Vice Presidential" Debate at one of the venues I was marketing. There was a 1% chance that it would become a Presidential Debate (BIG difference).

But they tell you about the change a few days ahead of time after you've been planning for a YEAR.

Why? "Security measures ma'am". We had to take down 6 foot pics of the VP candidates and get ready for 3,000 press (instead of 1,000). Magnificent madness!

[gianandrea facchini]

Many years ago, but not so much as I still have nightmare about it, we were managing a huge national meeting for an industrial association in Milan. Several hundreds managers and entrepreneurs invited. We prepared the layout of the card, had it approved but several people and printed it. The day of the delivery, we realized that there were no envelopes. We simply did not think about envelopes. In some way we manage to get out alive but I can't forget that horrible half an hour in which we had to find a solution.

[CK]

@G: Hi there, bello :-). You'll never forget envelopes again, eh? Yep, so busy managing the "elaborate" details we forget the "obvious"...just as I forgot the darn date on the flyer. The date!

Point is, you found a solution. Take good care and give my best to Roma (hope the restaurant is going splendid).

[gianandrea facchini]

This story made me love email the most: no envelope anymore ;-)

[Toby]

CK - Thanks for the great lessons learned. I too find that no matter how carefully I edit my own work (reading backwards, reading out loud) there is always some snafu (as Valeria can confirm .. she notices those on Diva). The eyes that didn't do the work are invaluable. My most memorable was when the title page of a major report had the wrong client name. Luckily it was a variation of the name and not a competitor. Midway through the presentation when we asked for any questions the CEO brought it to our attention. Talk about red faces.

[Toby]

CK - Thanks for the great lessons learned. I too find that no matter how carefully I edit my own work (reading backwards, reading out loud) there is always some snafu (as Valeria can confirm .. she notices those on Diva). The eyes that didn't do the work are invaluable. My most memorable was when the title page of a major report had the wrong client name. Luckily it was a variation of the name and not a competitor. Midway through the presentation when we asked for any questions the CEO brought it to our attention. Talk about red faces.

[Joe Kutchera]

Hey CK, fun story. Multiple sets of eyes are always helpful.

[Dentist Roseville]

It is important to learn from your mistakes in order to plan it our perfectly again.