The day my billboard copy got flagged for plagiarism

I was sitting in a client meeting downtown Austin, pitching a new campaign for a local coffee chain. Mid-presentation, the marketing director pulled up a competitor's ad from 2019 and said my headline was nearly identical, word for word. My heart dropped because I had never seen that particular ad, but I guess great minds think alike in the worst way. I owned the mistake, pulled the concept on the spot, and we spent the next hour brainstorming 12 new angles from scratch. The client ended up liking one of the wild ones we came up with under pressure, but now I run every draft through a plagiarism checker. Has anyone else had a near-miss like that blow up in a meeting and how did you recover?

2 comments

2 Comments

susanm5622d ago

Cry in the car after, then blame it on the coffee.

cameronn6221d ago

Totally been there. I once had a rough meeting and ended up parked in the grocery store lot, just letting it out. Then I walked in with puffy eyes and told the cashier I had allergies, but really I just needed to buy ice cream and pretend I was fine. The coffee excuse works too, nobody questions a bad caffeine day. It's like a free pass to feel whatever you need to feel, then go back to being a person.