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A typo of even only 1 letter can drastically change your marketing message

by J. Barry Mandel
18 replies
Hi Everyone,

I thought you'd be interested to see what happened on this large billboard advertisement:
Typo on car dealership

It pays to review your work! :p

Best,

Justin
#change #drastically #letter #marketing #message #typo
  • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
    LOL! Thanks for the share.

    This reminds me of an ad I clipped from the back of one of those check-out counter magazines a long time ago.

    It was selling a fancy shower head with the promise: "Helps you relive your aches and pains."

    (Note: emphasis added by me.) Just what we need
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    • Profile picture of the author perryny
      If you subscribe to an Agora newsletter - I get Capital & Crisis - in this month's enclosed sales letter for their Laissez Faire newsletter contains two small slip-ups that somehow slipped past the proofreader. See if you can catch them.

      I'd scan and post the pages, but I lent it to my father-in-law 'cause I want to see if he responds.
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  • Profile picture of the author AmericanMuscleTA
    Haha! It's like having the comma in the wrong place.
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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    Devil's advocate time.

    They slipped up, true. But piece for peace is not shit for shirt or pubic for public.

    This did no lasting damage to their reputation, and their handling of it was fairly genius. We won't fix it. We'll donate to charity.

    So other than looking a little less than brilliant, what damage has this typo really done?
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    • Profile picture of the author ItsJasonWright
      Too funny. Looks like they overlooked the critical step to spell check and grammar check your work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Metacomet
      Originally Posted by angiecolee View Post

      ... pubic for public.

      ...

      I set pubic variables all the time and I'm the only one who thinks it's funny when debugger catches it.


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      • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
        Originally Posted by Metacomet View Post

        I set pubic variables all the time and I'm the only one who thinks it's funny when debugger catches it.
        I brought it up because I saw it once in the news. At a graduation ceremony.

        Talk about messed up credibility...
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  • Profile picture of the author wrcato2
    It's either flashx or cateye
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    • Profile picture of the author Metacomet
      Originally Posted by wrcato2 View Post

      It's either flashx or cateye
      Haha you got it. Now imagine hundreds of those, 99% likely the human eye won't catch it just skimming through. Good ole debuggers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ghoster
    Nice.

    Typos are also dangerous because your reader will assume you are of below average intelligence. Kind of hard to set yourself up as an authority then.
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    • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
      their handling of it was fairly genius. We won't fix it. We'll donate to charity.
      I disagree. Many more people will see the billboard than will hear about the donation to charity.

      And even knowing about the charity donation, it could leave a bad taste in some consumers' mouths: If they think mistakes don't matter, then how will they handle it when they make a mistake with my car?

      Marcia Yudkin
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      • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
        Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

        I disagree. Many more people will see the billboard than will hear about the donation to charity.

        And even knowing about the charity donation, it could leave a bad taste in some consumers' mouths: If they think mistakes don't matter, then how will they handle it when they make a mistake with my car?

        Marcia Yudkin
        Then they'll lose people who were probably too picky to buy from them in the first place.

        They addressed it in the way they saw fit, and possibly got some local publicity to boot. In my mind, the problem is handled. They could have spent money to fix it, or they could say, "oops, we're human. But we could use this money better elsewhere, so that's what we're going to do".

        I see marketing giants make typos all the time. That doesn't stop people from buying from them in droves.

        Embarrassing? Yes. Cost a few sales? Perhaps. Major misstep? Nah.
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  • Profile picture of the author Max Anderson
    As someone struck with dyslexia... I know the issue just too well...
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    "Peace" seems more compelling than "Piece".

    Not sure how substantial the difference would be, but I'd assume there is some difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author angiecolee
    Yeah, I mean there's, "relax and have peace of mind" vs. "I'm going to give you a piece of my mind".

    But 1, I don't think the second association is even remotely hinted at with the wording. It's all about the context.

    2, I don't think the misspelling will prevent them from honoring/offering warranties.
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    • Profile picture of the author perryny
      Here's the two errors I found in this month's Capital & Crisis from Agora. See if you can spot them...



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      • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
        On my site, I have a page of true typo stories and their real-life consequences:

        Stories of Expensive and Embarrassing Typos

        Some of the stories are amusing, others thought-provoking. Enjoy!

        Marcia Yudkin
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        • Profile picture of the author splitTest


          Article says the typo went "unnoticed" for months. I doubt that. Unnoticed by the dealership, yes. By others? Not so much.

          Personally, this kind of major typo would be a bit of a turn off -- especially on the part of a used car dealer.

          Fair or not, they already have a questionable reputation. I'd worry that they're going to sell me a lemon as shoddy as that sign.
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