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Courtesy of The Creative Group:

Advertising and marketing executives were asked, “What is the funniest or most embarrassing mistake you have ever heard of someone making while working on a client’s advertising or marketing campaign?”

Many respondents lost to the competition … not their own but their client’s. For example:

“The presenter called the client by a competitor’s name.”
“A competitor’s product was served during a lunch presentation to a food retailer.”
“We went to the sales presentation with a competitor’s logo and information still in the presentation.”

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While creativity counts when trying to please a client, it’s not the time to gloss over details, as these people did:

“An ad we did for drive-time radio had such a complicated phone number, no one could remember it — and no one called.”
“All the comps were left behind at the office; there weren’t any materials to present to the client.”
“A zero was added to a million-dollar give-away by mistake.”
“We recommended a spokesperson who was dead.”
“The word ‘America’ was spelled wrong in the headline of a client’s ad.”

Not all goofs happen around the boardroom table. To wit:

“One of our art directors blew the whole presentation with bad table manners. He acted like he was the only one at the table.”
“We didn’t recognize the client’s president when he was in the building.”
“An account executive thought he had put the phone on mute — but had not — and was talking about the client.”
“A coworker sprayed the presentation board with insecticide instead of adhesive.”
“An associate had placed the presentation materials in a rented car — and then took a different car to the meeting.”

Nerves just got the best of this presenter:

“An account executive fainted during a presentation.”

And taking one for the team took on a whole new meaning for this account manager:

“I heard of someone who dropped an Exacto knife on her foot but was too busy to stop and take it out.”