Thejournal.ie recently covered an advertising campaign by Griffith College where 3 out of 4 outdoor advertising providers refused to put up the below billboard:

Apparently, it reflected badly on their employees.

Really?

Even photos of the final billboard clearly show that it’s a representation of an uneven job, rather than actual misaligned poster sheets.

Somebody, somewhere in the process took offence. It would have been much easier to manage the situation if the campaign had still been at the storyboard stage. As it happened, it had already eaten a significant portion of the 50K euro budget before the issue raised its head.

The learning is that we can’t control everything. However, it’s a good idea to engage stakeholders early in the process.