“The Client Rewrote My Work!” — Consolation For Copywriters

by Freddy Tran Nager, Founder of Atomic Tango LLC + Former Advertising Copywriter; photo by Jeshoots on Unsplash…

To their horror, my students discovered that their class-project client (the director of a nonprofit organization) had rewritten the marketing copy they had written. They asked me what they could do. I thought, “Welcome to the real world…”

During my copywriting career, I had my work rewritten countless times, sometimes for good reasons (I didn’t capture the client’s voice), and sometimes bad (their egos relished revising a professional’s work). When I could afford to do so, I usually resigned from accounts that proved unrewarding creatively and financially — but I didnn’t always have that luxury.

For this school project, the students couldn’t resign. On the positive side, the incident provided a “teachable moment” to experience how business works. Here’s my response to them…

“Having your work rewritten sucks. I know because it’s happened to me throughout my career, even after I started my own consultancy and became a professor.

In other words, it’s also quite normal. Political speechwriters have to produce multiple drafts for near illiterate politicians. Screenwriters see their scripts butchered by clueless directors and studio execs. And copywriters have their ads rendered virtually unrecognizable by “I can do it myself” clients.

That doesn’t mean you have to like it. D your best possible work and to take great pride in it. Then save your versions and include them in your portfolios and job applications. Your portfolio is your sanctuary.

But to keep your jobs, you still have to go along with what clients, bosses, directors, and others want, while you continue to hone your skills and build your reputations.

In the future, when you become accomplished communication professionals, you might still have your work rewritten. But with your enhanced skills and reputations, you’ll get paid enough to compensate for the pain… and to fund your own personal projects where you’ll have 100% creative control (every advertiser’s dream). Personal side-projects are essential in a nonsensical world.

In the meantime, take a deep breath, understand that the client in this case means well, and see what you can learn from their edits. They appreciate your efforts — which they have told me repeatedly — and so do I.”