A few years ago a media chum called me in a panic. He'd booked some cheap, late space for a client (very cheap, very late) in a Sunday newspaper colour supplement and his client has stupidly attempted to create the artwork himself. Sheesh.

The publication had rejected the work, partly because it didn't comply with their complex specifications, but also because the ad was appalling (they do have the right to reject ads on this basis. They have the standard of their publication to consider) and surprise, surprise, the client would still have to pay for the space, albeit cheap, but now somewhat ad-less.

So the request was "can I get them out of the cack?" In the next 2 hours.

And I did.

After a few phone calls to his seemingly ungrateful and, by now, rather grumpy client ("what's the matter with my ad?") with a few images and details flying around and a diplomatic silence about his humorous attempt at creativeness, we had an ad on its way to the publication, and everyone was happy.

Two weeks later I was invited to join them for a meeting regarding further and future advertising and to my amazement I was greeted with some disdain as it seems that the client had just received an invoice from the publication for £1,200 – for repro costs!

He was beside himself with anger (it was more than the actual space cost!) and his words were aimed directly at me because I was the 'creative bloke' (sic) "so it's your responsibility, we weren't told about this so we're not paying it!" and all eyes in the room were glaring at me for some words of solution.

However they weren't going to get it. I made it quite clear that his advertising had nothing to do with me, that I didn't work for the publication nor the media buying company (both of whom should have made him fully aware of this impending cost) that I didn't buy the space for him and, if he remembers, my only brief involvement with him was to drop everything I was doing for a couple of hours to extricate him from a self-inflicted pile of poop that he had found himself in.

Thankfully, I never saw him again.

Over the years I have witnessed this irritating scenario many times and it has never ceased to amaze and annoy me why media owners and media buyers somehow avoid informing inexperienced clients of the 'other' costs involved in advertising and in doing so the naïve advertiser believes that this is normal and acceptable practice.

They quite happily sell advertising space (and airtime) to an uninformed client on the basis of a huge saving off Rate Card but without mentioning that there are other, rather important, costs involved in producing the work – such as the creative and origination costs (which may include time, photography, purchase of images, props etc), production costs (once the ad is complete and agreed there is further work to produce campaign variant artworks) and finally, and this varies immensely, reproduction costs - and with National Press that can tot up considerably, although today, far less than the heady £1,200 type cost, but can still remove a huge dent from the advertising budget!

Once upon a time, in the distant past, it's true that advertisers never paid for any of this as it was then included in the full 15% agency commission (remember that anyone...15%?) but for the last 3 or 4 decades it's changed and we quite rightly charge them for everything, one way or another!

You wouldn't buy a plot of land and expect the cost of the house building and furnishings to be thrown in free of charge would you?

So if you are an advertiser OR a media buyer please note. Advertising will cost you the media space plus the creative costs plus the production costs plus the repro costs plus that expensive lunch we had to discuss it all.

David Wood. 2011