Editing for agencies and advertising campaign copy

Reviewed by Benjamin Lohrer, editor at corrected.eu · Last updated: 28 July 2026

Keep the brand tone and still deliver without errors

Editing for agencies has to do something that classic proofreading does not: it must not iron out the tone. Advertising copy lives on rhythm, brevity and deliberate rule-breaking. A tagline without a full stop is not a mistake but a decision. Even so, no ad should go to print with a typo.

Rule-breaking or error: how we tell the difference

The deciding question for every striking sentence is not whether it follows the standard, but whether the deviation is consistent. A tagline without a closing full stop is a deliberate choice. Three taglines in the same campaign, two of them with a full stop, are an error.

We therefore correct only what is clearly wrong and report everything else as an inconsistency. Clipped phrasing, ellipses and deliberate lower case stay as they are as long as they follow a recognisable pattern. Where no pattern is visible, we ask rather than standardise.

The real problem is the versions

Agency copy is written under time pressure and passes through many hands. A tagline is adjusted in the presentation, shortened in the layout and reworded once more in the social asset. In the end there are three versions of the same sentence, and nobody knows which one applies.

In practice this spread is a more frequent problem than spelling. We therefore check all assets of a campaign together and deliver a list of deviating versions with their locations. Only in comparison does it become clear that the Instagram text uses a different form of address from the poster.

Brand glossary for ongoing accounts

For clients with ongoing volume we create a brand glossary: spelling of the wordmark including internal capitals, permitted and unwanted phrasings, tone-of-voice rules, form of address, handling of foreign-language terms and the deliberate rule-breaks that should stay.

With every further order we check against this glossary. It saves the recurring discussion about whether a phrasing fits the brand and makes the check reproducible, even when the contact person on the account changes.

Mandatory information and footnotes

Asterisk notes, prices, withdrawal periods and origin statements are the least conspicuous and most expensive part of a campaign. We check whether every asterisk in the text has a matching footnote and vice versa, and whether the details agree between assets.

We expressly do not carry out a legal assessment under advertising law. Whether a statement is permissible is for your legal counsel to decide. We report only missing or contradictory components.

In practice we often find that mandatory information drifts apart between formats: the ad names one promotion period, the social asset another, and the landing page has none at all. Deviations like these arise because the formats are approved at different times. They are the most common reason for short-notice rounds of corrections after sign-off.

Deadlines and terms

For small amounts of text we deliver express in 24, 48 or 72 hours on request. For print approvals with a fixed deadline we reserve capacity in advance so that the check does not become a bottleneck. With several campaigns running in parallel, we agree the dates together so that approvals do not overlap.

Billing runs through a free business account: proofreading from €1.90, editing from €4.90 per standard page of 1,800 characters. Agencies with ongoing volume reach volume discounts from 100 pages a year, billed through one monthly collective invoice instead of individual receipts. We work on English and German copy alike.

Further reading: business terms at a glance and checking a website relaunch.