Hard to know whether to file this under Business Development or Marketing — but it’s spectacularly bad practice in any event.

The folks over at Vaughn Whelan & Partners attempted to hijack the agency review under way by Molson Canadian. Their site, established especially for this effort, lays it all out in 22 points. Bottom line: They weren’t invited to the party and thought they should be, so they took their case public.

Ballsy? That’s not the half of it. Airing an unauthorized commercial for your potential client’s product is the ballsy part. And it blew up in the agency’s face.

Now, following a letter from Molson’s attorneys, the head of Vaughn Whelan has this sage observation: “”The whole project had one function. To get me an hour in their boardroom — which is not going to happen, I think.”

Too many creatives need to learn this lesson over and over: For all but the earliest start-ups, your creative, your concept, your Big Idea is never, ever going to be bigger than the client’s existing emotional/legal/market investment in his brand. You are there to serve the brand; the brand isn’t there to serve your concept.

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