USD on billboard typo: 'It happens'

Photos of the University of South Dakota's new billboard popped up across social media over the weekend. And their (sic) not the most flattering.

The billboard, which is on Interstate 90 east of Sioux Falls, reads, "Best in the Dakota's."

The added apostrophe implies that "Dakota's" is possessive, as in "Dakota's best college for people who want to live in Vermillion" or "Raposa's last piece of pie," instead of plural, as in the combined entity of North Dakota and South Dakota.

Lalley: Learn to love the big typo, it could be you

The grammatical error resulted from a mix-up in which an early version of a design was sent to the billboard company instead of an updated apostrophe-free version, according to Tena Haraldson, director of marketing communications and media relations for the university.

"We all recognized here when we looked at it that the apostrophe was misplaced. ... It was just an oversight that that's the one that was grabbed and put up," Haraldson said. "It happens."

Alumna Lyndsey Kastein, an interactive strategist at a Sioux Falls marketing firm, said her first reaction to the billboard was a massive sigh.

"It made me, obviously, feel pretty embarrassed," Kastein said.

USD worked quickly to correct the mistake, and a new billboard will be up soon, Haraldson said.

South Dakota State University's media relations coordinator Matt Schmidt did not want to comment specifically on the billboard typo, but he said such things are simply "part of human error."

"It's unfortunate regardless to whom it happens," Schmidt said.

USD posted a playful tweet Monday morning addressing the billboard.

Kastein said having a sense of humor can be good in response to marketing mistakes, but it also can gloss over the seriousness of errors.

"The best thing to do is own up to it," Kastein said. "Don't make excuses, certainly, and just work to correct it and ensure that it's not going to happen again."

The typo should not have been missed by so many people before it was posted, she added, and it was especially embarrassing for USD graduates because the error was so public.

"It's really disappointing," Kastein said. "I didn't even learn proper grammar in college. I learned that in elementary school, so it's just sort of inexcusable."