When client requests go beyond the pale.

• Position: Workplace - The Creative Group surveyed advertising firms for their most unusual client requests

Most advertising agencies aim to please their clients, but some requests go beyond the call of duty. The Creative Group, a specialized staffing service providing marketing, advertising, creative, and web professionals on a project basis, recently surveyed more than 200 executives and account managers with the nation's 1,000 largest advertising firms for their most unusual client requests.

Those surveyed were asked: "What is the strangest request you have heard of an agency receiving from a client?" Here are some of their responses:

* "The client invited himself over to my parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner and ended up staying the entire four-day weekend."

* "I was asked to help a client's son with his homework assignments."

* "We were [requested] to provide scientific proof that our advertising campaign would be successful."

* "I was once [told] to dress up as a koala bear for a trade show."

* "My firm was [supposed] to plan a birthday party for our client's daughter."

* "I was urged to cast a family member in a commercial."

* "Our firm was [approached] to host a client's wedding reception."

"Advertising agencies often work so closely with their clients that the line separating appropriate requests from those that are excessive can become blurred,"...