Fix agency approval loops that delay campaign launches

Identify the decision that keeps reopening

Agency review becomes expensive when every reviewer can change every part of a campaign without owning the resulting decision. A cricket partnership page may circulate between brand, commercial and legal teams while nobody confirms whether the offer itself is authorised.

Review one delayed asset and classify every unresolved comment. Is it about factual accuracy, rights usage, privacy, accessibility, brand expression or personal preference? Different questions need different approvers. Combining them in a single unstructured comment thread makes disagreement look like progress.

Give each approval a defined scope

Name one accountable decision-maker for each review category and one release owner. The commercial reviewer confirms the offer and availability; a qualified reviewer handles legal questions; the brand owner assesses expression. Make escalation explicit when two approved requirements conflict.

Government guidance on business advertising provides a useful reason to isolate factual claims from stylistic review. W3C's form guidance similarly offers concrete checks for an inquiry journey. Neither task should be treated as optional because a campaign looks visually finished.

Use an approval evidence sheet

Create a release worksheet containing the asset version, market, intended audience, offer, source of factual claims and required approvals. Each reviewer records approved, changes required or outside my remit. Silence should not be interpreted as approval.

Attach a specific acceptance test to every blocking comment. For example, replace make the form better with label the required organisation field and verify its error message. Reviewers can then determine whether the requested change was completed without restarting the whole creative discussion.

• Every blocking comment has an owner and acceptance condition.
• Commercial claims have evidence and an authorised approver.
• Late material changes identify which approvals must reopen.
• The release owner records the final approved version.

Control changes after release

Define which changes are minor maintenance and which require renewed approval. Altering punctuation is not equivalent to changing a sponsorship entitlement, price qualification or data-collection purpose. Keep a concise release record that downstream sales and delivery teams can access.

After the next launch, review where waiting actually occurred. Remove redundant review steps only when another owner genuinely covers the risk. The aim is not maximum approval speed at any cost; it is a repeatable route to accurate, usable and authorised campaign material.