How to Coordinate Your Agencies for a Campaign Launch
Coordinate a campaign launch by working backward from the intended customer experience. Establish what must be ready, who supplies each part, who checks it and who authorizes launch. Give every agency the same campaign brief and let the delivery specialists agree on their dependencies before the client commits to the date.
Download the editable worksheet (Markdown). Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details.
A finished advertisement is only one part of a usable campaign. Its promise must match the destination page, the offer must be available, and the business must be able to handle the response.
Start with the complete customer path.
Walk through what a customer will see and do, from the first message through the action you want them to take. Include the confirmation, sales follow-up or fulfillment process after that action.
For a hypothetical product launch, the path might include an advertisement, a product page, checkout and a confirmation email. For a business selling consultations, it might include a landing page, a form, CRM routing and a salesperson's response.
Give each step an owner. Ask that owner what they need from the other teams and how they will know their part works. This can reveal missing responsibilities that a channel-by-channel planning meeting would miss.
Agree on requirements before production.
Have the media agency specify the placements, formats, destination rules and measurement requirements before the creative agency completes production. Ask the website team to confirm what it can implement and test within the available time.
Creative should explain the message and intended response. Media should explain the audience and delivery conditions. The client should confirm offer details and provide support for product claims.
For U.S. advertising, the FTC says advertisers must have evidence supporting claims before the advertising runs. Have the appropriate client expert or counsel review claims rather than treating creative approval as sufficient substantiation. Read the FTC's advertising guidance.
Put acceptance between delivery and launch.
Define what a receiving team must check when it gets an input. A file can arrive on time and still be unusable because its format, copy or permissions are wrong.
Use acceptance checks that the parties can verify. Confirm that the approved message appears in the final asset, that links go to the intended destination and that the page behaves correctly on relevant devices. Test the conversion path using a controlled method that does not contaminate reporting or create unintended customer communications.
Assign ownership of corrections. The receiving team should report the specific issue, its effect on launch and the person needed to resolve it. Avoid treating silence as approval unless that process has been explicitly agreed and is appropriate to the risk.
Set one launch decision and a fallback.
Name the person authorized to approve launch after the agencies report their readiness. That person needs to see open issues and their consequences.
A partial launch may be reasonable when an optional asset is delayed. It may be unacceptable when checkout is broken, a required disclosure is missing or the business cannot meet the offer. Agree on these conditions before deadline pressure affects the conversation.
Document what happens if you delay. Media reservations, supplier commitments and internal staffing can make postponement costly. The decision should compare those costs with the risks of proceeding.
Confirm responsibility after the campaign starts.
Decide who checks delivery, customer experience and measurement once the campaign is live. Specify who can pause spending, correct a page or escalate an incident.
The launch team should know how to contact one another during the period when issues are most likely to surface. Set coverage appropriate to the campaign rather than assuming that every retainer includes evening and weekend availability.
Review early findings together. A media result can reflect the message, the audience, the landing page or the offer. The attribution guide helps keep those interpretations within the evidence.
Use this handoff checklist.
Apply the checklist to each connection between teams.
- [Supplying team] will deliver [asset or input] to [receiving owner] by [date].
- The receiving team needs [format, access and specifications] to complete its work.
- [Reviewer] will check the input against [acceptance criteria] by [date].
- [Owner] will resolve defects, and [client approver] will approve any change in scope.
- We have tested [customer actions] and recorded [results and remaining issues].
- [Launch approver] will decide whether the campaign can proceed under [conditions].
- If launch is delayed, [owner] will notify [affected parties] and manage [commitments].
- After launch, [owner] will monitor [specific risks] and can take [authorized actions].
After the campaign, review the handoffs that required rework. Update the requirements before the next campaign so the same misunderstanding does not recur. Use the shared working agreement for responsibilities that apply across campaigns.