Content sign-offs: 7 tips (and a story from BA190)

A photo of a British Airways plane in the sky.

Content sign-offs: 7 tips (and a story from BA190)

Written by

Tony Hallett
 

30/01/2025

I recently flew on British Airways, and much as I wanted to write a piece about the decline of in-flight magazines — one of the great forms of brand publication and where BA’s High Life has excelled over the years — an ad that was part of the in-flight entertainment gave me other ideas.

Before any film on demand, there was a one-minute slot about Avios points and partners. So far, not so surprising. It’s BA, you say.

But this ad showed about a dozen cool locations around the world, places where most of us would love to visit, and it placed a big partner brand against each one.

It was a real mixed bag, mainly (but not only) big British brands. For example:

  • The Isle of ASOS
  • Provence de John Lewis
  • Riviera de BP
  • Puerta de la Sainsbury’s
  • Lake Barclays

But also, more internationally:

  • Uptown Uber
  • Fjord Avis
  • Playa del Marriott Bonvoy

The logos and exotic locations are not my point here. Being an old agency curmudgeon, all I could think of was how much it must have taken to sign off all the branded location names.
Like Mr Pink in Reservoir Dogs not being happy with his name, I could see the brand guardians at some companies not happy about Lake Barclays, which is clearly a Lake Como association. Who doesn’t want to be hanging out there with George Clooney?

Who got first dibs? Why did that retailer feature before the other? (Remember the rule of ABC in content.)

And does the ‘West Coast of M&S’ mean anything?

I really hope this all passed off peacefully for BA and whichever team puts together such a spot in its in-flight entertainment system.

But it got me thinking about the snags and tips we’ve found over the years with getting assets signed off by clients and anyone else featured in their content.

Here are seven tips from the CC team:
Shirley: First of all, as the content creator, consider your tone. Show (in comments, emails, Zoom calls etc) that you’re pleasant to work with, but will politely stick to your guns when it’s an area in which you’re the expert.

Bill: When someone not directly involved, someone you’ve never met, makes suggestions that aren’t helpful — perhaps even taking a piece further away from sign-off — appeal to a higher authority. This could be a company style guide or editor-in-chief.

Julian: Show you understand your contact’s needs — eg around timelines and deadlines, or who’s ultimately responsible for different sign-offs.

Fiona: …and that means making sure the final decision-maker is involved from the get-go. No one likes things sprung on them at the end of a project.

Aled: Engage fully through margin comments in Word or GDocs. At the very least, respond with a ‘Thanks’ or ‘Amended’ or explain why something hasn’t been edited

Becky: Flag next steps, always. And remember you need to chase people such as project sponsors or subject matter experts who need to sign off on work — emails fall down inboxes, after all.

Eve: And I’d add: be careful not to let anyone involved fall off email threads. If you see that happen, add them back in for the next round. Key comms contacts, whether on the client or agency side, should know who needs visibility.

What advice would you have for anyone trying to get content assets signed off in a company? We’d love to hear about your experiences and tips?

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