The launches that go wrong rarely fail on the creative. They fail on legal sign-off finalised the night before, tracking parameters configured incorrectly, or a customer service team that learned about the campaign from a customer complaint.
Twelve gates, no exceptions
Creative final approvals; brand systems compliance; legal and regulatory sign-off; tracking and tagging implementation; landing page QA across devices; analytics goals and conversion definitions; paid media trafficking; PR and earned media briefing; customer service preparedness; sales enablement; finance budget release; executive briefing. Each gate has a named owner and a cut-off time relative to launch.
The forty-eight-hour rule
Every gate is closed at least forty-eight hours before launch. Any gate that closes inside the window triggers an automatic launch postponement of seventy-two hours. This rule appears bureaucratic until the third time it has saved a brand from a public withdrawal.
Post-launch first hour
A defined first-hour rhythm: tracking integrity verified within ten minutes of launch, top-of-funnel volume reviewed at the thirty-minute mark, customer service ticket monitor for the first hour. A cross-functional war room is activated for any anomaly above thresholds defined in the readiness document.
Last updated May 2026 · Filed under Checklists