It is early November. The main Black Friday materials are already in production, but the client has just requested an additional variant for several locations. The Christmas campaign has its construction and most formats closed, but one of the graphic versions is still waiting for final approval. At the same time, the agency’s account manager has received the first brief for a New Year campaign.
We wrote earlier about when to start planning Black Friday and Christmas campaigns → Black Friday and Christmas — September is the last comfortable window to brief. But even a well-planned campaign gets new variables in November: additional variants, local changes, further client decisions. What matters then is something else: what can start today, what is blocking the next elements, and where one late decision can shift the rest of the plan.
1. What is in production today
If planning started in September, the main scopes of Black Friday and the Christmas campaign are already closed or in production. Even so, additional variants, local changes and elements requiring separate approval keep appearing, while the first briefs for New Year campaigns start to arrive. If planning started later, the same principles still apply. Each of these campaigns has its own critical date, i.e. the moment when the materials need to be ready for use → How to write a print brief.
The projects compete for the same resources: the agency team’s time, the client’s time for approvals and the available production capacity. That is why it is worth treating them as one plan, not three independent projects.
2. The status “in progress” says very little
In a tight schedule, “in progress” explains nothing. For each element you need three pieces of information:
- what is blocking it today (missing approval, incomplete file, unclosed list of locations, a material decision),
- who is responsible for the next step (client, agency, producer, installation crew),
- by when the decision is needed.
First, check which element sets the date for the whole campaign. It may be the element with the longest lead time or one that requires separate installation → Autumn retail campaigns. In November, identifying that element is no longer enough. You need to know what is blocking it today. A simple template is enough to keep track:
| Campaign | Critical date | What is closed | What is blocking | Who is responsible for the next step | Decision needed by |
| Black Friday | … | main formats, locations | additional variant for some locations | agency | … |
| Christmas | … | construction, most formats | final version of one adaptation | client | … |
| New Year campaign | … | nothing yet | brief | client | … |
3. Close decisions in layers
Instead of waiting for one final approval of the entire scope, close the layers of the project one by one:
- construction, format and material,
- number and list of locations,
- language versions and variants,
- production file.
Once a layer is approved, any further change requires a new assessment of its impact on the file, production and lead time. A change of content can mean a change of layout, additional file versions and another approval round. A change after files have been handed over to production can mean a new file check and a new assessment of the lead time → File comes back with corrections.
It is worth agreeing with the client at the start of each stage which decisions are still open, who approves them and until when they can change. This is a principle of how the agency works with its client, not a rule imposed by the print house.
Two things are easy to overlook:
- A new variant after the scope is closed is not just an additional file. It can mean a new check, new quantities and a change in how production is organised. It is worth agreeing with the client in advance how to proceed if another variant appears after the scope is closed.
- In multi-location projects, a “ready file” does not yet mean a “ready order” if the list of locations, quantities or the distribution method is still changing.
4. Check what can start independently
Do not hold the whole scope back for the last unfinished element. Check with the producer which parts of the project can go into production independently of the others, as far as the technology and the specific order allow.
Example: the main scope has a complete set of approved files, and the client requests an additional graphic variant for some locations. Instead of stopping the whole scope until the variant is closed, the agency checks with the producer whether the main part can start independently and the variant can be run separately. The schedule stops being one block of “waiting for the client”.
First of all, check the elements that are already approved and independent of the other parts of the project. The remaining ones wait for a client decision or depend on the final list of locations and quantities.
5. Who is responsible for the next step
- The agency keeps track of statuses, dependencies and the order of decisions.
- The client approves the scope, content, locations and changes.
- The producer, on the basis of a specific brief and a complete set of files, assesses feasibility and confirms availability and a possible lead time for the given order.
6. When an element does not start as planned
If a critical element does not start as planned, the PM should know what can be moved, what can be split, what can be started independently and where to go back to the client immediately for a decision.
Express mode is also available, but only for selected products and after availability has been confirmed → Express print for agencies. Treat it as an exception, not as a plan. If you produce part of the materials yourself and run out of capacity at peak, we described that separately → Production maxed out at peak? Secure your season with a second source.
Three questions for this week
- What currently determines the deadline of each campaign, and what is blocking that element?
- Which decisions are already closed, and which can the client still change?
- If one element does not start as planned, what can we launch independently, as long as the technology and the order allow it?
Tight schedule in Q4?
Send us a list of elements, the current status of files and the critical dates. We will check which elements can already be sent to production and, for the specific scope, confirm availability and possible lead times.