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How to get compliance to sign off your new creative design

Most companies employ at least one person who’s tasked with making sure ensure everything about the business meets regulatory frameworks. This means advising the company against activities that could expose it to risk. Since this responsibility is pretty wide-reaching, many compliance teams will take an overzealous approach to cover any and all bases – including creative design work.

This blanket approach often allows no room for creativity, frequently leaving the two disciplines at loggerheads. But we’ve got years of industry knowledge and experience under our belts to demonstrate that creativity doesn’t need to leave you exposed to risk.

The solution is a logical and measured approach to clear the air and build a mutually beneficial relationship, so that everything sits comfortably with compliance and also satisfies the creative brief.

Listening

Most creative agencies frequently feel stonewalled by compliance when sharing new work. The inevitable fallout is stalled progress and limited productivity. This lack of understanding can result in frustration and fraught business relationships.

But the solution is simple: always start by listening to the reason and belief system behind the compliance procedure. Understanding how the cogs turn will clear the way for productivity. Ultimately, if you don’t understand the fears, then you can’t put them to rest.

As an agency, it’s our job to remember that we’re not just working with a company, but also with the people within it. This means working with all the different departments and the targets that they set for themselves and one another.

Communicating

Closed channels of communication will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction. Imagine speaking to someone who has their hands firmly pressed against their ears. Understanding each other’s point of view is the only way to produce results and avoid an endless stream of amends. Once you can understand your clients’ hard lines, you’re able to share their vision.

You need to address your clients’ concerns and desires before moving forwards with new concepts for your creative design work. They’ll also be more open to innovative ideas once you’ve taken the time to explain your idea and rationale, allowing them to ask questions and make suggestions. It’s then easier to create a tailored approach that fits within the boundaries set and alleviates the concerns of the compliance department.

Collaborating

It’s crucial that listening and communicating starts on day one. It can be painful and time-consuming to start the whole project from scratch if compliance aren’t happy from the off. The key to avoiding a do-over is by is working closely together during the project.

So, with that in mind, ideas should be run past compliance as early as possible. If something isn’t going to work, it can be cut short before too much time and energy has been wasted.

Creating compliant creative design

Non-compliance costs money, for both the agency and the client. It can also result in bad publicity that can be hard to bounce back from. It’s the agency’s job to give you more than a one-dimensional face-lift. We believe in enhancing identities and bringing values to the forefront effectively. This means making sure that when you speak to your clients, they hear everything you need them to hear.

Rules and regulations can be dreary and often quite tough to digest. So most people will decide not to bother reading on. But ignored information results in complaints and expense. However, putting a clever creative spin on them will engage the audience and get them to take note.

outré creative has dedicated itself to nurturing a positive relationship with companies in highly regulated industries who are inevitably restricted by compliance. We understand your concerns, and we know how to help.