Everyone approved v3. Someone uploaded v2. It ran for nine days.
That is not a discipline problem. It is a missing system.
What breaks when approval lives in Slack
Informal approval works at low volume and produces version-control chaos as output grows. Workflows also fail when they become so rigid that campaigns are permanently late.
The two-gate model
Gate 1 is creative QA: policy, brief, specs, and copy accuracy. Gate 2 is pre-launch campaign review: targeting, budget, schedule, creative, naming, and tracking.
Two gates. Not five.
States, because "approved" is not a state
Use explicit states: draft, in review, revision requested, approved, uploaded, archived. Upload from the approved asset in the system, never from a renamed download.
Who signs what
Brand approves message, performance approves campaign setup, and legal joins only where genuinely required. One escalation contact owns each gate.
Approval belongs beside production and publishing so the approved version is the version that goes live.