Which ever way you look at, deadlines are made up. They are timelines based on assumption and intuition. This is particularly true when it comes brand marketing and advertising. Don’t get me wrong, deadlines are essential for getting things done, and holding people accountable. We need them to track progress, success, start and or end something.

Ignore The Deadline

My only issue with deadlines is when they become influential on the quality of creative and output. The minute the deadline becomes the goal, and less attention is paid to detail, the deadline needs to shift. Why?

Because you will save time and money

Reaching your deadline, but doing so with sub-par work doesn’t help anyone. In fact, once you’ve reached your deadline with okay work, you will spend the rest of the time trying to fix what you could have easily package effectively had you delayed going into market, just a little bit.

I could be wrong but…

…deadlines are sometimes just a gut feel or assumption. Most often than not, deadlines are created from the question; “How long do you need to do this?” or “How long do you think you will need?”. Almost under-pressure, the answer is usually to please the person asking, not really based on sound mathematics. Especially in advertising.

If the deadline compromises the quality of the output, shift it. Of course, deadlines are not arbitrary and unnecessary, as long as they don’t compromise the job at hand.

PS: Depending on the industry or category, some deadlines are based on sound mathematics and have a consequences of other factors, therefore should be take seriously. This articles talks about deadlines inside ad agencies.

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