The ad is still waiting. Put a name and a timestamp beside each delay.

TL;DR

• Track agency creative approval delays by the person whose next action is due. In the invented six-ad batch below, owner review adds 24 late asset-hours and agency revisions add 28.
• Keep request, draft, owner response, revised-ready and launch timestamps. A sum across assets is different from the time until the last ad launches.
• Give each batch one approver, complete offer details and a written review deadline. A faster approval process does not establish better advertising results.

The owner asks why a fall offer has not launched. The agency says it is waiting for approval. The office says the changes went back Tuesday. Both may be describing different ads inside the same batch.

“Waiting on creative” leaves the next task unclear. Give each asset an ID and record the handoffs. Then the status call can resolve a missing price, an unanswered review or an overdue revision instead of repeating the same complaint.

Which handoff is holding the ad?

Use five events. Request complete means the agreed inputs have arrived. Draft ready means the agency has supplied a reviewable version. Owner response means one designated person has returned a consolidated decision. Revised ready means the specified corrections are complete. Launched means the agreed placement is live and has been checked.

Record who owns the next action between those events. Include the latest version link and the unresolved item. “Please fix this” needs a specific correction before anyone can judge whether the revision is late.

For this example, the owner response conditionally approves launch after the listed corrections are completed. A change beyond that approval requires another owner decision and another recorded interval. Silence does not count as approval.

The SBA's forecasting discussion supports comparing actual results with a plan. The approval ledger below is an original process example.

One six-asset batch, with every timestamp defined

All dates, assets, deadlines and durations are invented. This is not a client batch or a claim about Lonta's workflow.

The request becomes complete Monday, October 5, 2026, at 9 a.m. The batch contains two offer graphics, two service-photo ads and two short videos. All six follow the same five-event sequence.

The clock runs Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in one agreed local time zone. An eight-hour working day excludes nights and weekends. The example has no holidays. These are elapsed working hours; they do not measure hands-on production labor.

The agreed stage allowances are eight working hours to produce a draft, four for owner review, two for revisions and two to launch. Each asset therefore has a 16-working-hour planned path. Every first draft arrives Tuesday, October 6, at 9 a.m.

The offer graphics follow the plan. Their two-hour launch stage runs Tuesday from 3 to 5 p.m.

The service-photo ads wait longer for the owner's offer confirmation. The videos receive a timely response, then wait for the agency to complete the specified caption corrections. Those are separate blockers with separate owners.

Reconcile the waiting time before assigning blame

Count one active stage per asset at a time. The stage durations below start at the preceding event and end at the next recorded event.

Each graphics asset takes 16 working hours. Each photo ad takes 28. Each video takes 30. Multiplying each duration by its two assets produces the table's 148 asset-hours.

The whole batch finishes Thursday, October 8, at 3 p.m., 30 working hours after the request. That is 3.75 eight-hour working days, or 14 working hours beyond the 16-hour plan. The 148-hour sum describes six paths moving in parallel; it does not measure labor or the batch's elapsed time.

Now isolate only time beyond the agreed stage allowances:

Six planned paths total 96 asset-hours: 6 × 16. Add the 52 late asset-hours and the result is 148. The agency owns 100 total stage-hours, including normal production and launch time. Only 28 of those are late under this example's allowances. Keep necessary work separate from overdue work.

Use a brief that makes a decision possible

An owner cannot approve an offer with an unknown price or an unconfirmed service area. Agree on the inputs and response rules before the clock starts. Copy this brief and replace the brackets:

• Batch / asset IDs: [name and list]
• Service / area / available dates: [exact scope]
• Offer: [price, inclusions, exclusions, expiration]
• Approved source material: [links and permitted uses]
• Deliverables: [format and quantity for each ID]
• Approver / backup: [one name each]
• Complete request due: [date, time, time zone]
• Draft / review / revision / launch due: [dated handoffs]
• Review response: [approve, reject, or one correction list]
• Launch authority: [what is approved; what needs a new decision]
• Launch check: [person and evidence required]

Keep a version link beside each decision. When the offer or scope changes, record the change and agree on revised deadlines. Do not erase the original missed handoff by overwriting its timestamp.

What this doesn't cover

This ledger measures workflow. It does not prove that delayed ads would have sold jobs or that faster revisions improve results. Platform review, rejected placements and unavailable source material need their own states when they occur. The example assumes those outside blockers are absent.

Do this in your account

1. Take one current batch and count its assets by category. Give every asset an ID and current version link.
2. Recover the five event timestamps from the request and review history. Mark unknown events instead of guessing.
3. Agree on a working-time clock, stage allowances and one next-action owner for each open interval.
4. Separate normal stage time from overdue time. Reconcile category totals with the individual assets.
5. Send one consolidated decision through the designated approver, then record the launch check separately from any later performance review.

For scope and deliverables, use the agency quote comparison. Once the ads run, the agency report guide checks what the results actually count. More agency buyer guides cover those separate decisions.

FAQ

Should the agency launch if the owner misses the review deadline?

Follow the written launch authority. A missed deadline alone grants no approval in this method. Record the overdue decision and route it to the named backup when that is authorized.

Should every creative task have the same turnaround time?

Agree on allowances that match the task. The identical paths above make the arithmetic easy to inspect. Your actual video work and simple text corrections may need different plans.

Can total waiting hours show which partner performs better?

Only within the defined work and clock. Counts depend on batch size, task complexity and agreed responsibilities. Use the ledger to resolve specific overdue actions before drawing a broader judgment.

Sources

• U.S. Small Business Administration: Why Bother with Financial Forecasts, read October 17, 2026. The batch, clock, allowances and ledger are invented teaching tools.

Lonta AI provides managed advertising. Bring your approval handoffs to a free strategy review.