Key Topic 2: Establish what you are reviewing

It is difficult to review and approve an asset unless you have established exactly what it is. This may sound obvious, but you cannot effectively categorize an asset, and therefore apply the appropriate rules to it, unless you have some key pieces of information about it.

Some assets can change ‘category’ depending on how they are used or by whom, and may be approvable in one context but not in another. For example the content of a presentation on a product given as part of an advisory board may not be suitable for delivery by a sales representative. A press release aimed at the financial media may not be suitable for consumer media.

It is therefore important that you consider each asset within the right context and do not allow yourself to be persuaded by the argument ‘it has been approved before so it must be approvable now’. Assets are only approved on the basis of the information documented at the time. If they are to be re-­‐used in a different manner (e.g. different purpose, audience or distribution channel), they must be reviewed and approved again in the new context.