What Clients Should Review Before Approving a Brand Video
If you're approving a brand video on behalf of your company, it's easy to watch it once, feel a general positive impression, and reply "looks great!" The problem is that a quick watch-through catches tone and overall vibe, but it tends to miss the specific details that cause real headaches after the video goes live — a wrong statistic, an outdated logo, a CTA that leads nowhere.
This guide is written for you, the person on the client side responsible for signing off. Use it as a second, more deliberate pass before you give final approval, separate from your first "does this feel right" watch.
Watch it once for feeling, once for detail
Your first watch should be about the big picture: does this represent the brand well, does the message land, does the pacing feel right? Your second watch should be slower and more deliberate, ideally with this checklist open next to the video.
Accuracy of information
Are all names, titles, and statistics correct and up to date?Are product names, pricing, or feature claims accurate as of today?If there's a date or "limited time" reference, is it still valid by the time this goes live?Brand representation
Does the logo appear correctly and match current brand guidelines?Are brand colors and fonts consistent with your style guide?Does the tone match how your brand generally communicates — not too formal, not too casual, depending on your usual voice?Legal and compliance
If real customers, employees, or partners appear on screen, do you have their permission on file?If claims are made (statistics, comparisons, guarantees), can you back them up if challenged?Are any required disclosures included (sponsorship, paid partnership, safety information, etc.)?Call to action
Is the link, phone number, or handle shown on screen current and correct?Does it match what's in your current marketing campaigns, or will it create confusion?If there's a QR code, has someone actually scanned it to confirm it works?Where it will be used
Does the aspect ratio match where you'll actually publish it (square for Instagram feed, vertical for Stories/Reels, widescreen for YouTube)?If it needs captions for silent autoplay on social, are they present and accurate?Is the video short enough for the platform you're posting to, or does it need a cut-down version?Internal alignment
Has anyone else who needs to sign off (legal, a manager, a co-founder) actually seen this specific version?If you're the one giving approval, are you authorized to give final sign-off, or should someone else confirm first?Giving clear approval
Once you've gone through this list, give your editor or agency an explicit, unambiguous approval — not just a thumbs-up emoji days after they sent the file. Something like "Approved, this version is good to publish" tied to the specific file or link removes any ambiguity about what you signed off on, and protects both you and the team that made it if a question comes up later.
A ten-minute second pass with this list catches the kind of mistakes that are cheap to fix before publishing and expensive to fix after.
