Compliance departments have an important job to do—but rewriting the company’s marketing copy is not it. Marketing departments dogged by overzealous compliance feedback need to stand their ground—not only for themselves, but for the good of the organization.
If there is a Hell for creatives, I worked there in 2018.
And it turns out, Dante was wrong. The ninth circle is not called Treachery. It’s Compliance.
Every day, I watched in horror as the nameless and faceless denizens of Compliance sucked the soul from our good copy and campaigns. And not for actual, sound legal reasons that would protect the company. No, these were silly and nonsensical reasons that hurt the work.
Examples of their quality feedback:
Proposed copy: “Life insurance can help.”
Compliance feedback: “Change ‘can’ to ‘could.'”
(Asked for their reasoning, their reply was: “Soften the wording because we don’t want to promise.” Uh, that’s not how English works, you dimwits.)
Proposed copy: “Refinancing your auto loan can be a smart way to save money.”
Compliance feedback: “‘Smart’ is too judgmental. Change to a more general word.”
Really? This is a compliance issue? No, this is just stupid. (How’s that for being judgmental?)
You can imagine the havoc this wrought upon all of our copy and campaign ideas.
Look, I get it. The role of the compliance department is to protect the company. That’s fine. As marketers, we should help. But Compliance ought to show us the same professional courtesy. It’s not their job to ruin Marketing’s work. The money we bring in is what pays the bills—and their salaries. Legal beagles need to stop biting the hands that feed.
Occasionally, my colleagues and I were permitted to push back on this feedback. We were polite and professional and we sent along research to support our positions.
It didn’t help.
Compliance won. We lost.
Shit like this drives me crazy, and it happens all the time.
When marketers bite back
One day, after several rounds of soul-sucking feedback, I met up with my good friend Mike for happy hour. I needed to vent, and drink.
Mike is a retired copywriter and a heck of a nice guy. He reminds me of one of the original Mad Men. (No, the real ones, not the sex-crazed alcoholics from the show.) He spent decades writing for advertising agencies all over the country, and he really knows his stuff.
When I told Mike about the requests our compliance department had made, he blinked hard several times and blurted, “That’s bullshit!”
(If you knew how mild-mannered Mike is, you would understand why I found this hilarious.)
And then Mike told me a story I will never forget.
Years ago, Mike was tasked with writing a direct response piece for a well-known exercise equipment manufacturer. When at last he and the graphic designer presented their work to the client, the company’s president was there. This man had a reputation for being opinionated and irascible, so Mike and his colleagues braced for the worst.
Sure enough, no sooner had Mike finished reading his headline than someone pounced.
“You can’t say that!”
It wasn’t the company’s president. It was a young woman seated across the table.
The president regarded her coolly. “And who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Lynn. From Compliance.”
“How long have you worked for the company, Lynn?”
“A couple of months.”
“I see.”
He paused. Then: “Let me tell you something, Lynn.”
Lynn waited expectantly.
“We don’t let compliance people write our marketing copy.”
I let out a whoop and roared laughter. I felt an irresistible urge to jump off my bar stool, travel through time, and shake that hero’s hand.
Here was an executive who understood the proper roles of people in different departments, and a marketing review process that worked as it should.
How refreshing!
Marketing vs. Compliance: FIGHT
Perhaps it’s because they lack a business background, but many compliance people (and information technology people too, I’ve found) don’t give marketing and creative professionals the respect they deserve. All too often, they dismiss what we do as fluff or spin or snake oil.
That’s wrong. Most marketing and creative professionals sincerely want to help prospects find solutions to their problems. We’re not out to screw people.
But that’s the image we’re up against.
So, what can you do to foster a more productive working relationship with your colleagues in compliance and protect your good work?
Tips for dealing with overzealous compliance feedback
First and foremost:
- Face the problem. If you are butting heads with your company’s own compliance department, have the heads of Marketing meet with the heads of Compliance. Don’t let anyone leave the room until everyone understands the role of each department and their responsibilities to the company.
Check out this excerpt from an article at Above The Law, a website for legal professionals. While the article specifically takes issue with the way many law firms devalue marketing and their hard-working marketers, its conclusions also apply here:
“Effective marketing teams need the support and coordination of the entire law firm. Living the brand values, generating revenue and building relationships with potential clients needs to be everyone’s job.”
Italics are mine.
More tips for dealing with compliance feedback:
- Self-regulate the work. Assess your campaigns through the consumer’s eyes. Are your messages honest and clear? I’m not telling you to proactively neuter the work. You want to write the strongest copy and design the strongest layouts you can while being sure to avoid obvious compliance problems.
- Keep and regularly consult up-to-date compliance guidelines. If your compliance department has not already created a set of guidelines and ready-to-use citations and disclaimers, you can take the initiative. This will also give you the opportunity to try and shape the guidelines to your liking.
- Involve your compliance people early. Invite a compliance department representative to attend kick-off meetings for major marketing campaigns, and send copy to Compliance for review prior to layout or as far in advance as possible.
Legal beagles have made chew-toys of my work before, and no doubt they will again. But Mike’s story about that exercise equipment executive will tickle me always, like a cooling salve on broken skin.
If you are a marketer being dogged by an overzealous compliance department—your own in particular—I hope you’ll remember it, too.
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