How to communicate and master project management in CreativeOps

Workflow overview

The workflow of creative operations typically involves several stages, each with its own set of tasks, responsibilities, and stakeholders. While the specific workflow may vary depending on the organization, team structure, and project requirements, here is a general outline of the usual workflow of creative operations:

1. Project briefing and kickoff
   Project lead, usually the business team, will meet with heads of relevant departments to discuss the general scope and strategy

2. Planning and resource allocation
   Teams will be given a budget and a timeline to accomplish the project

3. Creative concepting and ideation
   Creative team will begin generating creative ideas and execution options

4. Content creation and production
   Once a creative direction is approved by all relevant departments, production can commence

5. Quality assurance and approval
   Legal, copy and asset approvals must happen for every piece of creative before deploying and distributing the project

6. Deployment and distribution
   Marketplace launches, media buying and all other promotional plans will kick off

7. Project closure and evaluation
   This is where reviewing performance metrics, sales numbers and efficiency happens. A crucial step in determining how to optimize the process for next project.

Communication case study - real client example 

Background

The client serves as the parent company for several cosmetic brands and manages its own e-commerce platform, in-house. Weekly, they receive numerous visual requests, ranging from minor text edits to previous campaigns to launching entirely new ones. The process unfolds as follows:

1. Project Kickoff & Planning:
   At the onset, the client or a brand team initiates a project by internally creating a Google Slides presentation outlining requirements and references for all the visuals needed for the campaign. Visuals are typically divided into two stages:

   • First stage is for the internal art team to craft the Key Visual (KV)

   • Second stage is for the outsourced team (dipp) to execute the production work. Throughout the communication process, a lot of communication will take place to clarify design needs, often done over MS Teams or LINE.

2. Creative Ideation & Production:
   Subsequently, the outsourced visual requests undergo a thorough process. The production team lead collects original key visual files, product assets and consolidates the brand’s request into a detailed design brief. From there, the outsourced design team creates all the necessary visuals based on the KV and the defined creative direction. At this point legal approval and quality assurance process takes place to make sure that accurate promotions and assets are being used.

3. Deployment & Evaluation:
   Upon completion of the creative visuals, the e-commerce store manager launches and updates the products accordingly. Continuous performance evaluation ensues as the products go live across all of the brand’s e-commerce platforms, ensuring no opportunities are missed during their lifecycle. Often, the Brand conducts A/B testing, allowing swift replacement of underperforming visuals within 24 hours of upload, optimizing user engagement.

Having said all that, we are by no means suggesting that the general process outlined above is the best one or even the most efficient one. We’re merely describing the general communication process that serves as foundation for us to continuously iterate on.

How do we choose a best-fit tool to avoid friction in CreativeOps?

As far as communication, there are many way to set up a workflow specific to your needs. There are many workflow management tools, and all of them vary in complexity, features and pricing, making them suitable for all types of companies and their needs. Here are five most common tools we’ve seen from our clients: