In short
Freepik (now Magnific) grew on search. A new CMO wanted a brand people would recognise, and there was no creative team to build it. I started in a content role with one designer. As Creative Director, I hired and grew the team to twelve people in four squads, making everything for four brands.
Four squads of three: a copywriter, a designer and illustrator, and a motion designer. Each squad owned one brand for a quarter, from social and blog to content and campaigns, then rotated to the next one.
I hired the whole team and led it day to day, with a daily stand-up. Every two weeks we met CRM, SEO and product to review our pieces. I also worked with three external agencies, including We Are Social.
The problem
Four brands, every channel, and content needed all the time: social, blog, YouTube, newsletters, plus launches and campaigns. And no creative team to make any of it.
How we worked
Each squad took one brand for a quarter, then moved on to the next. By the end of the year, everyone had worked on every brand. So if someone was off sick or a squad needed support, anyone could step in, because everyone knew each brand's tone of voice, assets and colour palette.
Freepik
Flaticon
Wepik
SlidesgoFlaticonWepikSlidesgoFreepikWepikSlidesgoFreepikFlaticonSlidesgoFreepikFlaticonWepikQuarterly goals from other teams turned into concepts, calendars and production. We reviewed results with our data analysts' dashboards: social every two weeks; blog, newsletter and campaigns every month.
What we made
Everything: social, blog, YouTube, newsletters, launches and campaigns. On YouTube, we stopped showing what we had and started teaching with it.
Result
organic engagement in three to four months, after moving from showing stock to inspiration and micro-tutorials.
subscribers in the first six months after the team took over the channel and turned it to tutorials.
What I learned
How to lead a lot of people on a lot of projects at once: internal stakeholders, three external agencies and a team making content every day for four brands.
To listen to a lot of people before deciding.
To make hard decisions when they had to be made. It's more rewarding than it sounds.
The Freepik (now Magnific) creative team, our CRM, SEO, product and data colleagues, and our partner agencies.