How We Built a Creative Operating System to Increase Campaign Efficiency by 25% at Yelp

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FROM THE WORK
Yelp: From 2 to 30 - Building a Creative Operating System at Scale
From The Work
IAC - One Lead, Three Brands: The Internal Agency Model
From The Work
AI as a Creative Co-Pilot: A Practical Guide
From The Work
The System Nobody Used
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How I Built an AI-Human Creative System (And What Actually Worked)
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Living Like Kevin: How a 25-Year-Old Film Became a $500K Revenue Campaign
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Why UX Writing is the Most Important Element of Narrative Design in Your Product
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Why Internal Brand Strategy is Your Most Powerful Growth Engine
From The Work
Why "Data-Driven" is Killing Your Creativity (And Why "Data-Informed" is the Solution)
From The Work
What the Level Design of Dark Souls Can Teach Us About Employee Onboarding
From The Work
What the Architectural Principles of Tadao Ando Can Teach Us About UX Design
From The Work
What is Creative Ops? A Practical Guide to Building a More Efficient Creative Workflow
From The Work
What is "Radical Empathy"? (And Why It's the Most Undervalued Asset in Business and Art)
From The Work
What Hiring Managers in Product and UX Really Want to See in a Creative's Portfolio
From The Work
UX Writing is More Than Microcopy—It's Narrative Design
From The Work
The Storytelling Genius of Video Game "Lore": What Brands Can Learn from Elden Ring
From The Work
The Rise of the Full-Stack Creative: Why Marketing Teams Need to Rethink Creative Roles
From The Work
The Psychology of a Perfect Pitch: How to Frame Your Story to Speak Directly to the Primal Brain
From The Work
The Perfect Creative Brief Template (And Why It Will Save Your Next Project)
From The Work
The Manifesto of the Full-Stack Creative
From The Work
The Full-Stack Triumph of Barbie: Narrative, Marketing, and Product
From The Work
The Full-Stack Deconstruction of a Hit K-Pop Group: A Case Study in Narrative, Product, and Community
From The Work
The Empathetic Leader's Playbook: How to Build Resilient and Innovative Teams
From The Work
The Complete Brand Storytelling Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide
From The Work
The Art of the Post-Mortem: A Creative Leader's Guide to Learning from Wins and Losses
From The Work
The Anatomy of a Flop: A Full-Stack Post-Mortem of Quibi
From The Work
The 7 Essential Tools for Creative Leaders: A Full-Stack Toolkit
From The Work
The 30M Impression Campaign: How Storytelling and Earned Media Turned a Brand Activation into a Cultural Moment
From The Work
The "Unreliable Narrator": A Deeply Creative Trope You Should Be Using in Your Brand Marketing
From The Work
The "Second Brain" for a Full-Stack Creative: My System for Capturing, Connecting, and Creating Ideas
From The Work
The "GTM" is Your Third Act: Applying Narrative Structure to Your Go-to-Market Plan
From The Work
The "Creative Capital" Framework: How to Allocate Your Time and Energy Like a Venture Capitalist
From The Work
The "Chief Narrative Officer": Why This Will Be the Most Important C-Suite Role in the Next Decade
From The Work
Scaling Creative Operations at Yelp: The Systems That Made It Possible
From The Work
Narrative Marketing vs. Performance Marketing: Why Story-Driven Campaigns Win
From The Work
Moonbeam: 0 to Acquisition — Building a TikTok-Style Podcast App from Beta to Exit
From The Work
Leader's Guide to Managing Freelancers and Creative Agencies
From The Work
How to Lead a High-Performing Remote Creative Team
From The Work
Avenues: The World School - Building a Global Brand System Across Two International Campuses
From The Work
How to Build a Brand Voice from Scratch: A Startup Case Study
From The Work
How to Apply Product Thinking to Your Creative Process
From The Work
How We Used User Journey Design to Boost a Creator Platform’s Retention by 30%
From The Work
How We Used Narrative to Increase Audience Reach by 40%: An IAC Case Study
From The Work
How We Drove 30 Million Impressions for Yelp’s National “Servies” Campaign
From The Work
How We Built a Creative Operating System to Increase Campaign Efficiency by 25% at Yelp
From The Work
How We Aligned Creative and Product to Build a Better Content Pipeline at Yelp
From The Work
First Principles Thinking for Creatives: How to Deconstruct Any Story or Brand Problem to its Core
From The Work
Deconstructing Haiku: How the 5-7-5 Structure Can Revolutionize Your UX Microcopy
From The Work
Creative Strategy Isn't Just for Agencies—It's a Core Business Function
From The Work
An Agile Creativity Framework: How to Run Your Creative Team Like a Product Squad
From The Work
AI as a "Creative Co-Pilot": A Practical Guide for Agencies and Studios
From The Work
A Leader's Guide to Managing Freelancers and Creative Agencies
From The Work
GTM Strategy Case Study: How We Launched a Startup MVP
From The Work
5 Enduring Lessons from a Decade of Leading Brand Campaigns
From The Work
World-Building-as-a-Service: The Next Big Agency Model
From The Work

BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Yelp: From 2 to 30 - Building a Creative Operating System at Scale
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
IAC - One Lead, Three Brands: The Internal Agency Model
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
AI as a Creative Co-Pilot: A Practical Guide
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The System Nobody Used
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How I Built an AI-Human Creative System (And What Actually Worked)
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Living Like Kevin: How a 25-Year-Old Film Became a $500K Revenue Campaign
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Why UX Writing is the Most Important Element of Narrative Design in Your Product
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Why Internal Brand Strategy is Your Most Powerful Growth Engine
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Why "Data-Driven" is Killing Your Creativity (And Why "Data-Informed" is the Solution)
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
What the Level Design of Dark Souls Can Teach Us About Employee Onboarding
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
What the Architectural Principles of Tadao Ando Can Teach Us About UX Design
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
What is Creative Ops? A Practical Guide to Building a More Efficient Creative Workflow
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
What is "Radical Empathy"? (And Why It's the Most Undervalued Asset in Business and Art)
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
What Hiring Managers in Product and UX Really Want to See in a Creative's Portfolio
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
UX Writing is More Than Microcopy—It's Narrative Design
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Storytelling Genius of Video Game "Lore": What Brands Can Learn from Elden Ring
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Rise of the Full-Stack Creative: Why Marketing Teams Need to Rethink Creative Roles
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Psychology of a Perfect Pitch: How to Frame Your Story to Speak Directly to the Primal Brain
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Perfect Creative Brief Template (And Why It Will Save Your Next Project)
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Manifesto of the Full-Stack Creative
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Full-Stack Triumph of Barbie: Narrative, Marketing, and Product
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Full-Stack Deconstruction of a Hit K-Pop Group: A Case Study in Narrative, Product, and Community
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Empathetic Leader's Playbook: How to Build Resilient and Innovative Teams
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Complete Brand Storytelling Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Art of the Post-Mortem: A Creative Leader's Guide to Learning from Wins and Losses
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The Anatomy of a Flop: A Full-Stack Post-Mortem of Quibi
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The 7 Essential Tools for Creative Leaders: A Full-Stack Toolkit
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The 30M Impression Campaign: How Storytelling and Earned Media Turned a Brand Activation into a Cultural Moment
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The "Unreliable Narrator": A Deeply Creative Trope You Should Be Using in Your Brand Marketing
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The "Second Brain" for a Full-Stack Creative: My System for Capturing, Connecting, and Creating Ideas
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The "GTM" is Your Third Act: Applying Narrative Structure to Your Go-to-Market Plan
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The "Creative Capital" Framework: How to Allocate Your Time and Energy Like a Venture Capitalist
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
The "Chief Narrative Officer": Why This Will Be the Most Important C-Suite Role in the Next Decade
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Scaling Creative Operations at Yelp: The Systems That Made It Possible
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Narrative Marketing vs. Performance Marketing: Why Story-Driven Campaigns Win
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Moonbeam: 0 to Acquisition — Building a TikTok-Style Podcast App from Beta to Exit
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Leader's Guide to Managing Freelancers and Creative Agencies
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How to Lead a High-Performing Remote Creative Team
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Avenues: The World School - Building a Global Brand System Across Two International Campuses
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How to Build a Brand Voice from Scratch: A Startup Case Study
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How to Apply Product Thinking to Your Creative Process
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How We Used User Journey Design to Boost a Creator Platform’s Retention by 30%
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How We Used Narrative to Increase Audience Reach by 40%: An IAC Case Study
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How We Drove 30 Million Impressions for Yelp’s National “Servies” Campaign
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How We Built a Creative Operating System to Increase Campaign Efficiency by 25% at Yelp
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
How We Aligned Creative and Product to Build a Better Content Pipeline at Yelp
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
First Principles Thinking for Creatives: How to Deconstruct Any Story or Brand Problem to its Core
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Deconstructing Haiku: How the 5-7-5 Structure Can Revolutionize Your UX Microcopy
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
Creative Strategy Isn't Just for Agencies—It's a Core Business Function
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
An Agile Creativity Framework: How to Run Your Creative Team Like a Product Squad
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
AI as a "Creative Co-Pilot": A Practical Guide for Agencies and Studios
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
A Leader's Guide to Managing Freelancers and Creative Agencies
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
GTM Strategy Case Study: How We Launched a Startup MVP
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
5 Enduring Lessons from a Decade of Leading Brand Campaigns
BALANCE IN
MOTION FOR
A BETTER LIFE
World-Building-as-a-Service: The Next Big Agency Model
POINT OF VIEW

From The Work
The Set Up
Scale is a brutal test. A creative process that works for a team of five will shatter when applied to a team of fifty. At a company the size of Yelp—with multiple departments, competing priorities, and a relentless demand for high-quality content—you can’t just "be creative." You have to build a system for creativity.
When I stepped into the role of Creative Program Manager and Acting Director of Operations, I inherited a group of incredibly talented creatives, producers, and marketers. But they were siloed. The product team would develop a new feature, the marketing team would spin up a campaign, and the creative team would get the brief at the last minute. Workflows were inconsistent, handoffs were messy, and a significant amount of time was lost to miscommunication and rework.
The result was creative friction and operational inefficiency. We were shipping good work, but it was taking a heroic effort to do so.
My mission was clear: we needed to move from a series of ad-hoc projects to a single, cohesive Creative Operating System. I led an initiative to bridge the gaps between our creative, product, and ops teams, designing new workflows, communication protocols, and strategic dashboards from the ground up. By treating our internal operations as a product, we increased our overall campaign delivery efficiency by 25% and transformed our department from a reactive service provider into a proactive, strategic partner. This is how we built the machine.
You can’t just 'be creative.' You have to build a system for creativity.
The Journey: From Creative Friction to a Unified Workflow
Before we could build a solution, we needed to map the problem. I embarked on a three-phase journey to diagnose, design, and deploy our new operating system.
Phase 1: The Audit (Mapping the Pain Points)
My first 30 days were a listening tour. I conducted stakeholder interviews with leads from every adjacent department—Product, UX, Core Marketing, Sales, and Legal. I didn't ask what they wanted from the creative team; I asked them to walk me through the lifecycle of a recent project, step by step. I built a detailed Process Map for our 10 most common project types, from a simple social media campaign to a complex, integrated product launch.
This audit revealed three critical friction points:
1. The "Throw it Over the Wall" Brief: Creative was being brought in at the end of the process. Briefs were often incomplete, lacking clear strategic goals or user insights, forcing the creative team to guess what success looked like.
2. No Single Source of Truth: Project communications were scattered across email, Slack, and multiple Google Docs. There was no central place to track progress, feedback, or final approvals, leading to confusion and version control nightmares.
3. Lack of Visibility: Leadership had no easy way to see the creative team's current workload or capacity. This made it impossible to strategically resource new projects, leading to constant fire drills and team burnout.
Phase 2: The Architecture (Designing the System)
With a clear diagnosis, I designed a new Creative Operating System built on three pillars. This wasn't just a new workflow; it was a new philosophy of working.
1. The "Strategic Briefing" Document: I worked with Product and UX leads to kill the old creative brief and replace it with a collaborative "Strategic Briefing" process.
  - Old Way: Marketing writes a brief in a vacuum and assigns it to Creative.
  - New Way: Creative is now a required attendee at the project kickoff meeting. We developed a unified Notion-based document that started with the Product's User Story and the UX team's Core Insight. The marketing goals were mapped directly to those user needs. By the time a "creative ask" was formulated, the creative team already understood the strategic and user-centric "why" behind it.
2. The Centralized Project Hub (Asana as the Engine): We moved 100% of our project management into Asana. This became our non-negotiable single source of truth.
  - I designed and deployed a series of templated project plans for our most common workflows. A new "Branded Video Series" request, for example, would automatically generate a 40-step checklist with pre-assigned roles and dependencies, from "Write Script" to "Legal Review" to "Final Assets Delivered."
  - This eliminated ambiguity. Everyone could see the status of a project, who was responsible for the next step, and where any bottlenecks were forming in real-time.
3. The "Resource & Performance" Dashboard: To solve the visibility problem, I developed a strategic dashboard using a combination of Asana's reporting features and Google Data Studio.
  - This dashboard provided a real-time, high-level view of the entire creative department's workload, broken down by project type and individual team member.
  - For the first time, leadership could see our team's capacity at a glance, allowing us to have proactive conversations about resourcing and prioritization. It also tracked key performance metrics, like "Time from Brief to First Draft," which allowed us to identify and optimize inefficiencies in our own process.
This three-part system was the architecture for our new way of working. It was designed to foster proactive collaboration, eliminate ambiguity, and make our performance visible and measurable.
The Results: Shipping 25% Faster and Becoming a Strategic Partner
The implementation of the Creative Operating System had a transformative effect on our team and our relationship with the rest of the company. The shift from a reactive service center to a proactive strategic partner was reflected in both our operational metrics and our team's morale.
The Tangible Business Impact:
- Campaign Delivery Efficiency Increased by 25%: This was our primary success metric. By reducing the cycles of rework, eliminating communication bottlenecks, and clarifying roles from the outset, we were able to deliver final assets for our integrated marketing campaigns an average of 25% faster. This meant our work could get into the market sooner, capitalizing on timely opportunities.
- A 15% Increase in Cross-Functional Team Satisfaction: We conducted quarterly internal surveys. After two quarters with the new system, our "stakeholder satisfaction score"—a measure of how Product, UX, and Marketing teams rated their experience working with Creative—had improved by 15%. They cited "clearer communication," "more strategic input," and a "smoother process" as the key drivers.
- Zero Missed Deadlines in the First Six Months: The new visibility and process rigor meant we could accurately forecast our timelines and manage our capacity. For the first time, we had a predictable and reliable system, which rebuilt trust across the organization.
The Intangible Cultural Impact:
The most profound change was cultural. The creative team was no longer seen as the "people who make things pretty" at the end of the line. They were now perceived as strategic thinkers who were involved from the very beginning. This led to a dramatic increase in team morale and a sense of ownership. Our creatives felt more respected, more integrated, and more impactful because they understood the "why" behind their work. We didn't just build a new workflow; we built a new level of respect for the creative function within the company.
We moved from a series of ad-hoc projects to a single, cohesive Creative Operating System.
Lessons Learned: Three Principles for Scaling Creativity
Building this system from the ground up taught me invaluable lessons about how to scale a creative function within a high-growth organization.
1. Your Internal Process Is a Product: You must treat your own workflows with the same rigor and user-centricity as an external-facing product. I had to become the "product manager" for our creative operations. This meant interviewing my "users" (the other departments), identifying their pain points, designing a solution (the new system), and constantly iterating based on their feedback.
2. Visibility Solves (Almost) Everything: The single biggest unlock for our team was the creation of the performance and resourcing dashboard. When other teams could see our workload, their requests became more thoughtful. When we could see our own bottlenecks, we could solve them proactively. Making the work visible is the first and most critical step toward making it better.
3. A Great Brief is an Act of Empathy: The success of the entire system hinged on redesigning the creative brief. We forced the conversation to start with the user's needs (via Product and UX), which in turn created empathy and a shared sense of purpose. A great brief isn't a list of demands; it's a document that aligns the entire team around a single, user-focused mission.
Ultimately, this project was about more than just flowcharts and software. It was about designing a system that allowed talented people to do their best work with the least amount of friction. It proved that operational rigor isn't the enemy of creativity—it's the framework that allows creativity to thrive at scale.

How We Built a Creative Operating System to Increase Campaign Efficiency by 25% at Yelp

The Set Up

The Journey: From Creative Friction to a Unified Workflow

The Results: Shipping 25% Faster and Becoming a Strategic Partner

Lessons Learned: Three Principles for Scaling Creativity