Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Creative +
Marketing
Operations Playbook
Hey, I’m Nate
I’m a creative and marketing leader with 14+ years of experience building brands, teams, and systems that scale. I’ve led work at Google, Lyft, and Robinhood, operating at the intersection of creativity, product, and growth.
I’m known for turning ambiguity into structure. I design frameworks that help teams move faster, ship better work, and stay aligned across channels. From large-scale campaigns to scrappy experiments, I focus on ideas that earn attention and deliver results.
I bring a strategic, practical approach to creative leadership. That means clear thinking, strong collaboration, and a bias toward execution. The work you’ll see this deck reflects how I approach operational scale and help teams solve complex, organizational inefficiencies. Let’s connect.
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
NATE FOX
Marketing | Creative | Strategy
14+ years in the creative/marketing space. Ex. Robinhood, Google, & Lyft
WHAT THIS DECK COVERS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
BRIEFING
START HERE
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Briefing +
Defining DACI
In my 10 years of experience, improper briefing is one of the key tension points among teams. No expensive PM tools, Slack Integrations, or team meetings can make up for the importance of a great brief.
Many leadership teams will blame creative departments for a lack of performance without realizing that the core issue is the lack of clarity, not a lack of ability. I can nearly guarantee that your team’s productivity, outputs, and general happiness will improve drastically if you commit to implementing the proper briefing, scoping, and prioritization frameworks.
The following slides give a great starting point. I hope these can help your teams learn and grow. 🤘
WHY IT MATTERS
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
DACI - DEFINITIONS
D
Owner of the project, drives the key initiative forward
DRIVER
A
the final sign-off at each stage of the creative process
APPROVERS
C
influences decision with expertise and will be asked for feedback along the way
CONTRIBUTORS
I
FYI and for visibility only
INFORMED
Defining your DACI in each project helps every team know what role they play. This avoids confusion, scope creep, and misalignment. It allows creative teams to have the confidence and next steps to complete projects in an efficient way.
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
EXAMPLE DACI IN A COMPANY
Stage | Timeframe | Driver | Approver | Contributor | Informed |
| Est. time | Drives key initiative forward | Makes the decision | Influences w/ expertise | Informed of final decision |
Stage 1: KPI Identified & Brief Drafted | 2 business days | Project Driver | Department Lead | X-functional team | Department |
Stage 2: Brief Intake | 2 business days | Creative PM | Director | X-functional team | Creative Ops Leadership |
Stage 3: Creative Kickoff | w/in 1 week of approval | Creative PM | Creative Director | X-functional team | Creative Leadership |
Stage 4: Creative Development | TBD depending on scope | Creative PM | Creative Director | X-functional team | Creative Leadership |
Stage 5: Production | TBD depending on scope | Creative PM /Producer | Creative Director | X-functional team | Creative Leadership |
Stage 6: Launch | TBD depending on scope | Project Driver | Department/Company Leadership | X-functional team | Driver’s Lead |
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
STRATEGY + BRIEF
A solid brief is the foundation of great work. It’s easy to feel like you can cut corners when it comes to briefs, but that is not true. Giving your creative teams a single source of truth to review and look back on is crucial to them performing at their highest. A brief is NOT the same as a creative request form. PM softwares often allow creative request forms, which are great for smaller tasks. However, every large campaign or project your team is looking to launch should have a brief.
Here is a Brief Template to get you started: Click Here
I used to say “If it’s not worth a brief, it’s not worth our team’s time.”
But wait… what’s a tier? That will be covered in the next section. :)
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
SCOPING + PRIORITIZATION
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Scoping and Prioritization
Having clear indicators of Scope and Priority are instrumental in helping creative teams be most effective. It allows teams to quickly identify the most impactful work quickly and efficiently- removing distractions and limiting ambiguity.
Scoping and prioritization takes a lot of upfront work from key stakeholders and department leads, but it is worth it. The following slides cover tiering, timing, and how these items can be applied practically to 360/annual planning. 🌐
WHY IT MATTERS
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
TIER DEFINITIONS
Company priority and major impact on a KPI
Criteria:
Approvers:
Top-level Leadership
TIER 1
Very visible, potentially high business impact
Criteria:
Approvers:
Top-level Leadership
TIER 2
Lower visibility and reach
Criteria:
Approvers:
Project Driver’s Manager
TIER 3
Supports business need
Criteria:
Approvers:
Project Driver
TIER 4
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
CREATIVE TIMING GUIDELINES
Important Note: Timeline for Creative Development starts once creative has been kicked off
Project Example | Strategic Development (not added to total)* | Creative Development | Approvals | Production | Total |
Tier 1 | 2 - 4 Weeks | 4 - 6 weeks | 1 - 3 weeks | 1 - 3 weeks | 4 - 12 weeks |
Tier 2 | 1 -2 Weeks | 2 - 5 weeks | 1 - 3 weeks | 1 - 3 weeks | 4 - 12 weeks |
Tier 3 | 0-1 week | 1- 2 weeks | 1- 2 weeks | < 1 week | 2 - 4 weeks |
Tier 4 | N/A | < 1 week | < 1 week | < 1 week | 1 - 2 weeks |
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Practical Application:
Department OKRs/KPIs
(have these at the top so your team is always reminded)
T1
T2
T1
T2
T3
T3
T3
T3
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T2
T2
T3
T3
T3
T3
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
T4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
NAMING CONVENTION
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Naming Conventions
Have you ever wasted countless hours looking for old files? Nothing bothers me more than wasted time looking for things that should be easily accessible.
Many teams look to DAMs and other solutions, which are all great. However- they can be very pricey. There are ways that teams (especially on small budgets) can save countless hours by simply having a proper naming convention in place.
The next slides cover a simple naming convention and show how to practically apply it to your flow. 🌊
WHY IT MATTERS
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Easy-to-use Folder Naming Structure
Year+Team_ProjectNumber_Tier_NameofProject
*year + team, #, tier, Details
Great for reporting and knowing scale of projects. Justifies new hires
Establishes year and team to help with tracking and organization
23BRAND_001_T4_Culture_Blog_Header
Helps keep track of how many projects and gives idea of when a project was completed
Recommend this being 5 words or less. Give enough detail to know what it is without going too granular
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Folder Contents
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Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
KICKING OFF WORK
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Kicking Off Work
Everyone rushes to the Kick-off. There is something about that phrase that gets teams jazzed. BUT- premature kick-offs lead to wasted hours, undefined priorities, and a lot of swirl. All things that nobody wants in their creative teams.
The next slide covers a Creative KO process. Use this to help explain to your C-Suite why their shiny new idea they’ve had since lunch can’t be kicked-off before Friday. 🙃
WHY IT MATTERS
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
KICKING OFF
WORK
SCOPING + PRIORITIZATION + BRIEFING
CREATIVE INTAKE / ASSESSMENT / APPROVAL
OUTSOURCE
INTERNAL
CREATIVE RECOMMENDATION
Recommendations are made based on:
-scope of work
-expertise/level of specificity needed
to execute on creative
-internal creative bandwidth
-budget
CREATIVE KICKOFF
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
CREATIVE PROCESS AND DECISION MAKING
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to describe the creative process to key stakeholders… in the same day. I love zeal- but re-explaining things can actually waste valuable time and energy. So, instead of complain about it… I made simple graphs to help internal and external teams understand all that goes into every single project.
These next few slides are a great visualization for those who don’t fully understand the creative process. It allows others to grasp the full flow and (hopefully) understand why things aren’t as fast as TikTok and all the new AI influencers make them seem.
Adding method to the madness? Now that’s true magic. 🪄
Creative Process + Decision Making
WHY IT MATTERS
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
CREATIVE PROCESS
TIER 1+2 PROJECTS
Team OKRs
GTM BRIEF
CREATIVE BRIEF
CREATIVE DECISION
REVIEW 1
REVIEW 2
BRAND, COMMS, LEGAL APPROVAL
MARKETING PROJECT BRIEFS
CREATIVE REVIEW
PUBLISH & CATALOGUE
DEBRIEF
CREATIVE KICKOFF
PLANNING + INTAKE
STAFFING
CREATIVE PRODUCTION
PUBLISH + DEBRIEF
LIKELY TO INVOLVE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CREATIVE RESOURCES
Driver: Project owner
Approver: Head Marketing
Contributors: Brand, comms, legal, Xfunctional teams
Informed: Driver manager, Xfunctional teams
Driver: CPM
Approver: Creative Director
Contributors: Project owner
Informed: Xfunctional teams, Head of Marketing
Driver: CPM
Approver: Head of Marketing
Contributors: Creatives, project owner, Xfunctional teams
Informed: Xfunctional teams
Driver: Project owner
Approver: ^
Contributors: ^
Informed: Xfunctional teams
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
CREATIVE PROCESS
TIER 3+4 PROJECTS
Team OKRs
Marketing Project Brief
Creative Decision
Review
Round 2
(If needed)
Comms, Legal Approval
Creative Review
Publish & Catalogue
Debrief
Creative Kickoff
PLANNING + INTAKE
APPROVALS
CREATIVE PRODUCTION
PUBLISH
Driver: Project owner
Approver: Driver manager
Contributors: Brand, comms, legal, Xfunctional teams
Informed: Driver manager, Xfunctional teams, Head of Marketing (for Tier 2)
Driver: CPM
Approver: Creative
Contributors: Project owner
Informed: Xfunctional teams
Driver: Project owner
Approver: Project owner
Contributors: Creatives, Xfunctional teams
Informed: Xfunctional teams
Driver: Project owner
Approver: See above
Contributors: See above
Informed: Xfunctional teams
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Creative Decision Making Framework
PROJECT CATEGORIES
| ____ Team�Drives conversions | ____ Team �Drives demand | ____ Team�Drives awareness |
Team | Product marketing, Growth | Demand generation | Brand & content |
Target audience | Determined by team | Determined by team | Determined by team |
Project manager | CPM | Project drivers | Project drivers |
Creative team | Majority of assets to be created by in-house design team or designated agency | 50/50 split between in-house and external. | Majority of assets to be created by external creative bench (hourly designers). Style guides and net new templates created in house. |
Content type | Product-related content - in house Email & ad creative - in house New templates - in house Videos - In house/approved vendors | New email + ad templates, new photography - in house Email + ad production - external Videos - TBD | Templates - in house as appropriate Pitch decks, webinars, sales enablement one pagers; case studies; white papers; reports; eBooks; videos - external |
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Internal Creative Strategy Process
Timing is typically 1-3 weeks from intake through Build/QA
A/B Test + Share Results
Tests run from 1 - 4 weeks to gain enough data to share and see if results are stat sig
Intake
Stakeholders submit project request form which is automatically assigned to Project Manager
Creative KO
Stakeholder sets up KO and creative officially begins
Build / QA
Approved files handed off to build, QA and ship
Creative Concepting + Reviews
Internal team, Stakeholders, Legal
Quarterly Planning
Two weeks before EOQ stakeholders submit approved plans in scope tracker
Creative resources + timing confirmed
Project Managers assign team and lock in schedules
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
TIER 1+2 PROJECTS
Stage
01
PLANNING AND INTAKE
HOW CAN DRIVERS LAUNCH A T1+T2 PROJECT?
Stage
02
STAFFING
Stage
03
CREATIVE PRODUCTION
Stage
04
PUBLISH + DEBRIEF
TIER 3+4 PROJECTS
Stage
01
PLANNING AND INTAKE
Stage
02
STAFFING
Stage
03
CREATIVE PRODUCTION
Stage
04
PUBLISH + DEBRIEF
HOW CAN DRIVERS LAUNCH A T3+T4 PROJECT?
THE SECRET�SAUCE
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Process is cool. Tools are cool. AI is cool. But, nothing happens without having the right team.
While these resources are meant to help you add some method to the creative madness, it’s crucial to remember that you need someone to actually put these plans and processes into actions. Having a skilled and dedicated Creative Producer/PM could be the key differentiator in bringing your creative and marketing outputs from good to great. 🤩
The Right
Team Members
WHY IT MATTERS
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Remember Me?
I’d love to help your teams scale. I have experience in marketing, creative production, operations, strategy, design, creative direction, team building, and starting side businesses which have grown to millions of users/year at a global scale. (And all organic growth)
I have an extensive network of some of the highest-quality creatives in the biz. So regardless- let’s connect on LinkedIn. 🤘
View Portfolio
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
NATE FOX
Marketing | Creative | Strategy
14+ years in the creative/marketing space. Ex. Robinhood, Google, & Lyft
Thank You .
Nate Fox | Creative + Marketing Operations Playbook
Need help applying this in your company? Let’s connect!
Appendix
Nate Fox | Creative Operations Playbook
DETAILED CREATIVE PROCESS
C
MARKETING STRATEGY
MARKETING/
CREATIVE BRIEF
CREATIVE KO
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT +
PRODUCTION
REVIEW / APPROVAL
BUILD + QA
LAUNCH
D
C
C
C
D
D
D
Driver
A
Approver
C
Consulted (Creative)
D
A
Handoff
POST LAUNCH INSIGHTS
DRIVER: to set up kickoff
CREATIVE: to invite creative team
PARTICIPANTS:
C
DRIVER : owns brief approval + refining with strategist
CREATIVE: review brief in PM software, provide creative workbacks, resourcing
DRIVER : owns overall cross functional project management
DRIVER: to lead exec reviews
CREATIVE: PM to lead stakeholder reviews and handoff
PARTICIPANTS:
DRIVER: to manage communication of scope changes through creative PM + stakeholders
CREATIVE: if scope changes, provide updated workback
DRIVER: to provide post launch insights
DRIVER: to manage final delivery of assets
D
Kickoff
D
D
A
A
Nate Fox | Creative Operations Playbook