Project Management & Client Hubs for an Ad Agency
This system was created for a performance creative agency specializing in high-converting ad creatives that drive results. The company focuses on delivering a steady flow of performance-driven creatives for brands, managing multiple client campaigns with varying creative formats, and coordinating production workflows across internal teams and external contractors and creators.
The problem
The agency was struggling with disorganized workflows and an unintuitive CRM system.
Before implementing Notion, the team faced multiple challenges:
- Too many clicks to access information that should be readily available.
- Scattered information across multiple tools with no single source of truth
- No clear visibility into team workload and project timelines
- Inefficient client communication with internal discussions mixed with client-facing information
- Duplicate data entry when updating both internal records and client views
The Solution
A comprehensive project management system with intelligent task automations client and client portals was implemented in Notion.
The system consists of four core interconnected databases.
Clients Centralized client information with role assignments that automatically populate task assignees
Ad Sets (internal) Campaign management with format tracking, stage progression, and delivery dates that trigger automated task creation. Used exclusively by the internal team for operations, comments, and workflows.
Ad Sets (client-facing) Campaign management shared with clients, showing clear stage progression and key ad set information. This database syncs completely with the internal one, displaying only client-relevant properties and providing a separate comments section for client communication while keeping internal discussions and pricing data private.
Tasks Comprehensive task management with automated generation based on ad set format and stage, complete with pre-assigned team members and offset due dates
The breakthrough feature is the intelligent task automation system. When team members select an ad format and set the delivery date, Notion automatically generates stage-specific task sets—concept tasks, production tasks, and launch tasks—each assigned to the appropriate team member based on client-specific roles and due on calculated dates relative to the delivery timeline. This also updates the client-facing view and grants clients "can view" access to tasks and related ad sets.
The task automations were implemented using a cascade system, meaning that tasks are generated in sequential stages rather than all at once. Here's how it works:
Stage 1 - Concept Tasks
When you set the delivery date and ad format, the first set of tasks (concept stage) is automatically created.
Stage 2 - Production Tasks
Once all concept tasks are marked complete, the production stage tasks automatically generate.
Stage 3 - Launch Tasks
After production tasks are finished, the launch stage tasks are created.
This staged approach ensures teams focus on the current phase without being overwhelmed by all future tasks at once, and it maintains a clear workflow progression throughout the project lifecycle.
To maintain clear separation between internal operations and client collaboration, a one-way sync system was implemented. The internal Ad Sets database serves as the single source of truth, automatically updating a mirrored client-facing database. This ensures clients see real-time progress while keeping internal comments, sensitive fields, and team discussions completely private.
Additional automations streamline daily workflows: marking a task as complete automatically marks all previous tasks in the sequence as done, rescheduling an ad set reschedules all related tasks accordingly, and canceling an ad set cascades cancellation to all related tasks.
Conclusion
The Notion system transformed how the agency manages client work, offering significant improvements in efficiency, scalability and client interactions.
Automated Task Generation
Format and stage-based automations create 15+ tasks per ad set with pre-assigned team members and calculated due dates, eliminating hours of manual setup each week (in total, around 150 tasks were automated across all ad set types).
Client Portal System
Dedicated client-facing portals with one-way sync provide real-time visibility into campaign progress while maintaining complete separation of internal discussions.
Centralized Workload Visibility
Multiple dashboard views show weekly active tasks, team workload distribution, ad set launches, personal responsibilities, and productivity metrics, all in one tool.
Role-Based Assignment
Client-specific role assignments ensure tasks automatically flow to the right team members, adapting to different client team structures.
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