Building scalable marketing operations during lean times

Hello, and welcome to today’s Adweek webinar. The current marketing landscape consistently puts practitioners in a tough spot. At Adweek, we report on it every day — layoffs, mergers, department restructurings — while expectations for delivery remain high. Companies want higher volume, faster timelines and fewer resources.

Today, we’ll talk about how to overcome these challenges through alignment, communication, collaboration and effective marketing operations to build scalable marketing teams.

I’m Ryan Hoover, VP of the Content Studio at Adweek. Thanks to today’s sponsor, Quad, for making this discussion possible.

We’re joined by Oliver Kimberley, GM of Managed Services at Quad. Oliver leads the integration and optimization of client-facing marketing operations and brings over 20 years of experience in marketing operations management, including leadership roles at InnerWorkings and Williams Lea.

Also with us is George Forge, Senior VP of Client Technology and Product Development at Quad. George leads the development of client-facing tech solutions focused on eliminating workflow friction through innovation. He currently heads Quad’s strategy on AI, emerging tech and marketing technology. Welcome to you both. I’ll turn it over to you now.

We wanted to start with a reflection: Why does marketing feel so difficult right now?
We hear this every day. It’s not just a perception. It’s a reality, and we’re going to offer a structured framework to approach it. Toward the end, we’ll also share tips you can apply immediately. Then we’ll wrap with Q&A.

For those unfamiliar, Quad is a 50+-year-old company offering full-spectrum marketing services — from data and media to production and creative. We work with over 2,100 brands across industries. That broad exposure gives us a unique view across which informs how we think about scalable marketing operations and process development.

It’s especially exciting when we can take something that works in one vertical and apply it to another — for instance, how wine and spirits companies manage ordering windows, and how that applies in hospitality or QSR.

This is one of my favorite quotes and graphics to show how complicated marketing has become.
It’s not fun — it’s chaotic. More channels, more touchpoints, faster execution, tighter budgets, smaller teams and economic uncertainty.

We want to help marketing leaders navigate these challenges by focusing on marketing operations — sometimes called marketing execution. We’re using the familiar framework: People, process and technology. But we want to challenge that order.

When we meet new clients, one of the first things we evaluate is their process. And even the largest companies often don’t have solid, up-to-date marketing operations processes.

Processes designed in 2019 may no longer be suitable in a remote-first world, especially with how AI has evolved workflow automation.

We recommend mapping your current process — not the ideal, but the actual lived reality.

Bring in people who perform the process, not just managers. Consider a neutral third-party or internal PMO group to help.

Establish a clear improvement goal before jumping to changes.

We worked with a client who hadn’t updated their process in years. They were successful, but inefficient. Our spaghetti diagram revealed major bottlenecks, especially in how shared marketing departments supported 10 different brands.

We introduced process development improvements, recommended tech optimizations and unknowingly supported an acquisition they were planning.

Result: 50% faster campaign planning and increased capacity — without adding headcount. With that extra time, they were able to bring on a major acquisition that almost doubled their brand portfolio.

Key takeaway: Don’t assume you know the problem. Step back and widen the aperture.

Absolutely. Especially in larger orgs, each team has a narrow view — finance, media, content all see the problem differently.

Exactly. Include stakeholders across the business. Finance, procurement, marketing teams — they all need a seat at the table to define shared goals.

Now let’s talk tech. You can’t redesign marketing operations today without involving technology.

To simplify: Marketing technology is about content, data management and process. The intersection of the three is where scale happens.

Let’s start with local marketing — e.g., a 2,000-store grocery chain balancing national and regional messaging.

The challenge is balancing brand compliance with local relevance. That’s hard to do at scale.

Healthcare has strict regulatory and brand compliance demands. The payer-provider relationship is complex.

We partnered with a major payer to automate and scale their campaign management — mapping strategy to localized provider networks.

Results: Improved from 87% to 100% on-time delivery, reduced compliance risk and removed manual work.

This is where AI enters. Everyone’s talking about it, but we want to show how it actually fits into modern marketing systems.

Some might hear “agents” and get nervous. George, what do you think about the fear of AI replacing jobs?

Think of AI as a tool. Libraries used to be our best information source — now we have digital tools like ChatGPT.

Yes, AI will always give you an answer, but you need to verify its accuracy. It’s not unlike doing library research — but you must stay critical. This is the most powerful tool we’ve ever had. If you don’t learn how to use it, you’ll fall behind.

When we think about AI in marketing, I like to look at it clockwise — starting with data and intelligence. As a marketer, you still have to define the vision. What’s your brand voice? Your business goals? What will achieve those goals most effectively?

Use AI to build hypotheses and back your plan with data. Right now, there’s unprecedented opportunity to connect targeted segments to creative.

Production tools today are amazing. For example, we worked with a major outdoor apparel company. We showed them how AI could overlay models onto their product shots with photo-realistic backgrounds — what typically costs $50K–$100K on set can now be done for under $1K.

Then it’s a business decision: Does it make sense to invest in traditional media or use these alternatives? Media environments are more complex than ever — and it’s only getting harder. So we need AI agents to be stewards of your media investments. And on the flip side, some AI might be spending your money inefficiently. So a cohesive approach is essential.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s possible across data, creative, production] and media. But the real story is how they’re all connected.

George, thanks. But let’s move into real application. That looked like a framework. Can we show examples?

Absolutely. We’re proud to work with Valvoline, a leader in oil change and car care. They challenged partners to re-engage and differentiate their brand.

We pitched a “summer fun” theme and quickly used generative AI to prototype fun visuals like a convertible that looks like a pool toy. Then we used CGI to produce the campaign and created multiple variations across segments and messaging. Faster iteration, more creativity, lower cost.

That’s amazing. So much creativity in such a short time. And there’s room for marketing teams to love or reject ideas quickly.

That late-night worker image? That’s all of us at some point. But busy work isn’t a badge of honor anymore.

Let’s step back and be intentional — smart marketing operations and tools can prevent burnout. Imagine actually being ahead.

Here’s another case: We worked with a large retailer on creative execution. They had different teams running variations of the same process using different tech.

It could’ve been a single common marketing operation. We helped stabilize and streamline it.

Shockingly, we identified over 300 pain points. Yes, 300 — not 30. We double-checked.

There’s huge potential to simplify and reinvest saved time and money.

We believe the traditional people-process-technology triangle needs a fourth cog: partnership.

Yes. A client told me they’d brainstormed seven AI ideas a year ago but hadn’t implemented a single one. Everyone got too busy. No matter how big or strong your team is, there’s value in bringing in a partner — for fresh perspective and executional support.

Major transformations should be episodic, not constant. That’s where partners come in.

Outsourcing is fine, but if you’re just exporting the same process, you’ll save single digits. A strategic partner helps you create a marketing operations approach that yields greater value.

Wrapping up there. Back to you, Ryan.

Feels like a trick question! We re-ordered these from people-process-tech to process-tech-people earlier.  But it’s not about choosing one. It’s about identifying your goals and seeing which area — or areas — need change to support that.

If you can’t see clearly which to prioritize, bring in a group like ours to help map things.

They’re interconnected. One cog moves the others.

Yes, I have one. First, I’d replace “strategic” with “trusted.” Trust is everything.

Check for culture alignment, long-term thinking and willingness to stretch beyond their typical scope.

Agree. Also, look for partners who have sat in the seat — people who understand operations from experience, not just theory.  Most breakdowns happen at the handoffs — between data, creative, production, media. A true partner helps connect those.

If your standard process is strong, you’ll have bandwidth to address the unknown. If your daily operations are a mess, you won’t survive a surprise.

Yes. Big changes are coming, especially with AI. Look to past shifts for reference —how the internet or Excel changed us. We’re actively disrupting our own services to stay ahead. Stay honest, stay curious.