Orangescrum
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Use case

Campaign Launch Without the Last Minute Scramble

Campaigns rarely fail on the idea. They fail because copy waited three days for a review, and the paid team found out about the launch on the day.

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The scenario

A campaign has a launch date, six channels, and about forty pieces of work spread across writers, designers, a media buyer, and an external agency. The brief lands three weeks out. Two weeks in, half the assets are in review, nobody knows which version is current, and the media buyer is waiting on final copy that is stuck with legal. The fix is a single board with a review stage that has to be passed, and a timeline showing what depends on what.

Runs
Per campaign
Typical lead time
3 to 8 weeks
Start from
Kanban or Content Management template
Owner
Campaign manager
Who is involved

Who is involved

The external people are the ones most often left out of the tool, and they are usually the bottleneck.
RoleWhat they ownWhat they see in Orangescrum
Campaign managerThe date, the run order, and the go or no go callThe full board, the timeline, and the budget against actuals
CopywriterEvery piece of copy through to approvalTheir assigned tasks and what is sitting in review
DesignerVisual assets in every required sizeTheir queue, with the copy they are designing around attached
Media buyerPlacement, spend, and the final asset deadlineThe timeline, so they know when finals actually arrive
Legal or brand reviewerThe approval gateOnly what is in the review status, filtered to them
External agencyWhatever is outsourced, usually productionThe one project they are invited to
The workflow

Eight steps from brief to live

The review stage is the one that decides whether you launch on time.
  1. 1

    Turn the brief into one project

    One campaign, one project. Not a project per channel, because the dependencies run across channels and you will lose them.

    • Name the launch date in the project, and work backwards from it
    • Every asset, every channel, and every approval becomes a task in the same place
    Carried byTask managementWork management
  2. 2

    Work backwards from the launch date

    Put the date on a timeline and lay the dependencies out behind it. Copy before design, design before build, build before media deadline. The timeline is what tells you three weeks out that the plan does not fit.

    Carried byGantt chartProject calendar
  3. 3

    Set the board stages to match your process

    The default board does not know your review cycle. Add the stages you actually use, so a card sitting in review is visibly stuck rather than quietly stalled.

    • Briefed, in production, in review, approved, scheduled, live is a workable starting set
    • Statuses can be added from the board itself, and changed later
    Carried byCustom status workflowKanban board
  4. 4

    Check the team can actually do it

    Three campaigns overlapping is the normal state of a marketing team. Before you commit the plan, look at the workload view and see whether your designer already has forty hours of other work that fortnight.

    Carried byWorkload managementResource management
  5. 5

    Make the review a stage, not an email

    Copy that needs legal sign off moves into the review status and the reviewer is mentioned on it. It does not get emailed as an attachment, because that is how you end up with three versions of the same headline.

    • Reviewers filter the board to the review status and clear their queue
    • Feedback goes on the task, so the next person sees the history
    Carried byMentionsCollaboration
  6. 6

    Put a launch checklist on the launch task

    The list of things that must be true before you go live: tracking in place, links checked, assets uploaded, budget confirmed, out of office cover arranged. The same list every campaign, so it does not depend on who is on shift.

    Carried byChecklists
  7. 7

    Track spend against the plan

    Production cost, agency fees, and media spend against the campaign budget, so the overspend conversation happens during the campaign rather than after it.

    Carried byBudget and cost managementTime tracking
  8. 8

    Hold a short retro while it is fresh

    Within a week of launch, look at where things sat longest. It is almost always review. Fix the stage that caused it, and the next campaign is a few days shorter.

    Carried byReports and analytics
Set it up

Build it on Monday morning

Under an hour for the first campaign, then it is a copy each time.
  1. 1Create a project from the Kanban templateIt opens on a board, which is the view a campaign team lives in. Use the Content Management template instead if most of the work is editorial.
  2. 2Rename the stages to match your processBriefed, in production, in review, approved, scheduled, live. Do this before the first task goes on the board.
  3. 3Add the launch date and work backwardsPut the milestones on the timeline first, then hang the asset tasks off them.
  4. 4Invite everyone, including the agencyUnlimited users on every plan, so the external designer and the freelance writer belong in the project rather than in an email thread.
  5. 5Build the launch checklist onceMake it a reusable checklist group so every future campaign gets the same pre launch checks.
  6. 6Set the budgetEnter the campaign budget so spend is tracked against something rather than reported in isolation.
The result

What good looks like

Assets stop getting lost in review
Review is a visible stage on the board, so anything stuck there is obvious within a day.
One version of every asset
Feedback lives on the task rather than in three email threads, so there is no ambiguity about which copy is final.
The media buyer is not surprised
They can see on the timeline when finals are due, and raise it early when the plan will not deliver them.
Overload is caught before it bites
The workload view shows a designer already committed elsewhere before the plan depends on them.
Launch day is boring
The checklist was done the day before, so going live is a button press rather than an evening.
Each campaign is faster than the last
The retro fixes the stage that actually caused the delay, and the improvement compounds.
Watch out

Where this usually goes wrong

A project per channel
Cross channel dependencies vanish, and the paid team finds out late.
✓ One project per campaign, with channel as a label.
Review by email attachment
Three versions of the same asset circulate and the wrong one goes live.
✓ A review status on the board, with the reviewer mentioned on the task.
The external agency is outside the tool
Half the production work is invisible until it is late.
✓ Invite them. Unlimited users means it costs nothing.
No dates behind the launch date
Everyone knows when it goes live and nobody knows when copy is due.
✓ Work backwards on the timeline and give every asset its own deadline.
Spend is reconciled afterwards
The overspend is discovered when the campaign is already finished.
✓ Track cost against the budget during the campaign.
No retro
The same bottleneck delays the next four campaigns.
✓ Twenty minutes within a week of launch, focused on where cards sat longest.
Features used

Everything this runs on

Kanban boardThe daily working view for the campaignCustom status workflowA board that matches your review cycleGantt chartWork backwards from the launch dateProject calendarSee the month rather than the listChecklistsThe same pre launch checks every timeWorkload managementCatch the overloaded designer earlyBudget and cost managementSpend against plan, during the campaignMarketing teamsHow marketing teams use Orangescrum
Frequently asked questions

Campaign launch FAQ

Should I create one project per campaign or one per channel?
One per campaign. The dependencies that break campaigns run across channels, such as final copy blocking the paid assets, and a project per channel hides exactly those.
Which template should a marketing team start from?
Kanban if the work is mixed production, or Content Management if most of it is editorial with a review and publish cycle. Both open on a board, and both let you rename the stages to your own process.
Can I add our agency and freelancers?
Yes, at no extra cost. Every plan includes unlimited users and pricing is flat, so external collaborators belong in the project. Roles control what they can see.
How do we stop assets getting stuck in review?
Make review a status on the board rather than an email. Anything sitting in that column for two days is visible to everyone, which is usually enough on its own to fix it.
Can we track campaign budget?
Yes. Budget and cost management lets you set a campaign budget and track spend against it while the campaign is running, rather than reconciling afterwards.
Does Orangescrum schedule social posts or connect to ad platforms?
No. Orangescrum manages the work of producing and approving the campaign. Publishing happens in your channel tools. There is no Zapier, Google Calendar, or Zoom integration.
Can stakeholders see progress without asking?
Yes. Invite them with a limited role and they can watch the board or the timeline themselves. That is usually what removes the weekly status email.
What if three campaigns overlap?
That is the normal case. Use the workload view across projects to see who is committed where before you commit the plan, and the resource management views to look further ahead.

Ship your next campaign on time

One board, one timeline, and everyone including the agency in the same place.

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Related use cases

Content productionThe editorial engine behind the campaignProduct launchWhen engineering is involved tooClient onboardingFor agencies running client workKanban templateThe project template this starts from

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