We ran this for six years before we built it.

Nobody could say why a post worked

So the next one was a guess, and the month after that was a guess about a guess.

Intelligence. Every post is read against that account's own baseline, and what the good ones had in common is named.

proof: each finding names the posts it came from

Every client wanted captions in their voice

What they got back was a template with their product name dropped into it.

Write. It reads what the account has already published and works out how that person writes before it drafts a word.

proof: the guide is built from your own captions

The month lived in a spreadsheet

One tab per client, colour coded by somebody who left, and always a week out of date.

Calendar. A calendar that holds the drafts, the times and the publishing, and posts without anybody staying up.

proof: the times come from when your audience is actually on

Chasing invoices took a day a month

Every month, for six years, and it is the least creative work in the business.

Money. Shows who owes you and how late, and drafts the chase when you say so.

proof: every invoice traces to a deal you agreed

Every client asked how they were doing

And the honest answer was a feeling, dressed up as a number, on a call.

Scorecard. A hundred points, scored across nine areas, with the missing thirty turned into the work that would close them.

proof: the points that are missing become the next actions

Reporting to a brand meant rebuilding a deck

And the agency, the brand and the creator each turned up with different numbers for the same month.

Analytics. One set of numbers, and everybody with access reads exactly the same ones.

proof: every number says where it came from