How to Manage Advertising Projects in ClickUp

ClickUp can centralize everything your advertising agency needs to manage campaigns, creative assets, client feedback, and performance tracking in one streamlined workspace. This how-to guide walks you step-by-step through setting up a complete system tailored to agency workflows.

Use these instructions to replace scattered spreadsheets, emails, and chat threads with a clear, structured process your whole team and your clients can follow.

Step 1: Plan Your Agency Workspace in ClickUp

Before you build anything, decide how you want to organize your work. Advertising agencies typically manage multiple clients, campaigns, and channels at the same time.

A practical structure in ClickUp for agencies is:

• Workspace: Your entire agency
• Spaces: Major departments or business areas (e.g., Client Services, Creative, Media, Operations)
• Folders: Individual clients or brands
• Lists: Campaigns, retainers, or projects per client

To set this up:

1. Create a dedicated Client Services Space.
2. Inside it, add a Folder for each client.
3. Within each client folder, add Lists for campaigns such as “Q2 Awareness Campaign” or “Always-on Social.”

This layout makes it easy to see everything for one client at a glance while still keeping campaigns separated and organized.

Step 2: Build a Reusable Campaign Template in ClickUp

Most advertising campaigns follow a similar life cycle: discovery, strategy, creative, production, launch, and optimization. Instead of rebuilding this from scratch every time, create a master campaign template in ClickUp.

Create the Campaign List Structure

1. In a client folder, add a new List called “Campaign Template.”
2. Add standard task groups (or statuses) such as:
   • Briefing & Discovery
   • Strategy & Media Planning
   • Creative Development
   • Production
   • Launch & QA
   • Reporting & Optimization
3. Convert this list into a template so you can reuse it for every new campaign.

Add Standard Tasks and Checklists

Within the template list, create tasks that reflect your typical deliverables and processes, for example:

• Collect client inputs and brand assets
• Write creative brief
• Build media plan and budget
• Concept development (with subtasks per concept)
• Design static ads and social assets
• Produce video or motion graphics
• Configure ad platforms and tracking
• Launch campaign & run QA checklist
• Prepare performance reports

Use checklists inside each task for detailed steps such as platform-specific uploads or compliance reviews. Save these as part of your ClickUp template to maintain a consistent process across clients.

Step 3: Configure Custom Fields in ClickUp for Agency Data

Custom fields let you capture the specific data agencies care about. Well-designed fields turn ClickUp into a live dashboard for campaigns and retainers.

Useful custom fields for advertising work include:

• Campaign Type: Awareness, Lead Gen, Retargeting, Product Launch
• Channel: Search, Social, Programmatic, OOH, Email, Video
• Budget: Planned spend per task or per campaign element
• Client Priority: P1 (Critical), P2, P3
• Due Date Type: Internal deadline vs. client-facing deadline
• Status Owner: Account, Creative, Media, Analytics

To set these up, open a list, add custom fields from the toolbar, and apply them to the campaign template. When you duplicate the template, every new campaign in ClickUp inherits the same reliable structure.

Step 4: Map Your Creative Workflow in ClickUp

Creative work moves through many hands: account managers, copywriters, designers, art directors, and clients. Map those handoffs into a visible workflow in ClickUp so nothing gets lost.

Design Creative Statuses in ClickUp

In your creative lists, create clear statuses such as:

• Briefing
• In Copy
• In Design
• Internal Review
• Client Review
• Revisions
• Approved
• Sent to Production

These statuses show at a glance where each ad or asset sits in the process and who should act next.

Use Views for Different Roles

To keep each team focused, set up multiple views within ClickUp:

• Board View: For creatives to drag tasks across statuses.
• List View: For account teams to sort by client, due date, or priority.
• Calendar View: For traffic and production to track deadlines and launch dates.

Save these views to your templates so new campaigns automatically use the same layout.

Step 5: Coordinate Media and Production in ClickUp

Media planning and production involve many time-sensitive tasks, dependencies, and budgets. ClickUp helps you visualize these pieces and keep them on schedule.

Track Media Plans and Deadlines

Create a dedicated Media List in each client folder or campaign. Use tasks to represent:

• Channel plans (e.g., “Paid Social Q2,” “Search Campaign A”)
• Insertion orders and vendor bookings
• Trafficking tasks for each platform
• Creative asset handoff deadlines

Use dependencies so trafficking can only start after creative assets are approved. In ClickUp Gantt view, this reveals the full timeline from initial concept to campaign launch.

Manage Production Pipelines

For high-volume video, audio, or print production, create a separate production list or space. Typical stages might include:

• Pre-Production
• Casting or Scripting
• Shooting or Asset Creation
• Editing
• Final QA
• Delivery

Link tasks across lists or spaces when creative work in one part of ClickUp feeds into production tasks elsewhere.

Step 6: Streamline Client Collaboration in ClickUp

Clients often slow projects down when feedback is scattered across email threads and chat messages. Centralize client communication directly in ClickUp.

Control Client Access

You can invite clients as guests with limited permissions. Create client-friendly views that show only what they need to see:

• Current campaigns and statuses
• Upcoming deadlines
• Assets awaiting approval

Use sharing controls to keep internal notes private while still giving clients a clear window into progress.

Use Commenting and Proofing

Attach creative files or links to each task and use comments to manage feedback. With proofing and annotations, your team and clients can:

• Comment directly on images or video frames
• Resolve discussions when feedback is addressed
• Track version history across rounds of revisions

This keeps all client communication and approvals within ClickUp instead of across multiple tools.

Step 7: Monitor Performance and Reporting in ClickUp

Campaigns don’t end at launch. Agencies need to track performance, report on results, and plan optimizations.

Set Up Reporting Tasks and Dashboards

Create recurring tasks for weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports. Within these tasks, include checklists for:

• Pulling performance data from ad platforms
• Analyzing creative and channel performance
• Documenting insights and recommendations
• Preparing client-ready slides or dashboards

Use ClickUp dashboards to summarize:

• Active campaigns and their status
• Upcoming reporting deadlines
• Workload by team or role

This view helps leaders quickly see where attention is needed.

Step 8: Improve and Standardize Your ClickUp Setup

Once your agency is running in ClickUp, continuously refine your setup based on feedback and results.

• Review which templates work best and update them regularly.
• Consolidate redundant statuses and fields to keep things simple.
• Document your internal process so new team members can onboard quickly.

Many agencies work with external specialists to refine their systems and automation. Resources like Consultevo can support deeper process optimization, while you still keep ClickUp as the central operating hub.

Learn More About Project Management for Agencies

To deepen your understanding of how dedicated project management tools support advertising agencies, review the concepts and best practices shown in the original guide on project management software for advertising agencies. Then adapt the ideas in this how-to article to the specific needs, team size, and client mix of your own agency.

With a thoughtful setup and ongoing refinement, ClickUp can evolve into a single source of truth for your entire agency, from the first client briefing through launch, optimization, and reporting.

Need Help With ClickUp?

If you want expert help building, automating, or scaling your ClickUp workspace, work with ConsultEvo — trusted ClickUp Solution Partners.

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