Callie Pirkey · Creative and marketing advisor
Let’s navigate your creative together.
Creative is a function. Most companies build it from the outside looking in. Let’s build yours from the inside.
Unless you’ve run a creative team, it’s hard to see the tools, the skills, and the handoffs it depends on. And those change every month now.
More spend on creative should mean better work and a team that’s thriving. If you’re getting neither, it’s the setup, not the people. Let’s build one that grows with you.
I’ve spent 15 years building the creative organization I always wished I’d worked in. Now I build it inside yours.
- 15 years in marketing and creative operations
- Grew a creative operations team from nine to 34
- Built an in-house creative function from an empty seat
What does a creative department do?
If your name is on it, someone made it, someone approved it, and someone paid for it. That’s the work I organize.
- What you present
- Pitch decks, proposals, client and investor presentations, board materials
- What you publish
- Your website, reports, newsletters, social media, ads
- What you hand out or put up
- Brochures, one-pagers, signs, event booths
- What you send inside
- All-hands decks, announcements, training, onboarding
- What it’s all built on
- Your logo, templates, photography, and brand rules
Financial services and investment
One pitch book, start to finish.
Asked for at 6 p.m. for a 9 a.m. meeting. Checked by finance, compliance, legal, and the brand. One of hundreds that month, each one urgent.
At an investment firm, I built the in-house creative team from an empty seat: one person to eight, more than 2,500 projects a year, and 96.7% finished on time to one standard.
Professional services
One client proposal, start to finish.
A partner needs it tomorrow. Case studies come from three offices, each needing the client’s sign-off. Then the next office builds its own version from scratch.
At a global consulting firm, I grew a creative operations team from nine to 34 and moved five regional inboxes into one global system.
Tech and growing companies
One product launch, start to finish.
The product page, demo video, sales deck, launch email, and investor update are all due the same week. The feature list keeps changing. Marketing is two people and a freelancer.
I built a creative function from an empty seat, and I built Corbie with AI as a daily working partner.
In another industry? The pattern is the same.
Book a readAre you…
Running your creative on two exhausted people?
Book a readLosing good people, or watching a great one get stuck?
Book a readPaying staff, freelancers, agencies, and AI tools, and none of it works together?
Book a readPlanning a launch, a raise, or your next big event?
Book a readReady to move to a new look and feel that reflects where you’re going?
Book a read
The Corbie Steps
There’s an old fable by Aesop. A thirsty crow finds a pitcher with the water too low to reach. He drops in stones, one at a time, until the water rises high enough to drink. That’s how I work: one right-sized step at a time. Read the fable.
It starts with a conversation. Tell me what’s going on. Then I do a real read: I talk to the people who use your creative, look at what you actually make, and come back with options sized to your problem. You pick the path. I lead the charge.
- 01
Conversation
Around an hour on why you’re looking. Then a few bullet points: what stood out, and what the read would cover.
- 02
The read
Scoped to your stated problem. I’ll talk with your people, find the root of the challenge, and propose a few fixes.
The fee counts toward the next step if you start within 30 days.
- 03
Options
Right-sized paths, each with its own timeline. You choose.
- 04
Phase one sprint
Alignment and a first solve, in about 30 days.
- 05
Ongoing advisory
Optional. I stay on as a trusted advisor.
How I build creative teams
How do you hire for taste and execution when the tools keep changing? You look for the learners, the strategic thinkers, the artists, the creatives.
- Nobody works alone. Every key role has a backup.
- Everybody’s growing. People mentor each other across specialties.
- One standard, whoever does the work: staff, freelancer, agency, or AI.
- Everyone can see what the work costs and who decides what comes first.
- The rules are written down, so the team keeps running when people change.
- Creative is a frame of mind. Your best creative thinker might be in finance, sales, or ops. I look across the whole company, not just the design team.
I’m testing these same ideas in public as I build a collective for independent creatives. See where the ideas come from.
Where creative work gets stuck
- The same two people get every request, and every deadline turns into a rescue.
- Your decks say too much, because nobody had time to say less.
- Your website looks like your competitors’, so buyers can’t tell you apart.
- You added AI and got more work, not better work.
- Nobody can say who uses creative the most, or what it costs.
It’s almost never the people. It’s the setup.
Your creative team sees nearly everything the company makes, from the newest hire’s first deck to the CEO’s keynote. That makes them one of the best-informed teams you have, and one of the least used.
When did you last ask your creative team what they see? They’ve touched every deck and every launch, and they usually know where the work gets stuck.
If two or more of these sound familiar, a read will show you which one is costing you the most.
Book a readWhat a working creative organization looks like
- Team members are genuinely happy, not faking it.
- They have room to be creative, so output keeps getting better.
- They stay a long time, grow, and stay on the cutting edge of tools.
- Their input has meaning and isn’t taken for granted.
- They are not seen as just a vendor.
What we’ll measure together
How long requests take, how much rides on any one person, how much work gets redone, what each source of work costs, and whether your people stay and grow.
I’ve done this before.
Bain & Company
The case
One inbox, emailed all day. No capacity planning, nothing tracked.
I built the workflow and onboarded the team while we grew the North American creative operations team from nine to 34. Then we moved the five regional inboxes into one global system so every request ran through the same intake and experienced the same customer journey.
From whack-a-mole to time, organization, and tracking.
Is this a fit?
A good fit: you have goals and a picture of where you’re going, even if today is messy. You’re open to feedback and to trying something new.
Not a fit: you want an idea executed exactly as is, you want production help only (I’ll point you to someone good), or you want everything done by AI with no creative judgment.
How I work with marketing: I lead the creative side of marketing: the team, the work, the brand, and the story. I work beside whoever owns your pipeline.
Questions
What is fractional creative and marketing leadership?
Senior creative leadership, part time. I lead your creative team, workflow, and brand for one or two days a week, or a fixed project, until your team runs on its own or you’re ready to hire full time.
How is this different from an agency?
An agency sells you its own people and hours. I’m not a production shop. I find and direct the right people, in-house or outside, and I’ll recommend someone else when they’re the better fit.
How is it different from a fractional CMO?
Most fractional CMOs focus on pipeline and paid media. I lead the creative side of marketing and work beside whoever owns the pipeline.
Who do you work with?
Companies that have outgrown one designer or a few hardworking people. Often after raising capital, before a launch, or during a rebrand.
What does it cost?
Fixed price, scoped to your problem, and in writing before we start. The first conversation is free.
Do you work remotely?
Yes, with clients across the US. I’m based in Dallas-Fort Worth, and I’m glad to visit.
What happens in the read?
I talk with the people who use your creative, look at what you make, and come back with a few options sized to your problem. You know what you’ll leave with before we start.
Do you use AI?
Yes, every day. I built Corbie with AI and write about it in public, in Cof. I’ll help your team use it where it saves time and keep a person where judgment matters.
What industries?
I’ve led teams in consulting and private equity. The work isn’t industry-specific; the patterns are the same.
