Single
Intake Path
Clear
Exception Queue
Faster
Brief-to-Start
The Challenge
Partnership and creator requests arrived by email, chat, and ad-hoc decks. Required fields — objective, market, budget band, usage needs — were often missing. Legal and brand teams discovered gaps late. Nobody could see which requests were waiting on which owner.
The Approach
- One intake form — Fields by request type (athlete, celebrity, micro-creator, event).
- Validation rules — Objective, market, timeline, and rights needs required before routing.
- Exception queue — Incomplete or conflicting requests went to a named owner with SLA.
- Stage visibility — Submitted → commercial review → legal → ready to brief.
- Weekly pack — Open requests, aging, and blockers for leadership.
Results
Brief-to-start cycle became more efficient. Teams spent less time chasing missing context. Exceptions were owned instead of buried. The pattern reused the same intake/exception discipline used across other process automation work.
Takeaway
Partnership volume in 2026 — season-long cricket and always-on creator rosters — needs ops automation as much as creative strategy. Intake is where that system begins.