Project management software for creative agencies

What creative agency project management really involves

Creative work rarely moves in a straight line. A brief arrives in an email, takes shape in a meeting, shifts after the first concept and comes back with comments from several people on the client side. In between, the account team is translating, the creative director is protecting the idea and the designer is waiting for a clear decision.

Most of the friction isn’t in the making. It’s in the handoffs: finding the latest brief, knowing which version the client actually saw and working out whether a comment is a new direction or a small fix. Simplr is built around those handoffs, with a workflow that runs from intake through creative review, client review and delivery, and steps you can adjust to the way your studio works.

Start every job with a brief the team can trust

In Simplr, a brief is a structured record rather than a document lost in a folder. Capture objectives, audience, deliverables and quantities, formats, required copy, client inputs, assumptions and exclusions, and flag anything missing or conflicting before the brief is shared.

Briefs are versioned, so when a client changes their mind you can see exactly what changed. When a request goes beyond what was agreed, record it against the accepted scope with its effect on deliverables, timing and workload. Then accept it within scope, propose a revised scope, ask for clarification or decline it with an explanation.

Creative review with a clear path to sign-off

Upload each creative version to the job it belongs to. Reviewers can add a general note or place numbered pins on the preview, and comments stay with the version they were made on. Requesting changes needs a note, and the next upload starts a new round, so the history stays readable however many rounds the work takes.

Work moves from creative director review to account lead review and then to the client, before delivery is recorded. Creatives know which version is current, and account teams know nothing reaches the client before it has been checked.

• Version history, with comments kept on each version
• Numbered comment pins on image previews
• Review decisions kept across every revision round
• A delivery record once the work is approved

A calmer way for clients to give feedback

Clients don’t need to learn your internal tools. Invite named contacts to a client portal with a private link and choose what each person can do: view, comment, submit requests or approve. The portal carries your agency’s name, logo and accent colour.

Clients can review shared work, approve a version or request changes, see the decisions waiting on them and send new requests. Those requests come to your team for review before they’re linked to a job, so nothing lands on a creative’s desk without context. Brand guidance, from tone of voice to required wording and reference assets, can sit beside the work too.

Projects, retainers and the business behind the work

Many creative agencies run campaigns as projects and brand work as ongoing retainers. In Simplr, each client follows its own model: projects with hours, budgets and invoices, or fixed-fee retainers with ongoing requests and delivery.

On Plus, book people by day against their weekly availability, track time with timers or manual entries and compare logged hours with the plan and budget. When it’s time to bill, create invoices from approved time, milestones or retainer schedules.