Summary
During a period of explosive growth—both in premium subscribers and daily active users—Crunchyroll rapidly expanded its global footprint through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. 

I oversaw a Creative Services organization that encompassed five distinct units: 

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1. Graphic Design

2. Video + Motion Graphics + Sound Design

3. Conceptual Development + Copy  

4. Project + Media Management 

5. Production 

These teams faced a sharp increase in the scope and complexity of requests. To maintain our performance standards and meet the demands of an expanded workload, we needed to rethink how we worked. This required a structural shift that would allow us to scale effectively across continents while preserving creative excellence.

The Challenge
As Crunchyroll grew from a niche platform to a global leader with 12.3 million paying subscribers and 200 million registered users, the Creative Services team struggled with inefficiencies, overlapping responsibilities, and a lack of clarity regarding ownership.

The task:
Reorganize 125+ employees across five teams during a merger without slowing down campaign delivery—while sustaining the ability to support 28 global campaigns annually.

Strategy
My focus was on aligning the company’s global marketing strategy with the Creative organization’s structure, capabilities, and operational approach.

We began with a full audit of workflows to identify inefficiencies and points of friction. It became clear that our prioritization model needed a complete overhaul. After consulting with executive leadership and my operations leads, I introduced a Pod Structure paired with the launch of a dedicated Campaign Management team.

The goals were threefold:

1. Scalability – Build a structure that could sustain a dramatically larger global workload.
   
   
2. Clarity – Define roles and responsibilities to eliminate duplication and confusion.
   
   
3. Culture – Reinforce collaboration, trust, and career growth during a time of intense change.
   
   

Execution

• Executive Buy-In: Secured leadership approval, resourcing, and sponsorship to execute the reorganization.
  
  
• Platform Optimization: Updated our Wrike project management environment, streamlining workflows and approvals—cutting coordination time by 15% through improved processes, training, and alignment.
  
  
• Campaign Management Unit: Created a specialized team dedicated to managing the 28 annual global campaigns, freeing creative specialists to focus on their core expertise.
  
  
• Pod Implementation: Grouped talent into self-sufficient, cross-functional Pods to improve communication, accountability, and speed.
  
  
• Change Management: Addressed resistance by refining communication, taking ownership of misunderstandings, and fostering shared purpose across diverse teams.
  
  
• Stakeholder Alignment: Strengthened relationships with internal partners by improving transparency and expectation management.
  
  

Results

• Operational Excellence: Coordinated campaign execution across 31 markets with consistent quality and timeliness.
  
  
• Creative Excellence: Continued to deliver award-winning campaigns that met and often exceeded marketing KPIs.
  
  
• Business Impact: Supported the company’s flywheel strategy, enabling sustained subscriber growth and engagement.
  
  
• Cultural Strength: Maintained high retention and morale during a high-pressure transition, building resilience for future scaling.
  
  

Learnings

• Good process leads to great outcomes – Strong systems and transparent communication are the foundation of cultural and operational success.
  
  
• Scaling is as much about culture as it is about process—investing in people drives resilience and sustained growth.
  
  

Hashtag Index
#TeamTransformation #GlobalLeadership #CulturalIntegration #SystemsDesign

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