Creh8ive (creh8ive.co.za) is a trendy, design-inspired South African blog covering interiors, lifestyle and creative culture. With a growing roster of contributors, sponsored features and supplier relationships, the team needed one system to keep writers, articles, media info and conversations in sync. Black & Yellow implemented Pipedrive as that single source of truth — and the business onboarded three additional writers without increasing resources, turning the CRM into a genuine game changer for their consultancy.
The Client
Creh8ive publishes visually driven editorial content for a design-conscious South African audience. The brand works with multiple writers, photographers and stylists, while also managing media kits, sponsor deliverables and ongoing conversations with suppliers, PR contacts and advertisers.
The Challenge
The team needed to be on the same page at all times, but the operation was spread across disconnected tools and threads.
- Writer pitches, drafts and deadlines tracked in spreadsheets, emails and WhatsApp chats
- Media info, image assets and brand guidelines stored in multiple folders and drives
- Supplier, sponsor and PR conversations happening in different inboxes with no shared history
- No clear view of which articles were in progress, approved, published or needed follow-up
- Scaling the content calendar meant more chaos, not more output
What it cost them
Sponsored content deadlines were missed. Supplier follow-ups were forgotten. New writers spent their first weeks hunting for context instead of producing. The consultancy side of the business — where Creh8ive advised brands on creative direction — suffered the same fragmentation, making it hard to track client conversations and project status.
The Solution: Pipedrive, Built Around a Publishing Workflow
As an official Pipedrive partner, Black & Yellow designed a CRM that mirrors how Creh8ive actually works: editorial production on one side, consultancy and commercial relationships on the other.
- Article pipeline with stages for pitch, assigned, draft, in review, scheduled and published
- Writer and contributor records linked to every article, deadline and deliverable
- Media info, image rights and sponsor requirements stored as custom fields and notes on each deal
- Supplier, sponsor and client pipelines tracking conversations, proposals and follow-ups in one place
- Automated reminders for draft deadlines, publish dates and renewal conversations
- Email sync and templates so handovers between team members are instant
- Team dashboard showing workload, publishing cadence and open sponsor opportunities
Team enablement
The setup included short, practical training sessions so writers and account managers could update deals from email or mobile. Because the pipeline matched the team's real language, adoption was immediate.
The Results
- Onboarded 3 additional writers without increasing operational resources
- One shared view of every article, deadline, media asset and sponsor conversation
- Supplier and sponsor follow-ups no longer slip through the cracks
- Consultancy projects tracked alongside editorial work, with clear ownership at every stage
- Editorial output scaled while admin time per article dropped
Why the numbers moved
The efficiency gain came from removing the hidden work of coordination: no more asking 'where is that draft?', 'did we send the media kit?' or 'who is following up with the sponsor?'. With a single source of truth, the same core team could manage more contributors, more articles and more consultancy clients without burning out.
Key Takeaways for Content and Creative Teams
- A CRM is not just for sales teams — publishing, consultancy and creative operations need pipeline visibility too
- Custom fields and deal stages should match your team's vocabulary, not a generic sales template
- Automated follow-ups matter more than fancy dashboards for day-to-day productivity
- When everyone sees the same status, onboarding new team members becomes fast and cheap
Want the Same Result?
Black & Yellow designs and implements Pipedrive CRM for South African content teams, publishers and creative consultancies. We build pipelines around your workflow, migrate your data and train your team. Request a quote and we'll show you how a CRM can become your operational game changer.
