Agency collaboration without the extra rounds
The expensive part of agency work is round four. Melp puts every stakeholder's feedback in one thread against one current version, so contradictions surface early.
Brief to handoff
Protect agency margin from avoidable review rounds
Most campaign friction comes from fragmented coordination, not creative disagreement.
Email and attachments
- The brief fragments immediately. Clarifications spread across threads with different stakeholder groups.
- Feedback arrives in parallel. Contradictory comments reference different versions and the agency reconciles them.
- Handover starts after the relationship ends. Working files sit in agency archives until the brand needs them later.
Shared campaign workspace
- One confirmed brief. The current brief and its clarifications stay visible to every stakeholder.
- One review thread per round. Conflicts surface to the people who made them before the agency resumes work.
- Working files stay with the brand. Handover becomes a permissions change because the shared folder already holds the record.
What makes agency work run cleanly
Each addresses a specific, recurring cost — not a general aspiration about alignment.
Separate client accounts by structure
Give every client a distinct workspace, membership, file scope, and search surface. Client-visible work and internal resourcing or margin discussions can remain separated within that account.
- One workspace per client account
- Independent membership and search scope
- Private internal topics
- Versioned client-facing files
Scope freelancers to the campaign, not the account
Add freelancers and subcontractors only to the topics and files required for their work. Membership stays visible to the brand, and access can be removed from the same workspace at handoff.
- Topic-level external membership
- Client-visible participant lists
- No access to the wider account history
- Central access removal at handoff
Questions from brands and agencies
Including how this coexists with DAM, project management and proofing tools.
Related use cases
Agency relationships sit close to several others.
Consolidate the next review round
Put one campaign's review into a shared workspace and count the rounds. It is the cheapest experiment available to either side of an agency relationship.