Creative teams often start with the same challenge. Requests arrive through hallway conversations, emails, and last-minute asks. Priorities shift quickly. Documentation gets lost. Over time, even strong teams end up spending most of their energy reacting instead of planning.
That was the reality for the marketing and communications team at North American Rescue.
At RoboHead Converge 2025, Lonnie Johnson, Director of Marketing and Communications at North American Rescue, joined RoboHead’s Will Goad to share how his team transformed intake, improved workflow efficiency, and repositioned marketing as a strategic partner across the organization.
From Post-It Notes to a Centralized System
Lonnie has been with North American Rescue for over 18 years. When he first joined, project management consisted of hallway conversations and post-it notes stuck to computer monitors. Requests came in without context, deadlines, or accountability.
Over the years, the team tried multiple systems. Adoption remained a challenge. Many stakeholders spent most of their time traveling to trade shows, visiting customers, or working remotely. Logging into a tool felt like friction. Email remained the default.
The turning point came from meeting people where they already worked.
By using RoboHead’s email-to-request intake, North American Rescue created a friction-free entry point into their project workflow. Stakeholders could send an email. RoboHead automatically converted the subject line into the project title and the message into project notes. Requests were logged, confirmed, and visible in one central place.
This shift alone changed the tone of collaboration. Requests stopped getting lost. Stakeholders gained confidence that their work was tracked. The marketing team gained clarity and control.
Clear Intake Creates Better Communication
Standardized intake improved more than organization, it improved communication.
Lonnie trained stakeholders on what information needed to be included in each request. Over time, requests became more complete. Clarifying emails decreased. Frustration dropped on all sides.
Every request now arrives with ownership, context, and visibility. The team could prioritize work based on real demand instead of urgency driven by memory or inbox searches.
Automated Workflows That Reduce Manual Effort
Once intake was centralized, the team focused on how work moved through the system.
RoboHead’s automated workflows allowed Lonnie to build repeatable templates for common project types. Tasks flowed automatically from one step to the next. Reviews triggered at the right time. Assets were uploaded at the correct stage.
Roles played a critical role in efficiency. Designers and videographers were assigned by role instead of by scrolling through long user lists. This reduced setup time and improved accuracy.
With less manual oversight required, Lonnie could focus on managing priorities instead of babysitting projects.
Proofing That Works for Every Stakeholder
Review cycles were another major bottleneck before RoboHead.
North American Rescue works with a wide range of reviewers, including sales, product management, and regulatory teams. Many reviewers were unfamiliar with complex tools.
RoboHead’s proofing experience mirrored tools people already understood. Comment bubbles, simple annotations, and email notifications made participation easy. Reviewers could comment directly in the proof or reply to email notifications. All feedback stayed tied to the project record.
The result was a complete decision trail. Months later, the team could see why choices were made and who approved them.
Data That Supports Growth and Headcount
As workflows stabilized, something else emerged. Data.
Lonnie could see how many projects moved through the system, how many reviews occurred, and how workloads changed over time. In one month alone, the team completed over 300 reviews. Over the year, project volume climbed from roughly 1,400 completed projects to more than 1,600.
That data became critical in conversations with leadership.
The marketing team justified new headcount based on documented growth. Leadership gained visibility into how much work supported product launches, compliance updates, and ongoing maintenance. Marketing shifted from perceived support function to measurable contributor.
Managing Complex Product Changes with Confidence
North American Rescue operates in a highly regulated environment. A single product update can impact packaging, labeling, photography, video, websites, distributor assets, and training materials.
Lonnie previously used a “change impact matrix” to explain how one small update affected dozens of downstream tasks. RoboHead turned that concept into reality.
Automated workflows ensured no touchpoint was missed. Tasks captured every dependency. Old assets were archived. New assets were distributed correctly. Compliance stayed intact.
Campaigns That Drive Strategic Marketing
Campaigns became the next evolution.
Using RoboHead’s campaign functionality, the team created reusable campaign templates for recurring initiatives like holiday sales and product launches. Campaigns included linked projects with defined predecessors. When one project finished, the next automatically started.
Duplicating campaigns saved hours of setup time. Dates adjusted. Assignments shifted. The structure stayed intact.
This approach gave marketing the bandwidth to lead initiatives instead of reacting to changes initiated elsewhere in the business.
From Reactive Support to Strategic Partner
The biggest shift was not operational. It was strategic.
Before RoboHead, the team spent most of its time maintaining existing materials. After RoboHead, the team gained enough visibility and control to plan proactive marketing initiatives.
Brand campaigns, digital marketing, direct-to-consumer efforts, and product launches moved forward without chaos. Marketing became a driver of growth rather than a bottleneck.
As Lonnie shared, RoboHead helped his team move from constant maintenance to purposeful strategy.
Key Takeaways for Creative Teams
- Meet stakeholders where they already work to increase adoption
- Centralized intake builds trust and clarity
- Automated workflows reduce manual oversight
- Simple proofing increases participation
- Reporting data enables strategic conversations with leadership
- Campaign templates prevent reinvention and missed steps
North American Rescue’s journey shows what happens when creative operations align with how people actually work.
