Case study · Assist Card

Automation and the build-out of a regional performance operation

Regional Digital Director · Carat January 2026 – Present Ongoing operation

Scale of the operation

18
markets
coordinated from one regional operation
USD 10M+
in annual investment
media investment under management
USD 2M
average monthly revenue
attributed to the operation's paid media campaigns
14
professionals
on a regional team spread across six countries
The challenge

Assist Card was starting a new regional digital media operation at Carat, which meant building from scratch the processes, team structure and coordination mechanisms needed to run campaigns across 18 LATAM markets.

The operation combined high campaign volume, demanding commercial targets and teams spread across different countries, time zones and languages.

From the outset, a key priority was a scalable operating model: reducing manual work, standardizing criteria and freeing the team to spend more time on analysis, optimization and decision-making.

Strategy and execution

Three initiatives

01

Automation and media intelligence

I identified manual planning and reporting processes that could be automated to improve operational efficiency and support investment decisions.

Data prep and calculations for media plans
~3 h seconds
Before
Now
Data extraction, benchmarks and calculations. Investment decisions remain with the team.
Executive one-pager production
3–4 h ~30 min
Before
Now
Per report, across all 18 markets.

Planning tool

Designed and built by me from scratch API integration: BI team

I designed a planning tool in Google Sheets from scratch, building its scripts, formulas and data-entry controls. Together with the BI team, we brought in historical platform data via APIs to pull benchmarks and automatically calculate metrics such as CPA, CPL, CPC, CPM, conversion rate, ROAS and revenue.

Planners could now focus on analyzing scenarios and setting budget allocation instead of downloading data and running manual calculations. The tool was adopted by planners across the regional operation, bringing shared criteria and fewer data-entry errors.

DATA
Historical platform data via APIs
AUTOMATED
Benchmarks and calculated metrics
TEAM
Scenarios and budget allocation
Conceptual diagram

AI-powered executive one-pagers

Built by me

In parallel, I used AI to build a system that generates executive one-pager reports for all 18 markets.

Starting from a template with key metrics and information, the tool produced reports consistent with the agency's visual guidelines.

Both initiatives became part of the team's standard way of working.

  1. 02

    Evolving the programmatic strategy and campaign monitoring

    A bigger role for DV360

    Team effort

    As part of the regional strategy, we drove greater use of programmatic advertising through DV360, a platform that had played a secondary role in the client's operation until then.

    We worked to expand its role as a complement to other channels, adding Open Auction and Private Marketplace (PMP) strategies alongside specialist partners for premium inventory and travel-related audiences. The initiative included advising the client on the opportunities of programmatic buying and its contribution to the digital strategy.

    Monitoring the regional operation

    Built by Data & BI · scoped with our team

    I worked with the Data & BI team to define monitoring tools. Looker Studio dashboards were built to track investment, key commercial metrics — such as revenue, ROAS, sessions and purchases — and campaign delivery status.

    One of these dashboards made it possible to quickly spot campaigns with no spend or delivery issues, enabling early detection of problems across an 18-market operation.

  2. 03

    Standardization, training and quality control

    Processes and training

    I led this and developed the materials

    Faced with building a new regional operation, I developed processes and training materials to establish shared working criteria across markets.

    I drove the documentation of implementation best practices and used AI tools to turn training content into structured reference materials. This made knowledge easier to access and procedures easier to standardize across a team spread over six countries, time zones and languages.

    QA system with independent review

    I designed the system

    I identified opportunities to reduce human error in campaign implementation and designed a quality control (QA) system based on cross-checks. I used AI to help build the tool; every campaign review is carried out by people on the team:

    1. 01
      The implementer carries out a first review
    2. 02
      Another team member independently validates the critical elements
    3. 03
      Mandatory second approval
    4. 04
      Only then, activation

    These cross-checks significantly reduced the errors detected during the initial phase and strengthened the account's operational consistency.

Results and impact

A more scalable foundation for the regional operation.

01 · Automation

The planning and reporting tools significantly reduced time spent on manual tasks and became part of standard processes across all 18 markets.

02 · Media strategy

New programmatic strategies broadened the account's investment options.

03 · Process standardization

Documentation, training and quality controls helped improve operational consistency and reduce implementation errors.

A regional operation managing more than USD 10 million in annual media investment, with a team of 14 professionals and approximately USD 2 million in monthly revenue attributed to its paid media campaigns.