Bare Minerals: From Bottlenecks to Brilliance

40% productivity boost during an e-commerce redesign & relocation

Challenge

Bare Minerals' in-house digital creative team was managing a major DemandWare e-commerce redesign and a constant stream of campaigns simultaneously, with no workload visibility, unclear approval processes, and a high volume of last-minute rush requests. A department relocation from San Francisco to New York was also in progress. The team needed to produce more work, faster, without slipping the redesign milestones or the BAU output the business depended on.

Outcomes

Team productivity: +40%

Creative turnaround time: 5 weeks

Asset governance: Centralized DAM

BAU continuity: Zero disruption

Overview

Bare Minerals (Bare Escentuals) was in the midst of a major redesign of its industry-leading DemandWare e-commerce website while also delivering a constant stream of digital campaigns, product launches, and marketing content. As Senior Digital Project Manager, I optimized processes, improved creative delivery speed, and implemented new tools — all while ensuring business-as-usual output stayed on track, and the redesign met its milestones.

Challenge

The in-house creative team — five digital designers and two copywriters — was managing an overwhelming mix of high-visibility redesign work and routine digital deliverables. Problems included:

• Inefficient workflows and unclear approval processes
• High volume of last-minute rush requests
• Limited visibility into team workload and capacity
• No centralized system for managing and reusing digital assets
• Additional complexity from a large-scale creative department relocation from San Francisco to NYC

The brand needed a way to streamline operations without sacrificing creative quality or redesign momentum.

My Role

Senior Digital Project Manager

• Managed all creative workflows for the in-house digital team (e-commerce, campaigns, emails, banners, landing pages, web copy)
• Analyzed and documented existing processes and systems
• Provided actionable insights into team workload for resource optimization
• Partnered with stakeholders to reduce rush requests and improve project planning
• Configured and launched a Digital Asset Management system (Celum.com) with usage rules and content lifecycle controls
• Supported the relocation of the creative department from San Francisco to NYC, ensuring process continuity

Process

• Discovery & Documentation — Audited all processes, mapped workflows, and identified bottlenecks in creative production
• Process Improvements — Introduced revised intake procedures, clarified approval steps, and implemented realistic timelines to reduce rush work
• Capacity & Planning — Built workload tracking in Excel for transparent prioritization and resourcing decisions
• DAM Implementation — Configured Celum DAM for asset storage, permissions, and lifecycle management to improve content reuse and governance
• Stakeholder Alignment — Created and presented “Ways of Working” documentation to all departments to enforce new processes
• Relocation Support — Coordinated process and tooling continuity during the creative team’s move to NYC

Key Outcomes

• 40% increase in productivity across the digital creative team
• Reduced creative turnaround time from 8 weeks to 5 weeks
• Decreased rush requests through improved planning and stakeholder engagement
• Launched a fully configured Celum DAM to centralize and control digital creative assets
• Maintained BAU delivery without disruption during e-commerce redesign and department relocation

Reflection

The combination of process optimization, better tooling, and proactive stakeholder engagement transformed the creative team’s output. Even with a major redesign and a department relocation in play, the team delivered more work, faster — and with far less chaos.

Key Questions

How did you improve creative team productivity by 40%?

By fixing the intake process and making workload visible. Bex audited existing workflows, revised intake and approval steps, introduced realistic timeline expectations to reduce rush requests, and built workload tracking in Excel for resourcing decisions. The productivity gain came from process change, not headcount.

How do you keep a team on track during a major organizational change?

On this project, a department relocation from San Francisco to New York was running alongside a major redesign and ongoing BAU campaigns. Bex maintained continuity by documenting process changes, coordinating tooling handoffs, and presenting Ways of Working documentation to all departments to ensure nothing fell through.

What is your experience implementing digital asset management systems?

Bex configured and launched a Celum DAM for the Bare Minerals digital creative team, including usage rules, role-based permissions, and content lifecycle controls. The system gave the team a centralized source for managing and reusing digital assets across e-commerce, campaigns, emails, and banners.