Case Study
Every ad from brief to launch, in one gated pipeline
How we replaced Google Sheets and manual handoffs with a connected Notion and ClickUp system for Faccelove, a fast-moving DTC beauty brand.
Built by Ishan Vats — Certified Notion + ClickUp Consultant, Claude Partner Network, PMP® · 150+ clients · 10+ years
The client
About Faccelove
Faccelove is a founder-led DTC beauty brand selling eye and lip cosmetics across the Netherlands and Belgium, with a positioning around natural, healthy beauty ("Love your Face"). Products like the IronEye mascara and IronBoost+ serum are sold direct to consumers through a fast-moving paid-ads engine.
Like most scaling e-commerce brands, their growth depends on a constant stream of ad creative, and that creative factory needed a system that could keep up.
The transformation
From a creative engine on spreadsheets to one pipeline
The pipeline worked, until volume made it fragile. Here's the shift we delivered.
A creative engine on spreadsheets
- Every ad lived in Google Sheets and scattered messages, with no single live view.
- Handoffs were manual: a strategist wrote a brief, then chased the next person.
- Editors could start on AI assets that weren't approved, burning redo hours.
- Ads reached the media buyer missing required fields, so work bounced back.
- With more products and creators coming, "manage it in Sheets" was about to break.
One gated brief-to-launch pipeline
- Every ad runs brief-to-launch in one connected Notion + ClickUp pipeline.
- A brief is written once in Notion, then one click sends it to ClickUp, auto-assigned.
- An AI gate means editors only start once the asset is approved, no wasted edits.
- Required handoff fields mean no half-finished ad ever reaches the media buyer.
- Production tracking moved off Sheets into live dashboards the whole team uses.
The brief
What success looked like
- One live overview of every ad in production, in Notion, with a clear path into execution.
- A gated workflow: brief in Notion, one click to ClickUp, auto-assigned to the right role.
- An AI gate so editors only start once the AI asset is approved.
- A built-in revision loop and a media-buyer handoff that cannot be skipped.
- Production tracking moved off Google Sheets into dashboards the whole team can use.
The approach
Notion and ClickUp, kept in sync
Notion plans, ClickUp executes, and Zapier keeps the two in sync both ways. A brief flows from planning into execution, and live status flows back, so both sides always show the same truth.
The brain. The Ads Master database, briefings, and a live production status overview, the "why, what, and when" at a business level. Every ad is briefed once, here.
Two-way sync
The engine. Gated tasks, assignments, deadlines, and the role-by-role production flow, the "who does what next, by when." Where the work actually moves.
The full architecture: Notion (decide & plan) and ClickUp (execute & deliver), kept in sync.
The solution
A gated brief-to-launch pipeline
Ads Master in Notion
A single database where every ad is briefed and tracked, with a live production status overview. The brief is written once and never re-entered downstream.
One-click "Send to ClickUp"
From a completed briefing, one action creates the ad project in ClickUp and auto-assigns the right tasks to the right people.
AI-gated execution flow
The ad moves through the real production line, AI editor to QC to edit to QC to media buyer, with editors only starting once the AI asset is approved.
Revision loop & required handoff
A clear feedback and revision loop, plus a structured media-buyer handoff via required dropdown fields, so nothing advances incomplete.
Smooth, automated approvals
ClickUp automations notify the right person the moment an ad is ready for review, so approvals never sit waiting and work keeps moving.
Dashboards & views
Live dashboards in Notion and ClickUp with List, Kanban and Gantt views, plus daily throughput targets and same-day deadlines.
Resilient automation
The Notion to ClickUp integration is hardened with an "Error" status, so a broken or incomplete handoff is visible instantly instead of failing silently.
Inside the build
Notion Ads Master
Send to ClickUp flow
ClickUp gated flow
Production dashboardsThe consulting value
Hard problems, solved honestly
A gate that saves real money
Editors physically cannot start until the AI asset is QC-approved, which kills the most expensive failure mode: hours of editing on work that gets thrown away.
Steps that cannot be skipped
Required fields on the media-buyer handoff mean ads never reach the buyer half-finished and bounce back.
Fails loudly, not silently
When incomplete data is pushed from Notion, an "Error" status flags it instantly so the team can fix and retry, instead of work disappearing.
Written once, used everywhere
Notion and ClickUp stay in sync, so a brief is authored a single time and flows straight into execution, with status flowing back the other way.
Ishan built exactly the production system we needed. Our whole team now runs every ad from brief to launch inside Notion and ClickUp instead of Google Sheets. We finally feel productive. The team can work on multiple ads at once without messing things up, and nothing sits stuck waiting on approvals. The flow just works, and everyone picked it up right away.
Tools & stack
What it runs on
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