The Secret to Scaling: How Embedded Teams Are Redefining Marketing & Creative Operations

Marketing leaders have long navigated the trade-offs between in-house teams and external partners; each offering strengths, but also limitations. For years, this balancing act has shaped how creative operations function at scale.

But a third model is quietly rewriting the rules, and companies like Google, Nike, and Microsoft are proving it works.

Enter the Embedded Team Model

Embedded teams solve a problem that neither agencies nor in-house teams can address: they deliver deep integration with complete flexibility.

“The embedded model works because we’re solving for three things simultaneously: deep integration like in-house teams, flexibility like agencies, and scale,” says Andy, VP of Managed Services at SketchDeck. “We become part of your Slack, your tools, your culture, your daily operations, but we can also expand to 150 people or contract to 30 based on actual business needs.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

At SketchDeck, embedded teams operate as true extensions of client organizations. For Google, this meant a senior research consultant leading generative interviews to understand how target users perceive identity-related threats, then observing real users during onboarding to identify exact points of confusion and drop-off. The team uncovered critical gaps in product messaging and positioning, insights that only came from being inside the operation, not outside looking in.

For Nike, it meant taking full ownership of AEM content authoring, production, and site launches across four major waves of global eCommerce expansion. The team managed high-pressure timelines during peak events, scaling coverage to 18-24 hour days while maintaining quality and on-time delivery. What started as 30 people supporting production eventually grew to over 150 professionals integrated into Nike’s Direct-to-Consumer organization.

For Microsoft MSN, it meant assembling top-tier photo editors and journalists operating alternating shifts from New York and Seattle, providing seamless around-the-clock coverage. The team didn’t just source and edit images, they optimized content for Microsoft’s platform and global channel partners, curated slide shows that elevated visual storytelling, and coordinated with multiple agencies and partners across locations.

From Vendor to Strategic Partner

The real power of embedded teams isn’t just solving the initial problem, it’s how they evolve into strategic partners who anticipate needs before clients recognize them.

“The transformation happens when we stop being the people who execute tasks and become the people who see problems coming before the client does,” Andy explains.

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

Nike’s journey illustrates this evolution perfectly. What began as tactical AEM production work transformed into something far more strategic. Because the team was embedded in daily operations, they started recognizing patterns invisible from the inside, certain content types that took three times longer to produce and workflows that created bottlenecks during launches.

“Because we had the trust and proximity, we could say, ‘Hey, if we restructure this process and build these templates, we can cut production time by 40%,'” Andy recalls. “That’s when you transition from vendor to partner, when you’re improving the system, not just operating within it.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

By the time Nike formed their Direct-to-Consumer organization in 2017, the embedded team had grown from initial AEM support to over 150 professionals. SketchDeck supported the expansion of the team responsible for the DTC initiative, which then accounted for nearly 100% of the company’s growth. Revenue increased by up to 10% in quarters following the launch, driven in part by integrated, global content support.

Google’s evolution followed a similar trajectory, though more rapidly. The team started with user research on a specific onboarding problem but quickly became trusted advisors on broader go-to-market strategy. They weren’t just reporting findings, they were translating insights into specific product recommendations because they understood the full context.

Microsoft’s partnership demonstrates the long-term nature of these relationships. As their Content Project Manager noted: “Over the years, the team has contracted and expanded as our business needs change. I have always been impressed with the people SketchDeck hires, high-caliber professionals, a sense of humor to get through crazy shifts in the newsroom, and limitless creativity.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

That’s not a vendor relationship, that’s a partnership built on years of trust. The embedded team delivered a 36% reduction in cost-per-image and a 25% increase in editorial team productivity while becoming curatorial voices who understand Microsoft’s editorial standards deeply enough to make judgment calls that previously required senior editor approval.

The Mechanics of Scaling Without Breaking

The most counterintuitive aspect of embedded teams is that they maintain quality and consistency precisely when you’d expect them to struggle: during rapid scaling or dramatic pivots.

“This is where most people assume embedded teams would fall apart, but it’s actually where we’re strongest,” Andy says. “The secret is that we don’t scale people, we scale systems with people in them.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

When Nike needed to rapidly expand for the Olympics, the new team members weren’t learning processes from scratch. They inherited documentation, templates, workflows, style guides, and direct access to people who’d been embedded for months or years.

“New hires at Nike weren’t learning AEM from scratch; they were learning ‘Nike’s version of AEM as practiced by this specific embedded team,'” Andy explains. “That institutional knowledge is gold.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

Quality remains consistent because embedded teams separate what scales from what doesn’t. Team size scales. Standards don’t. At Microsoft, when coverage expands during major breaking news events, new photo editors use the same editorial guidelines, the same QA checklists, the same approval workflows. They’re plugging into an existing machine, not building a new one.

The ability to pivot, like Google shifting focus from messaging to user research, relies on a fundamental insight about how embedded teams are structured.

“Embedded teams are generalists who specialize, not specialists who generalize,” Andy notes. “Our team lead at Google wasn’t just a researcher; she was someone who understood how to embed into a client’s operations, decode their culture, identify the real problem beneath the stated problem, and mobilize resources to solve it.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

When you’re truly embedded, you’re brought in for judgment, not just skills. Skills can be learned quickly when you have judgment and context. This is why embedded team members can shift roles fluidly, designers become project managers, project managers become strategists, strategists become operational leaders, because they have the proximity and trust to see what needs to happen next.

Why This Model Works Now

Embedded teams aren’t new in theory, but they’re becoming essential in practice because of how marketing operations have fundamentally changed.

Content velocity has exploded. Nike manages continuous global site launches. Google needs to iterate on user experience in real-time based on behavioral data. The volume and pace would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

Flexibility is now a competitive advantage, not a nice-to-have. Companies that can scale up for major launches and scale down during quieter periods operate more efficiently than those maintaining large fixed teams or locked into agency retainers.

Integration depth matters more than ever. Surface-level partnerships can’t keep up with the complexity of modern martech stacks, global operations, and cross-functional workflows. You need people who understand your systems, your culture, and your strategic objectives at a granular level.

“Ultimately, embedded teams maintain quality through scale and pivot the same way good software maintains quality: strong architecture, comprehensive testing, clear documentation, and continuous iteration,” Andy says. “We just happen to be doing it with creative operations instead of code.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

The Results Speak for Themselves

The impact of embedded teams shows up in metrics that matter to business leaders:

Google gained deep, human-centered understanding of why their high-security product was falling short and how to address adoption barriers—insights that transformed a high-potential program into a more intuitive, user-ready solution.

Nike scaled from 30 to 150+ embedded team members, credited SketchDeck with driving nearly 100% of growth following their DTC launch, and saw revenue increases up to 10% in quarters following the launch.

Microsoft achieved a 36% reduction in cost-per-image, a 25% increase in editorial team productivity, and established a partnership that has contracted and expanded over the years based on evolving business needs.

But the less visible impact may be even more significant: the transformation from reactive to proactive operations. When your creative team can anticipate bottlenecks, suggest process improvements, and scale resources before you hit a crisis, you’re no longer managing constraints, you’re leveraging capabilities.

What This Means for Leaders

If your marketing operations feel like a constant negotiation between what you need and what your current model can deliver, you’re not alone. Embedded teams represent a third way: the integration and strategic partnership of in-house teams combined with the flexibility and specialized expertise of agencies.

As Andy puts it: “The key to this transformation is what I call ‘earned proximity.’ You earn proximity by being excellent at the tactical work first. You prove you can execute flawlessly at scale. Then proximity creates context. Context enables strategic insight. Strategic insight builds trust. And trust transforms the relationship from transactional to partnership.”

Andy Keck | VP of Managed Services

The companies redefining what’s possible in marketing operations aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets or the largest in-house teams. They’re the ones who’ve figured out how to scale creative excellence without sacrificing speed, quality, or strategic value.

They’ve discovered the secret isn’t choosing between building or buying creative capability. It’s embedding it.

Ready to scale your creative operations with embedded expertise?

Partner with SketchDeck to build an embedded team that integrates seamlessly with your business, scales to your needs, and drives results.