The final post may take only seconds to publish. The work required to get it there rarely does.
Behind almost every piece of sports content is a production process involving designers, social media managers, account teams, approval chains and specialist software. When those systems work, organisations can react quickly, maintain a consistent identity and make the most of important moments. When they do not, seemingly straightforward assets can take hours to produce.
Will Gilgrass experienced that frustration first-hand while working at the eSkootr Championship. Tasked with creating a results graphic in Photoshop, he found himself wrestling with a time-consuming process that felt unnecessarily difficult.
That experience eventually led him to Format, a creative productivity platform designed to help teams produce high volumes of on-brand graphics and video without requiring every user to possess specialist design skills.
Now Managing Director of the business, Gilgrass believes the conversation around content needs to extend beyond ideas, platforms and engagement. Organisations must also examine the systems behind the work and the pressure those systems place on the people responsible for delivering it.
We spoke to him about the origins of Format, the operational challenges facing sports organisations and what the next generation of creative teams might look like.
From production frustration to business opportunity
What was the moment you realised this problem was worth solving?
“I was working at the eSkootr Championship, sat with a Photoshop PSD but with not very good Photoshop skills, trying to create a results graphic for our inaugural race in London. Making many mistakes, it was taking hours, and I thought there must be a way to make this sort of content a lot easier.
“A year later, I met Matt Sayward, who was Chief Strategy Officer at Platform Media at the time, and he had built that tool. That tool was called Format.”
Before Format, how were organisations managing content production?
“All teams in all organisations have different ways of making content, and many of them work, but there are many bottlenecks and unnecessary hoops that people have to jump through. Things don’t need to be so hard.”
What frustrations did you repeatedly see across creative teams?
“I think the biggest one is waiting for things to be done. A lot of these tasks aren’t very difficult, but do require some technical knowledge. They aren’t a top priority for designers because they would rather be doing bigger, better and more exciting things, so they end up at the bottom of their to-do list.
“But social media managers and account managers need the assets immediately. They’re then desperately waiting for emails to come through with a link when they could and should be getting on with other things.”
The issue, Gilgrass argues, is not simply one of convenience. Inefficient production processes absorb working hours, limit output and prevent organisations from capitalising on opportunities across their channels.
Why did you decide this wasn’t just a workflow problem, but a business problem?
“One of the greatest frustrations for people who work in social is that everyone has social accounts, and they think it takes two seconds to hit publish and set a post live. The reality is that it takes hours, days and sometimes weeks of planning to make sure that posts absolutely bang and work well.
“This is a business problem because if the workflows aren’t efficient, it takes up more time than it should, which ultimately hits companies on the bottom line.
“Equally, if you can produce more content more quickly, then you’re giving yourself more opportunity to commercialise your channels. We have a great example of that with The Good, The Bad and The Rugby, who were able to publish more content with Format, which enabled them to grow the revenue they made from their social channels year on year by 86%.”
Was Format always the solution you envisaged, or did it evolve significantly from the original idea?
“It’s constantly changing and constantly evolving. We love hearing from the people who use it when they come up with different ideas for how it could work, and we can go away and build those things for them.
“But ultimately, the core is still there. We’re helping people create consistent content at scale more easily, more quickly and without mistakes.”
Removing the repetitive work
Format is not intended to replace the traditional design process. Its role begins once a visual identity, campaign system or repeatable asset has already been created.
At that point, the platform allows organisations to convert designs into controlled templates that can be used by people across the business. The objective is to reduce the amount of repetitive production work sitting with specialist designers, while allowing social and account teams to create the assets they need independently.
How would you describe Format in one sentence?
“Format is your productivity tool for creating high-volume, pixel-perfect and on-brand video and graphics, fast.”
What makes Format fundamentally different from tools like Canva or Adobe Express?
“The game-changer is our locked templates. What this means is that anyone on your team, not just designers, can jump in and create assets, but they can’t go off-brand.
“The templates are built by designers with flexible and responsive guardrails put in place, so there’s no risk of someone accidentally using the wrong font or messing up the brand guidelines.
“This frees up your actual designers to focus on the creative, strategic work instead of churning out social posts or campaign variations all day.”
Who gets the biggest benefit from Format: the designer or the wider business?
“Both. The designer doesn’t necessarily have to do a lot of the repetitive design work that usually falls on them and that they don’t like doing, because it’s available in Format for anyone to use. They’re able to work on other creative projects or use Format to complete the templated tasks more quickly.
“The broader business benefits as a result of that, and further because social media managers and account managers can get on and do the jobs themselves without relying on those with knowledge of complex design tools.
“Everyone can be more efficient with their time, and all of this helps with the overall bottom line and the morale of a team.”
How do you balance giving non-designers creative freedom without compromising brand quality?
“Because we use code to convert templates into Format, you stop enforcing your brand and start encoding it. You’re able to set the creative guardrails exactly how you want them.
“This doesn’t mean eliminating creative freedom. Instead, it means creating a brand-safe environment where everything your brand represents is guaranteed, irrespective of who’s building the content.”
At what point does a company outgrow traditional design processes?
“I think traditional design processes are absolutely necessary to maintain. It’s just that once you have a design everyone is happy with, which you then repeat week after week or game after game, there are tools like Format that can make that significantly easier and quicker for everyone involved.
“That enables your designers to continue to act in a traditional manner and work on more creative projects.”
The particular pressures of sports content
The demand for faster production is visible across most industries, but sport presents a distinct combination of volume, urgency and unpredictability.
A goal, result, signing or breaking story can create an immediate opportunity. Audiences expect content to arrive almost instantly, yet the information still needs to be correct and the execution must remain consistent with the organisation’s brand.
For Gilgrass, that pressure makes sport a natural market for Format.
Why has sport become such a strong market for Format?
“It’s where we started. The Good, The Bad and The Rugby was our first case study via Platform Media, and it works because of the nature of sport and the cadence of content that is produced around matches, news, results, league tables and everything else.”
What makes sports organisations uniquely difficult from a content perspective?
“Sports organisations face many of the same challenges that other industries face. The key thing with sport, though, is immediacy coupled with accuracy, because as soon as that goal goes in, your content needs to be live.
“If you haven’t won the race to the feed, then your content will die.”
What trends are you seeing across clubs, leagues and rights holders?
“There’s so much that it’s hard to keep up, but what I think sports organisations should be doing more of is repeatable formats and potentially narrative repeatable formats, with a lower-case “f”.”
How has the explosion of social platforms changed the expectations placed on content teams?
“It’s just endless and doesn’t stop. I remember when I was Head of Social at Red Bull, people joked about being “always on”.
“Now I think it’s all-consuming and dominating, and social and content teams need to be looked after.”
That concern for the people behind the platforms is a recurring theme throughout Gilgrass’s view of creative operations.
While businesses frequently assess tools according to efficiency, output and return on investment, he believes the effect on employees can be just as significant. A smoother production process does not only save hours. It can remove uncertainty, reduce pressure and give creative teams more control over their work.
Are sports organisations beginning to think differently about creative operations?
“They are, yes, but I don’t think they’re thinking about it seriously enough, because unless you’ve had your hands on the phone pushing out that content, you don’t quite understand what’s required.
“There aren’t enough people who have been in those roles who are now in really senior positions and understand the challenges those people face.”
Which customer story best demonstrates the impact Format can have?
“We’re very fortunate that all the teams we work with have found benefits from Format in different ways.
“I think one of the most pleasing ones recently is working with OS Studios, who took over the broadcast and social output of Major League Rugby with a new look and feel.
“Our designers worked with them to help ensure visual consistency across all platforms. Then the tool kicked in, helping the team create hundreds of pieces of content across the season and really bring those stories to life.”
Which metrics do customers care about most: time saved, output, engagement or revenue?
“During the pitching process, everyone asks about time saved, revenue saved and so on. They’re all, of course, really important.
“But when people have their hands on Format and are using it regularly, the stress we’re able to save for the individuals in their teams is amazing and something they truly value.”
What the future means for creative teams
The rapid development of artificial intelligence has intensified questions around the future of creative work.
Gilgrass expects automation to change the responsibilities attached to many roles, but not to remove the need for excellent strategists, designers and content professionals. Instead, he believes the strongest people will use technology to improve their work and create more room for the distinctly human parts of the process.
What does a modern content team look like in five years?
“Hopefully all of them will have Format as part of it.
“Who knows what the next five years will bring? But you’ll always need people with strategy, people to come up with brilliant ideas and a way of producing that content.
“Perhaps most importantly, you’ll need a community manager who lives and breathes that audience, can engage with them and serve them the content where and how they want it, in a voice that makes sense. For me, they’re the most underrated part of any marketing team.”
How will AI change creative production?
“Sadly, those who are five or six out of ten at their job will probably lose it, but those who are good will use AI to make themselves even better.
“I can’t see AI fully replacing brilliant people in creative or content.”
Which parts of the creative process should never be automated?
“Sitting in a relaxed environment, spitballing and coming up with an idea which first seems ridiculous, but then you realise you might just be onto something.”
Do you think organisations will hire fewer designers, or simply ask them to do different work?
“Not necessarily. Designers, like everyone working in marketing, need to work smarter and use all the tools available to them.
“But the organisations that win will see more and different opportunities and be able to move their talent to nail them.”
What trends do you think most marketing leaders are underestimating?
“The value of a great community manager. Someone who lives the audience you want to be part of, and the importance of having them at your top table for overarching strategic meetings.”
Building Format
As Format develops, its roadmap is shaped by a combination of the team’s own vision and the practical requirements of its customers.
Gilgrass is candid about the uncertainty that comes with building a growing software business. Direction is questioned regularly, priorities continue to change and the work is rarely complete. What sustains the business is seeing the platform make a tangible difference to the people using it.
What has been the hardest challenge in building Format?
“When people don’t reply to an email.”
Have there been moments where you questioned the direction of the business?
“Every day. But then something excellent happens and I know we’re moving in the right direction.”
How do you decide what to build next?
“It’s a combination of what the team believes the best thing to do is, and listening to our clients and what would benefit them most.”
What is one lesson you’ve learned that you would tell another SaaS founder?
“When you think you’ve done everything, there’s so much more to do.”
What excites you most about the next 12 months?
“The feedback from people we’re yet to onboard when Format has had a direct, positive impact on their work and, consequently, their wellbeing.”
Quick fire
One workflow every content team should eliminate?
“Play”, as in: “What’s the content play for this project?”
Biggest mistake organisations make with brand consistency?
“Keeping brand consistency doesn’t mean everything needs to look the same.”
Most underrated metric creative leaders should track?
“How stressed their team is.”
Favourite customer success story?
“As a top-to-bottom overall project where we worked on design, implemented live data and built automations into Slack and email, Major League Rugby for OS Studios.”
One prediction for sports content in 2030?
“More and more content will be distributed through fan accounts, especially from brands that want genuine authenticity within a community.”
Creating more space for creativity
The volume of content expected from modern sports organisations is unlikely to decrease. New platforms, formats and commercial demands will continue to place pressure on teams that are already expected to operate at speed.
The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to ask those teams to produce more. It is to reconsider how the work moves through an organisation and which parts of the process genuinely require specialist creative input.
For Gilgrass, the purpose of automation is not to remove designers, strategists or social media professionals from that process. It is to take repetitive production off their desks, protect the integrity of the brand and give talented people more time to focus on the work that only they can do.
In an industry often preoccupied with the next platform, trend or breakthrough idea, the organisations that gain an advantage may be those willing to pay closer attention to something less visible: the operational systems that allow great creative work to happen.
You can check out more about Format over on the Behind Sport Directory, by clicking here.
Enjoyed this article? Read more from our Insight series here, or join over 2,900 sport professionals who receive our weekly newsletter here.
