wunderkind
The design strategy behind 30% ARR growth: How I transformed a growing ads business into a scalable product service
Wunderkind is a leading performance marketing platform that helps brands and publishers turn behavioral data into personalized, less intrusive ways to re-engage audiences.
I led design for Wunderkind’s publisher and advertising business as the company grew from startup to Series C. My work shaped their product ecosystem into a scalable foundation for growth.
Product Design
UX Design
Strategy
Development
Design Operations
Expanded the publisher Services
Increasing the publisher client base became a critical focus as Wunderkind scaled. Over a year-long, company-wide initiative, I worked across executive leadership, Product, Engineering, and Sales to develop new behavioral activations around a core publisher challenge: re-engaging disengaged readers without disrupting the content experience.
Created New Client Monetization Formats
Content recommendations had become a familiar part of publisher sites, but most still felt disconnected from the reading experience. I designed new recommendation experiences around Wunderkind’s existing infrastructure, making them easier for Engineering to integrate and faster to launch.
The work opened new revenue opportunities and helped win new publisher clients.
The work opened new revenue opportunities and helped win new publisher clients.
Built Publisher Experiences
Wunderkind’s existing publisher units were functional, but visual inconsistencies, technical limitations, and responsive issues kept them from feeling fully integrated into premium publisher environments.
Scaled the Advertiser product services
With a strong focus on advertiser growth, Wunderkind needed to evolve its product and creative program into a high-volume operation that could compete at the level of the industry’s largest advertising platforms.
I led the design function behind that growth, balancing bespoke creative work with the need to deliver performance consistently at greater volume and speed.
I led the design function behind that growth, balancing bespoke creative work with the need to deliver performance consistently at greater volume and speed.
Built the In-House Production System
To scale creative output, a larger operational problem that drained production time needed to first be resolved.
I designed and developed internal systems that streamlined how campaigns were built and managed. The new tools and workflow reduced production overhead, contributing to more than $1M in cost savings.
I designed and developed internal systems that streamlined how campaigns were built and managed. The new tools and workflow reduced production overhead, contributing to more than $1M in cost savings.
This system integrated functionality to give the Design Team a no-code tool to create ads and enable Campaign Teams with the capability of providing clients with analytic data from their preferred ad server.
Productized Core UI elements & Templates
Campaign production depended on a growing set of technical requirements, from ad-server tracking to format-specific implementation.
I built UI components with those requirements already integrated and created templates for repetitive production work.
My work reduced technical friction, improved consistency, and gave designers more room to focus on the creative.
My work reduced technical friction, improved consistency, and gave designers more room to focus on the creative.
Built the Ad Portfolio
Wunderkind needed a broad range of ad products that could serve different campaign goals without becoming one-off executions.
I created a portfolio of video, interactive, and strategy-driven formats built on consistent frameworks that could flex across advertisers, publishers, and campaign needs.
I created a portfolio of video, interactive, and strategy-driven formats built on consistent frameworks that could flex across advertisers, publishers, and campaign needs.
- Carousel
GamificationBranded VideoEvent Countdown
Tap-to-Map
Created the product showcase
Wunderkind’s growing advertising portfolio needed a clearer way for Ad Sales to communicate product formats, technical capabilities, and real campaign examples to prospective clients.
I designed a centralized product showcase and partnered with development to build it in WordPress, giving Sales and internal teams a more effective way to present, compare, and explain the product suite.
I designed a centralized product showcase and partnered with development to build it in WordPress, giving Sales and internal teams a more effective way to present, compare, and explain the product suite.
“Brennin was a huge part of the success of Wunderkind's ads business over the course of 4/5 years. He also became our liaison to the product team helping us to expand the functionality of our creative and take new, higher grossing creative concepts to market.”
Jesse Brewer
VP of Ad Sales, Wunderkind
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