squared away / file 02

three years, seven campaigns, one federal client who kept coming back

For three years I ran a federal agency's travel-awareness portfolio: a $25M+ program of passport, STEP and safe-travel campaigns, renewed three times and extended with a five-year agreement.

roleteamtimelineclient
Project manager 15–20 team members 3 years Federal agency
$25M+portfolio across seven projects
3 renewalsthen a 5-year agreement
40% → 33%expedited passport renewals
01 · the challenge

what was at stake

After the pandemic, Americans rushed to renew passports all at once, and expedited requests flooded the system faster than the government could process them. The job: get people to check their expiration dates and renew at least six months before they travel.

That first campaign grew into a full program supporting Americans abroad: enrolling travelers in STEP before they go, and checking travel advisories to avoid level 3 and 4 countries.

02 · my role

where I came in

I led project management for the account which revolved around delivery: budgets and burn rate, timelines, resourcing, vendor coordination, and the approval process. I kept 10–15 internal team members and 5 vendors on track, and worked with client stakeholders every day to move creative through approvals and report on media metrics.

03 · the approach

how I squared it away

  • Ran the machine. Budgets, timelines, resourcing, vendors, approvals, planning and closing documentation, and the meetings that kept a government account moving.

  • Built reporting people actually use. I created a weekly transaction report to track labor spend and burn rate with our account team. It worked so well I turned it into an agency-wide template and trained every project manager to use it.

  • Held the dates through an administration change. Going into year three, we had a new approval process and campaign messaging to rewrite around new priorities, with zero flexibility on launch dates. Everything still went to market on time.

  • Got better every year. Retrospectives after each campaign turned into system improvements for the next one.

passport year two ads
A cartoon rabbit in green overalls holds a U.S. passport with the text 'Your pass to a world of wonder' above. Below is a link to travel.state.gov and a 'Learn More' button. The U.S. Department of State seal is at the top.
Animated turtle wearing glasses and a sweater, holding a U.S. passport, against a blue background with text "Your Pass to A World of Wonder." Includes travel.state.gov and a "Learn More" button.
A cartoon hedgehog wearing glasses and a sweater holds a passport in front of a blue background. The text says "Your pass to a world of wonder" with a travel.state.gov link and a Learn More button. 
04 · the outcome

what changed

  • Passport, year one: expedited renewals dropped from 40% to 33% within 10 months, the first time under the 35% target since 2020. The campaign drove 9.5M site visits and 15% of all renewal form clicks, on a $5.6M spend that beat cost benchmarks by more than half.

  • Passport, year two: 280M+ impressions and nearly 3M site visits, with display click-through rates double the industry benchmark.

  • STEP and Safe Traveler: 142M impressions, 2.6M site visits (84% new users), and 581K+ STEP enrollment starts, with paid search costing a fraction of benchmark.

  • Trust: the contract was renewed three times, and the most recent renewal was a five-year agreement.

words from a team member
“Maddie is essential—her incredible dedication, deep PM prowess, and her commitment to making sure that this massively complex and integrated account stays on schedule and on budget without sacrificing the quality of creative has been a sight to behold. More than a PM, she’s a partner to both managers and makers to ensure that all project stakeholders have the time and materials they need. She’s peerless.”
— Austin Duck Creative Director 
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