Every publisher knows the moment: a salesperson walks into an advertiser meeting only to realise a colleague was there just days before pitching something completely different. The advertiser notices the disconnect immediately. “Do you guys not talk to each other?” becomes the uncomfortable question that lingers after the meeting.
For Mark McCartney, Director of Customer Success at Lineup Systems, this isn’t an isolated story, it’s a pattern. “That information would have been scribbled on a post-it note in a daybook,” he explains, “and therefore not shared with the wider group.”
We talked to him about why publishers finally say “enough,” the transformation nobody expected, and how Adpoint is rewriting workflows to help publishers reclaim their time.
The Breaking Point: Why Publishers Finally Say “Enough”
Before adopting Adpoint, publishers were drowning in what McCartney calls “many versions of the truth.” This scenario typically looks like multiple order management systems running in parallel, each containing fragments of the same advertiser’s data.
In one such case, Procter & Gamble existed in system A, system B, and system C — each with different information, none talking to the others. For salespeople to book single orders across print, digital, and events,they had to log into three different systems, creating what McCartney describes as “hugely admin-heavy” workflows.
Then there’s the legacy system anxiety. McCartney points to recent customers that were running on order management software that was no longer supported. “Coming over to Adpoint and having a new version literally every month, with new features and functionality, is a real comfort blanket,” he says.
The Transformation Nobody Expected
Perhaps the most striking insight from McCartney’s experience isn’t technical, it’s human.
At ACM, one of Lineup’s clients, the change was measurable in hours reclaimed. “Salespeople had more time to sell,” McCartney notes. “They don’t want to spend more time in a system trying to input orders. They want to spend the majority of their time selling to customers.”
You can read our full ACM Case Study here.
The math is compelling. When booking an order takes minutes instead of hours, and you multiply this across one person’s day, and then across an entire department, the administrative savings become substantial. But the real win? “We’ve seen some publishers be able to extend their booking window,” McCartney reveals.
Here’s why that matters: more antiquated processes forced some publishers to close their booking windows early. Production and finance teams needed buffer time to handle the manual work happening behind the scenes. With integrated production tools and finance automation, that buffer disappears. A wider booking window means more orders. More orders mean more revenue.
The Emotional Shift: From Scribbled Notes to Strategic Conversations
When asked about the qualitative, day-to-day experience of Adpoint users, McCartney describes something that sounds almost mundane until you consider the alternative: clarity.
“They have more clarity about their customer base than ever before,” he says. “They know who is speaking to what advertiser and when and what about.”
For larger publishing organizations managing multiple brands, this visibility changes everything. A strategic proposal that crosses five brands previously required detective work—checking daybooks, asking around, hoping nobody had already pitched something similar. Now, CRM data reveals ongoing conversations, enabling cohesive, intelligent approaches to major advertisers.
“The advertiser can just deal with one particular order rather than many disparate bookings,” McCartney explains. “It’s smarter for the customer.”
The Feedback That Surprises Even the Vendor
Ask McCartney about the most common positive feedback, and his answer is immediate: visibility of data. The ability to book packages across multiple channels in single orders. The time saved.
But then he says something unexpected: “The less the customer uses our system, the better.”
He catches himself, clarifying that this doesn’t mean neglecting opportunity tracking or project management. Rather, it reflects a philosophy that good software should facilitate work, not become the work. “The more we can get them out selling, the better.”
This is a key feature of the Adpoint UX McCartney highlights the enhanced customization capabilities: teams can tailor their interfaces by role, ensuring each group sees exactly what they need. The digital sales team focuses on their essential fields, while the events team accesses a broader set, creating a more relevant and efficient workflow for everyone.
What This Means for Publishing
The publishing industry’s operational challenges aren’t unique to media: fragmented systems, data silos, and outdated infrastructures plague many sectors. But the consequences are particularly acute in an industry where timing is everything and advertiser relationships are the entire business.
McCartney’s insights suggest that the publishers thriving in this environment aren’t necessarily those with the biggest tech budgets, but those who recognize that “one version of the truth” isn’t just an IT concept, it’s a competitive advantage. When your salespeople stop apologizing for internal confusion and start presenting unified, strategic proposals, the conversation with advertisers changes completely.
From post-it notes to integrated CRM. From three systems to one. From admin-heavy days to selling-focused ones.
The transformation, it turns out, isn’t just about software. It’s about giving publishers back something they didn’t realize they’d lost: the time and clarity to actually think about their business, rather than just manage it.
How Adpoint Is Rewriting Publisher Workflows
At Lineup Systems, this is exactly the problem Adpoint was built to solve. By replacing fragmented legacy systems and disconnected workflows with a single, unified platform, Adpoint gives publishers one version of the truth across sales, CRM, OMS, Analytics, and Finance.
Instead of information being trapped in silos or lost in informal notes, every team works from the same real-time data. It’s fully visible, fully connected, and easy to act on. The result isn’t just operational efficiency, but a fundamental shift in how publishers operate: fewer blind spots, better collaboration, and the ability to focus time where it matters most—on building stronger advertiser relationships and driving revenue.
