Small team, big campaigns: inside Sandwich’s secrets to scaling creative

When you're watching a slick, high-concept ad from a top tech brand, you're probably not thinking: "I bet a four-person post team pulled this off."

But that’s exactly how Sandwich — the creative agency behind standout work for Slack, Square, Airbnb and pretty much every buzzy tech brand — gets it done.

With just four people in post, they're delivering around 50 campaigns a year. Their secret? A smart, automation-powered workflow that treats organization like a creative tool, not a necessary evil.

In our latest Magic Hour session, we sat down with Sandwich’s Chief Post Officer, Zach Hobesh, and VFX Supervisor, Dan Sturm, to dig into the scrappy, smart systems that let their small team scale like a much bigger one — without losing their creative edge.

Watch the full conversation below, or read on for the highlights.

From Dropbox chaos to seamless collaboration

"Pre-pandemic, we worked off a NAS like many people," says Zach, Sandwich's EP of post. "But when remote work hit, we immediately went to Dropbox. LucidLink was a huge upgrade from that."

The difference wasn't just technical — it was cultural.

"Until you experience the chaos of sharing a folder via Dropbox and someone says 'where's that thing?' — it's like, I don't know, where did you put it?" explains Dan, their visual effects supervisor. "Dropbox and similar solutions aren't built for the same collaboration you have at a studio."

The breaking point came when file management started eating into creative time. Not everyone on a creative team is naturally organized, and that's okay — but someone needs to keep the ship running smoothly.

LucidLink changed the game by giving everyone the same view of the same files in the same place. No more hunting through personal Dropbox folders. No more version confusion. Just reliable, predictable access that lets them build something bigger.

Building automation on a foundation of consistency

Once they had reliable shared storage, Dan's automation instincts kicked in.

"I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to automation stuff," he admits. "When we think of an idea that's going to make work easier or solve a problem, I like to dig into that."

But automation only works when you have consistent foundations. They established strict naming conventions and project templates — not to constrain creativity, but to free it up.

"As long as everyone abides by the agreed-upon naming conventions and where things go, we can build automations that make everyone's life easier," Dan explains.

The publish tool: from manual uploads to one-click sharing

One of the team’s most-loved automations is a simple Slack command. An editor types a slash command, drops in a LucidLink path and the system:

• Uploads the cut to Dropbox

• Updates their project database

• Sends a branded link straight back to Slack

"Editors like it because it makes it really easy to get a link to send for review," Zach says. "And I'd assume clients like it because it turns into a cute vanity link that says SNDW for Sandwich."

No digging through folders. No broken handoffs. Just fast, reliable sharing that works the way creative teams actually work.

The comp builder: from blank projects to ready-to-render setups

For VFX, Dan built something even more ambitious: a system that breaks projects into individual shots, creates the folder structure, generates reference files, makes thumbnails and even builds Nuke compositions with the right settings.

"When an artist gets onboarded, they don't even have to make a new project," Dan explains. "The project is sitting there waiting for them. They just open it up, the log plates are there, it's connected to the right node. They just open the project, do the work and hit render."

This eliminates blank project anxiety, wrong color spaces or misnamed files. Now the team has clean, consistent setups that let artists focus on the art.

The business impact of smooth workflows

Sandwich’s workflows aren’t just about making life easier (though they do). They’re about working at scale.

"The number of VFX shots we can complete in two weeks is significantly increased," Zach notes. More importantly, onboarding freelancers became friction-free.

"Sometimes you hire a freelancer you're excited about, but it doesn't work out because you didn't give them the tools to succeed," he explains. "For us, that happens significantly less. People can jump in without much hand-holding and start doing what they're best at."

When scaling up is simple, they're more likely to bring on help when needed. That speeds up projects and opens doors to bigger opportunities.

Flexible until the final frame

Most teams think tighter workflows mean less flexibility. Sandwich proves it’s the opposite.

"We're not locked on anything until we deliver the project," Dan reveals. "If it's delivery day and we decide we need to rethink something, we've built our setup so we can tackle that without wanting to bang our heads against the wall."

This isn't chaos — it's intentional flexibility. They've engineered their workflow to support last-minute creative decisions because that's when the best ideas often strike.

"We don't want to arbitrarily handcuff ourselves with technical reasons," Dan adds. "We want to be able to do stuff whenever we feel like doing it."

What can you take away?

If you work in post (or any tech for that matter), Sandwich’s approach proves a few simple truths:

Ready to see it in action?

Want to dive deeper into Sandwich's workflow philosophy and see their automation tools in action?

Watch the full Magic Hour conversation where Zach and Dan walk through their setup, share more automation examples and answer questions from the creative community.