Social & creative strategist · Madrid · EU citizen

Paid and organic social strategy, and the teams that run it

Six years in social, five of them leading creative teams. I plan paid and organic together, build the workflows that keep briefs and assets moving, and lead the people who make them.

Portrait of Manuel Carsellé
€283Kattributed Meta revenue in six monthsPaid
10M+followers managed across Udemy's global channelsOrganic
2.7ROAS on Udemy's Black Friday, +32% year over yearPaid + organic
5+ yrsleading creative teams; two strategists report to me todayLeadership

Brands and teams I've worked with

  • Udemy
  • DDB México
  • Mattel
  • Riot Games (freelance)
  • GGTech
  • Ads On Tap

Selected work

Seven projects across paid, organic and the systems behind them. Agency clients are described by category for confidentiality.

Ads On Tap

  • Meta
  • TikTok
  • 12 brands
PaidLeadership

Performance creative for 12 brands, and the team behind it

Ads On Tap · Meta and TikTok · 2026

€283Kattributed Meta revenue and 5,600+ leads in six months

Challenge
Keep new concepts coming for DTC, app, B2B, CPG, gaming and lead-gen accounts, each with its own audience and margins.
Approach
246 briefs across 343 ad sets in six months, each starting from the account data in Motion and Foreplay. I also lead two creative strategists and 200+ assets a month.
Result
  • DTC brand: my concepts beat the rest of the account by 60% on ROAS with 40% of the spend
  • Sleep brand: my briefs carried 92% of spend; my concept was the top ad set at 2.90 ROAS
  • Lead gen in Canada: two new markets, 896 leads at a lower cost per lead

ES

English → Español

PaidMarket launch

Opening a focus app's first Spanish-language market

Ads On Tap · Meta · 2026

3.13ROAS on my best concept, 2nd of 21 ad sets; 1.7 to 2.0 across the account

Challenge
The app had only advertised in English and needed creative that worked for Spanish speakers from the first week.
Approach
I wrote the Spanish concepts and scripts as a native speaker, instead of translating the English ads.
Result
About $25K invested at 1.7 to 2.0 ROAS in a new market.

10M+ followers · B2C and B2B

OrganicCrisisChannel launch

Global organic social for a 10M-follower brand

Udemy · B2C and B2B · 2025 to 2026

+40%engagement from a brand shoot turned around in two weeks

Challenge
Run organic for 10M+ followers across B2C and B2B, launch a new channel, and steady the brand through the Coursera acquisition news.
Approach
  • Launched Udemy's TikTok and kept 200+ assets a month going
  • Turned a two-week brand shoot into 100+ pieces
  • During the acquisition, built a listening dashboard, found the unrest was among instructors and escalated it
Result
40% more engagement from the shoot content, and sentiment back to neutral within a week of the acquisition news.

Black Friday

UGC · Shoots · AI

PaidOrganic

Black Friday with UGC, our own shoots and AI

Udemy · 2025

2.7ROAS, and 32% growth on the year before

Challenge
Udemy's biggest sales moment needed more variety and volume than one production method could give.
Approach
Planned and produced 50+ assets that mixed creator UGC, in-house shoots and AI pieces, so each placement had its own version.
Result
2.7 ROAS and 32% year-over-year growth.

Brief → static, at volume

SystemsAI

An AI pipeline that turns briefs into static ads

Ads On Tap · Gemini and HTML · 2026

~500statics (1,100+ files) for 8 brands in 10 weeks

Challenge
Statics needed designer time for every version, and accounts wanted more variations to test.
Approach
Built a Gemini and HTML pipeline from brief to finished static, and helped build the agency's AI tools for brief coaching, static pre-QC and a 113-format ad library.
Result
About 500 statics shipped for 8 brands in 10 weeks, with checks built into the process.

30s → 15s

PaidCreative rebuild

Rebuilding a retail account's Meta creative

DDB México · Retail, LATAM · 2024

−22%CPA, with a 35% higher CTR

Challenge
The ads led with the product and ran 30 seconds.
Approach
Opened with the customer's problem instead of the product, and cut the videos to 15 seconds.
Result
CTR up 35% and CPA down 22%.
Borregos Esports Cup sponsor activation poster
OrganicLeadership

Building an esports brand and its team from zero

Borregos Gaming and GGTech LATAM · 2020 to 2024

15people on the team I built and led

Challenge
Turn a university esports program into a brand that students followed, sponsors valued and creators wanted to join.
Approach
  • Built the brand and led a team of up to 15 people, and worked with streamers and creators
  • After a 10-creator week where half the content needed legal changes, wrote the brief and budget templates for a creator sourcing tool
  • In parallel, grew University Esports México and Prepa League at GGTech
Result
8K+ followers and 370+ posts at Borregos, and 100K+ community growth at GGTech.

Systems I've built

Tools and processes I've built so a team can make more without losing quality.

  • ~500

    AI static ad pipeline

    Gemini and HTML, from brief to finished static. 8 brands in 10 weeks.

  • 113

    Ad format library

    A shared reference so strategists pick a format on purpose.

  • 2

    Brief coaching and pre-QC tools

    AI checks on briefs and statics before they reach a client.

  • 246

    Briefs in one shared format

    One structure the creator, editor and client can all follow, across 12 brands.

  • <1 wk

    Social listening dashboard

    Built during the Coursera news. Sentiment was back to neutral in under a week.

  • 10

    Creator brief and budget templates

    Written after running 10 creators in one week at Borregos, for a creator sourcing tool.

How I lead

Leading teams is where I'm taking my career next, and I've been doing it since Borregos Gaming in 2021: people, agencies, creators and the workflows between them. I'd rather build a process the team owns than be the bottleneck.

  • 2Creative strategists I lead today at Ads On Tap, across 200+ assets a month
  • 15People on my team at its largest, at Borregos Gaming
  • 5+Agencies I managed at Mattel, with a $1M+ yearly budget and influencer program
  • 8Countries of client work at DDB, presenting to clients and directing designers and editors

My own channels

I grow my own audiences too, and they've helped me land past roles. They're where I see first-hand what each platform rewards.

About

Manuel hosting on stage at a university esports event

I started in community management, moved through agency and in-house roles, and now work where social strategy meets performance.

What I enjoy most is building what sits behind the content: the brief, the workflow and the team, so the next campaign is easier than the last. Outside work I climb and hike.

  • Madrid
  • EU citizen
  • Spanish · English C2 · German B1
  • Full-time or freelance

Building a social team? Let's talk.

Send me the role and I'll come back with the work that fits it.