From chaos to control: How we helped The Intercept transform its newsroom with WordPress

When The Intercept found themselves hobbled by fragmented and outdated CMS tools, they turned to us for help. We managed a high-stakes migration and unified their infrastructure on a streamlined WordPress platform which has eliminated technical hurdles, simplified workflows for their editorial team, and paved the way for ongoing cost savings with custom-built tools.

A full migration, 3 months ahead of schedule

We planned and executed a seamless migration three months ahead of schedule, ensuring no downtime for The Intercept’s critical publishing operations.

Editorial freedom… from developer bottlenecks

By consolidating their fragmented infrastructure, we empowered The Intercept’s editorial team to independently manage pages, articles, and media without developer support.

A long-term partnership leading to custom in-house tools

As part of our ongoing partnership, we are working on replacing their expensive SaaS paywall software with a custom in-house solution that meets their needs while saving significant costs.

The
challenge

The Intercept faced a daunting challenge: a fragmented and overly complex CMS architecture that slowed down their editorial processes and required developer intervention for even simple updates. Built on a mix of custom and headless WordPress systems with multiple microservices, the legacy setup was difficult to navigate and maintain—especially as the original developers were no longer available. With a tight deadline to migrate off their former parent company’s infrastructure, they needed a solution that retained their design and preserved all existing content while simplifying operations.

If that project wasn’t complex already, one of the biggest challenges for us came midway through the project when we received the request to expedite our timeline. Now, we were tasked with launching all sites by July, months ahead of the original multi-year plan.

Our
solution

We approached The Intercept’s challenges with a single mission: simplify and unify their infrastructure. Our team designed a single WordPress CMS that eliminated unnecessary complexities, preserved essential functionality, and empowered the editorial team with greater ease of use.

A scalable
future

Agile editorial workflow

The team can now independently update pages and manage content, reducing reliance on developers and speeding up publishing timelines.

Simplified infrastructure

The fully unified CMS has removed the complexities of their previous setup, creating a sustainable and scalable system.

Significant cost savings

By replacing expensive SaaS solutions with custom software, The Intercept has unlocked significant budget efficiencies.

Service Provided

CMS migration

Custom design

Full-stack web development

UI / UX design

We're a different kind of agency

With over 20 years of collective web development & engineering experience, we understand first-hand how difficult and frustrating it can be to launch anything online. What should take 1 month can often take 9. With the proper team, alignment around goals and objectives, and a detailed roadmap, we’re able to sweat the small stuff, so you don’t have to.

Let’s succeed together

Too often, agencies take direction without asking why. We do things differently by working closely with our clients to understand the real goals behind the brief. This way, we’re able to stay aligned on what matters, make smarter decisions, and build solutions that actually serve the business — not just the to-do list.

Our process for success

We act as strategic partners to our clients. We focus on working with them to streamline their workflows while hitting aggressive launch timelines.

1. Start with strategy

We take time to understand business goals, timeline, and budgets to build a plan that will achieve all three.

2. Execute & deliver

It's simple — our clients know that they can rely on us to do what we say we're going to do, on time, and do it right.

3. Celebrate & optimize

Our work doesn't end at launch. We support ongoing optimizations, upgrades, and reporting to help maximize investment over time.