As I ultimately want to become a Creative Director and get a job in an advertising agency within the next couple of years, I thought it would be helpful to understand the role of the ‘creative director’ further. I have been searching job descriptions to understand what is required.
ROLE: Creative Director
LOCATION: London
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ROLE:
The Creative Director will oversee and direct conceptual and design projects, and will ultimately be responsible for the quality of ideas and the end-to-end design execution of jobs, from brief through to implementation and delivery. The Creative Director will have responsibility for overseeing multiple simultaneous live projects, each one typically assigned a Lead Creator or Designer who, in collaboration with a Project Manager, will report to the Creative Director for the duration of the project.
The overall objective is to direct, inspire, lead and support all levels of design and creative talent across the account, defining and advancing a positive and highly productive design culture for OLIVER.
It is the Creative Directors job:
- To champion creativity and excellent customer centricity.
- To creatively direct concept designers/graphic designers/artworkers harnessing their development and performance, in a manner that assures maximum efficiency and creativity.
- To manage, supervise, review and audit the work of designers and artworkers to ensure the creative level expected of OLIVER is being met.
- To help drive maximum efficiency, productivity and the maintenance of the highest quality of creative concept, design and artwork.
- To oversee, manage and review new creative concepts for both new and existing clients.
- To act as brand guardian to ensure all design produced is faithful to the client’s brand guidelines.
- To work actively with all internal and external stakeholders to ensure the delivery of the highest level of client service from OLIVER.
- To collaborate closely with the studio manager and/or Creative Operations Director to organise and prioritise workload, especially around deadlines.
- Be flexible to respond to increases in workload/tight deadlines.
- To build on our strong client relationships and to be the equal creative partner of the Group Account Director to drive new business forward with existing and new clients.
- Attend company meetings and social events both with OLIVER and with the client.
- To work with and support the OLIVER team in order to deliver excellent customer experiences.
- Some working outside of normal office hours might be required to meet deadlines and strategic objectives.
WHAT YOU WILL YOU BE DOING:
- To work with the GAD and CSD to define and implement the creative strategy for the studio.
- To motivate and influence the creative team to constantly strive for excellence in performance.
- To proactively monitor the quality of design projects being produced and submitted by leading internal review sessions and seeking feedback from both internal and external stakeholders.
- To oversee and manage the timely delivery of all jobs / projects going through the studio, always taking into consideration the clients’ requirements and expectations.
- To investigate, propose and implement innovative ways of delivering design services to maximise efficiency and productivity.
- To actively oversee and manage team meetings, forward scheduling meetings and work review meetings.
- To manage, oversee and coordinate the sharing of knowledge and the facilitation of learning within the team and all other employees to improve business practices, refine processes, aid and promote the development of creative ideas and introduce new services.
- To organise monthly work / successes / learnings presentations to the wider SMT team to showcase work from the studio/team managed.
- Attend client meetings, present work, discuss needs and identify opportunities.
- To assign creative leads and develop accounts and creative teams.
- To work actively with the workflow / studio manager in coordinating the effective allocation of design resource, facilitating information from colleagues, business managers and staff. In order to provide effective resource support to meet client demands and to cover flexible working, holiday and sick leave requirements in the most economical manner.
- To act as brand guardian to ensure all design produced by the design team is faithful to the client’s brand guidelines.
- To ensure all Unilever digital guidelines, and other mandatory processes and guidelines are always followed by the creative team and to be the final gatekeeper for all creative work before delivery.
- To work actively with all internal and external stakeholders to ensure the delivery of the highest level of client service from all creative team members.
- To manage, train and mentor staff and oversee their professional development through the setting of SMART objectives and PDPs, offering knowledge, motivation, support and experience as required, including but not limited to their creative and technical skill, so as to increase productivity, staff retention and enhanced staff morale.
- With the assistance of Design Team Leaders, ensure all staff members accurately record timesheets and show positive billable utilisation rates within their timesheets..
Other ad-hoc duties as and when required.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO BE GREAT IN THIS ROLE:
As the senior design practitioner within the Design team, the Creative Director will combine first-class design expertise, creativity and thought leadership with commercial acumen and leadership gravitas.
The Creative Director will:
- be hands on with a strong focus on digital.
- be experienced in directing complex, commercial, design projects involving senior stakeholders and interdisciplinary creative teams with strong experience across FMCG category.
- be highly creative with the ability to generate ideas and practically contribute to design details, demonstrating exceptional pure graphic design and typography skills.
- Have deep technical design skills in one or more discipline, e.g. Design for Digital and social, Brand Immersion etc.
- have a proven ability to communicate and liaise with all levels in the business.
- have a proven ability to influence stakeholders at all levels, including outside the design team.
- have a proven ability to effectively manage creative teams.
- have Director level written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking.
- be proficient in Adobe CC, Microsoft Office and other related software.
- be a driven, proactive, helpful, and enthusiastic team player.
- have excellent customer relationship skills.
Role: Creative Team
Location: London
ROLE MISSION
We are looking for a Creative Team to become the go to conceptual creatives at our London hub. You’ll be looking after conceptually-minded work across all integrated channels – taking in the press, out of home, direct mail, email, display and film. There’s a particular emphasis on digital – and specifically social.
THIS ROLE IS RIGHT FOR YOU IF…
You are looking for a role that can provide a pivotal step in your career, one where your skillset and personal brand will develop a great deal. You’ll also be keen to learn from Oliver’s unique inside ideas business model. And that means you’ll join only a handful of conceptual creatives with experience in an on-site way of working – an approach that is making the industry sit up and take notice.
ABOUT THE TEAM YOU WILL BE JOINING
You’ll be joining our London creative hub with other conceptual creatives and designers in our fairly autonomous and smart-paced environment.
WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING IN YOUR ROLE
Brand guardianship, client partnering, strategic development, proactive thinking and ad hoc creative oversight of others.
You’ll be doing all this at scale across an enviable variety of our brands.
WHAT SKILLS WILL HELP YOU BE SUCCESSFUL
The ideal team will bring to the role an established partnership and a solid background in integrated, digital and direct advertising across a wide range of sectors and brands
Some proven experience in financial services, fmcg and B2B