Creative Director

C2's client, a creative agency that helps companies develop organizational communication frameworks and strategies that define brands, build reputations and inspire business results, is searching for a purpose-driven Creative Director. The right candidate will be a creative leader that focuses on developing brands, conducting in-depth research, and mentoring a team of passionate creatives.

Start date: As soon as they find the right person

Duration: Full-time, contract

Location: Hybrid at their Milwaukee offices 3 days per week, Mondays WFH

Compensation: Competitive, commensurate with experience

Benefits: Bonuses and sales performance incentives, vacation/PTO, WFH flexibility, 401K, health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, accident & critical illness coverage, parking stipend, onsite restaurant, fitness center and an employee lounge with vending, professional development and many networking event opportunities, great downtown Milwaukee location

Job Description:

The Creative Director will be the strategic bridge between account direction and creative resources, providing insightful input and direction for all creative and brand work. They will report to the Vice President of Creative Services and will lead, develop and oversee purpose-driven brand strategy, ensuring all creative is properly researched, thoughtfully constructed and launched with a focus on business objectives and purpose. The Creative Director will collaborate with researchers, copywriters, art directors, videographers and designers as needed, making sure creative projects are properly staffed, budgeted and delivered at the highest quality. Without strong and strategic brands in place, reputations cannot be activated and managed clearly and meaningfully. So this individual will be challenged to help clients and internal teams understand why purpose-driven creative and branding are imperative for business outcomes.

Responsibilities:

• Purpose-Driven Brand Development
  • You will research and develop client brands with a purpose-driven focus, ensuring the brand is complete, actionable and authentic to the research and business goals for the client organization
• Research
  • You will develop and execute research strategies that discover the answers to clients’ most pressing brand, creative and business challenges, delivering thoughtful and compelling reports that have usability for the account team, creative resources and the client teams
• Team Resourcing and Development
  • With the oversight of the Vice President of Creative Services, you will resource all creative projects and teams, evaluating and recommending freelance contractors and always ensuring profitability
• Quality (Creative Product)
  • You will lead and direct all brand and most other creative projects, from concept to completion, ensuring all deliverables are compelling, complete and within scope and strategy
• Creative Processes and Tools
  • You will help evaluate and select tools that the Kane creative team requires to do their jobs. You will develop and oversee templates and processes that allow the agency to understand how and when to engage with creative resources to ensure a high degree of efficiency and quality
• Business Development
  • You will work closely with the account and new business teams to understand client business problems and identify opportunities for purpose-driven brand and creative solutions

The right candidate will embody these company values:

• CURIOSITY
  • You ask questions and seek knowledge to improve your craft
• EMPATHY
  • You are perceptive and can sense other people’s emotions, imagining what someone else might be thinking or feeling
• INGENUITY
  • You provide answers that are unexpected
• TEAMWORK
  • You devote yourself to your teammates, our business, your clients and the quality of your work

Requirements:

• B.A. in Marketing, Advertising, Graphic Design, Creative Writing or have a minimum of five years relevant experience in a supervisory role
• A minimum of seven years agency experience in branding and creative initiatives
• Experience in brand development and creative oversight initiatives, must be able to provide examples
• Strong business acumen
• Experience building, implementing and optimizing brand systems and foundations
• A solid and demonstrable understanding of how branding impacts both the marketing strategy and the communications process
• Proven track record developing strategies for and partnering with in-house and with creative and/or design teams
• Experience building research plans and partnering with insights teams
• Comfortable leveraging data, research and insights to inform strategies and recommendations
• Strong understanding of digital marketing and ability to demonstrate experience in successfully utilizing this technology to enhance creative strategies
• Experience using industry standard technology tools (Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, Squarespace, etc.)
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment that requires collaboration across teams

Not your type of gig, but know someone who would be interested? Refer a qualified candidate, and if they get the job, you get a signing bonus! (Make sure they mention your name as their referral source so you get your well-deserved credit!)

All candidates must be located and authorized to work in the United States. C2 does not sponsor work visas.