Latest Jobs at Publicis Groupe

ROLE PURPOSE

• The Executive Creative Director is the senior creative leader responsible for the creative ambition, quality and reputation of the Publicis/client partnership.
• The role owns the creative vision and product across the client business, ensuring that strategy is translated into distinctive, effective and culturally relevant ideas that can live seamlessly across channels, platforms and experiences.
• The Executive Creative Director will lead a multi-disciplinary creative culture that combines world-class craft with digital-first thinking, data, technology, AI and new production models, ensuring the creative product evolves as quickly as the client's customers and the wider marketing landscape.
• A critical part of the mandate is to help move the partnership beyond traditional campaign delivery toward a future-fit creative model where creativity, strategy, media, data, technology, production and customer experience work together from the outset.

The Executive Creative Director is ultimately accountable for ensuring that the creative product delivers:

• Distinctive, effective and culturally relevant creative work.
• Strong creative leadership and client confidence.
• Integrated ideas that work across channels and experiences.
• High standards of craft and execution.
• Meaningful use of AI, technology and emerging creative capability.
• A high-performing, future-fit creative team and culture.
• Work capable of driving business effectiveness and industry recognition.

Responsibilities

CREATIVE LEADERSHIP & VISION

• Set and champion the creative vision and standard for the client/Publicis partnership, ensuring the work is distinctive, effective, culturally relevant and consistently of the highest quality.
• Act as the senior creative voice within the client leadership team and provide clear creative direction across major briefs, campaigns, platforms and experiences.
• Translate client business and brand ambitions into bold creative opportunities that build brand value and drive measurable impact.
• Lead the development of platform-neutral, integrated ideas that can live across brand, retail, digital, social, content, experience, commerce, media and emerging channels.
• Create a culture where ambitious ideas are expected, challenged, improved and protected through to execution.
• Ensure creative thinking moves beyond campaign delivery to help solve broader client business and customer problems.
• Remain deeply connected to South African culture, consumer behaviour, media, technology and global creative trends.

SENIOR CLIENT & BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

• Build trusted senior creative relationships with client stakeholders and act as a strategic creative partner, not only a creative service lead.
• Understand the client's business, brand, customers, competitive environment and growth priorities sufficiently to challenge briefs and identify opportunities proactively.
• Present and sell creative thinking with clarity, conviction and strong business rationale.
• Partner with the Managing Partner and Head of Strategy to ensure the agency brings proactive ideas and opportunities to the client rather than relying only on incoming briefs.
• Create confidence with senior clients by balancing creative ambition with business relevance, feasibility and effectiveness.
• Respond constructively to client feedback while protecting the integrity and ambition of the creative product.
• Support the Managing Partner in strengthening the client's perception of Publicis as a strategic growth, innovation and transformation partner.

CREATIVE PRODUCT EXCELLENCE

• Own the overall creative standard and quality of work produced for the client.
• Lead the conceptual development and creative direction of major integrated campaigns and brand platforms.
• Oversee craft across copy, design, art direction, film, digital, social, content, experience and emerging formats.
• Ensure every major piece of work has a clear idea, strong strategic foundation and appropriate level of craft.
• Create effective creative review structures that improve work without creating unnecessary layers or delay.
• Protect creative quality from brief through production, adaptation, localisation and rollout.
• Use performance, effectiveness and audience learning to continually improve future creative work.
• Build a body of work capable of delivering both business effectiveness and meaningful industry recognition.

INTEGRATION & POWER OF ONE CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

• Act as the senior creative integrator across Publicis Groupe capabilities servicing the client.
• Work seamlessly with Strategy, Media, Data, Technology, Experience, Production, PR, Activation and other relevant disciplines to create genuinely integrated solutions.
• Ensure integrated thinking happens at the start of the process rather than being assembled after ideas are developed.
• Bring the best creative talent and specialist capability from across the Groupe into the client business where it adds value.
• Help remove discipline and agency silos that limit the quality or effectiveness of the work.
• Ensure ideas are designed to travel coherently across channels while making best use of each platform's role and behaviour.
• Partner with the Managing Partner to make Power of One visible in the quality and connectedness of the creative product.

AI, TECHNOLOGY & FUTURE-FIT CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

• AI, technology and emerging platforms are core parts of modern creative leadership and should actively improve both the quality of ideas and the way creative work is made.
• Champion responsible and ambitious use of AI across creative development, ideation, prototyping, production and optimisation.
• Ensure creative teams develop practical fluency in relevant AI tools, emerging technologies and new content-production methods.
• Identify where generative AI can increase creative exploration, speed, personalisation, variation and production efficiency without compromising originality or craft.
• Partner with Strategy, Data, Technology and Operations to develop AI-enabled creative workflows and new client propositions.
• Explore new creative possibilities enabled by data, dynamic content, connected identity, automation, personalisation and emerging interfaces.
• Ensure technology is used to expand creative possibility rather than simply automate existing output.
• Maintain appropriate standards around brand safety, intellectual property, governance, human oversight and quality.
• Keep the partnership ahead of changes in platforms, culture, consumer behaviour and creative technology.

CULTURE, INNOVATION & CREATIVE TRANSFORMATION

• Create a creative culture that is curious, brave, collaborative, experimental and relentlessly focused on improvement.
• Challenge legacy creative processes and behaviours that slow the work or reduce its effectiveness.
• Champion new models of creative development that are faster, more connected, more iterative and more informed by data and performance.
• Lead creative participation in transformation initiatives and future ways of working.
• Encourage experimentation with new formats, technologies, partnerships and production approaches.
• Build external visibility for the work and the creative team through thought leadership, industry participation and outstanding creative output.
• Ensure innovation is linked to real client or customer value rather than novelty alone.

STRATEGY & EFFECTIVENESS PARTNERSHIP

• Partner closely with the Head of Strategy to ensure every major creative idea is grounded in a sharp strategic proposition and a meaningful human insight.
• Participate actively in upstream planning, brief development and key strategic workshops.
• Challenge and improve briefs before creative development begins.
• Use data, cultural intelligence, audience understanding and performance information to sharpen creative choices.
• Work with Strategy and Media to define the role of channels and platforms in bringing the idea to life.
• Ensure creative and strategic teams operate as one problem-solving unit rather than sequential functions.
• Support effectiveness case-building and learning from completed work.

BUSINESS GROWTH & NEW BUSINESS

• Contribute actively to growth of the client partnership through proactive creative opportunities, innovation and new capability.
• Play a leading creative role in major pitches, proposals and new-business opportunities.
• Help identify where new creative, content, experience, technology or production capabilities can solve unmet client needs.
• Develop compelling creative responses that demonstrate the breadth of Publicis Groupe capability.
• Support the Managing Partner in creating differentiated propositions that can expand the relationship.
• Use the strength of the creative product to build reputation, client confidence and commercial growth.

TALENT & CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

• Build, lead, mentor and inspire a high-performing, multi-disciplinary creative team.
• Manage and develop Creative Directors and senior creative leaders, creating clear accountability and succession capability.
• Attract and retain outstanding creative talent while building the right mix of permanent, specialist and flexible capability.
• Create an inclusive environment where different perspectives improve the work.
• Set clear expectations for creative quality, behaviour, collaboration and performance.
• Coach teams to become stronger conceptual thinkers, presenters, craftspeople and problem-solvers.
• Ensure creative talent develops fluency across digital, social, technology, AI and integrated brand experience.
• Partner with Operations and Talent on workforce planning, capacity and capability requirements.

PRODUCTION, CRAFT & EXECUTIONAL EXCELLENCE

• Partner closely with Production and Operations to ensure creative ambition is translated into excellent execution.
• Provide senior creative oversight through production, post-production, adaptation and rollout of major work.
• Ensure the right production partners, makers and specialist talent are selected for the creative ambition and budget.
• Balance craft, timing and commercial realities without defaulting to lower creative standards.
• Encourage smarter, more modular and technology-enabled production approaches where they improve speed, quality or scalability.
• Ensure brand consistency and quality across high-volume adaptation and content ecosystems.

OPERATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

• The Executive Creative Director owns creative ambition, quality and leadership, while the senior operations leader owns the operating engine that enables the creative product to be delivered effectively.
• Partner closely with Operations to ensure the creative model is properly resourced, prioritised and supported.
• Provide early visibility of creative resource and specialist capability needs.
• Participate in planning and prioritisation where creative capacity or quality may be at risk.
• Support efficient review, approval and workflow structures while protecting the time required for strong thinking and craft.
• Use agreed platforms, governance and ways of working to improve visibility, collaboration and delivery.
• Escalate structural or capacity issues that materially affect creative quality or client delivery.

PERFORMANCE, EFFECTIVENESS & ACCOUNTABILITY

• Create clear accountability for creative quality, team performance and delivery against agreed standards.
• Track the effectiveness and performance of major creative work and ensure learnings influence future output.
• Maintain visibility of creative team health, capability, workload and development.
• Use client feedback, performance data, effectiveness measures and awards outcomes as inputs to continuous improvement.
• Hold Creative Directors and teams accountable for both the quality of ideas and the quality of execution.
• Ensure creative leadership contributes positively to commercial, operational and client outcomes.

Qualifications

OPERATIONAL KPI’S

• Must have 15+ years’ experience
• Highly conceptual individual (Must demonstrate with at least 5 projects)
• Demonstrate exceptional strategic thinking (Provide 3 examples)
• Must have led the conceptualisation and execution of TTL campaigns and pure digital campaigns (Show minimum of 4 examples)
• Must demonstrate an understanding of digital platforms
• Track record of winning international and local awards i.e. Cannes, One Show, Loeries, Clios, Bookmarks etc.
• Show at least 1 international and 1 local gold medals
• Demonstrate how you’ve previously dealt with conflict
• In-depth working knowledge of existing and emerging technologies & platforms (advantageous)
• Be comfortable with AI being apart of the everyday activities of the role.

BUSINESS KPI’s

• Must demonstrate examples of leadership skills & problem solving
• A strong understanding of best practice interaction and visual design principles
• Oversee projects and manage and grow the team through the process.

THE PERSON

• Good understanding of influencer, Mobile, digital, social, out-of-home, guerrilla, activations and direct marketing
• Great time management
• Demonstrate ability to work under immense pressure & meet tight deadlines
• Adept problem-solving skills
• Strong communication skills with ability to provide rationales for creative choices made
• Strong presentation skills
• Able to work with team members & delegate effectively
• Understand the client’s business requirements, and understand how our services should be applied to solve business problem
• Sell an idea or campaign internally and externally

WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THESE TOOLS

• Illustrator (Advantageous)
• Photoshop
• Indesign
• After Effects (Advantageous)
• Figma (Advantageous)
• Keynote / PowerPoint
• ChatGPT, Claude AI, Midjourney and similar generative AI tools
• Google Web Designer & DV360 (Advantageous)
• Facebook Creative Hub (Advantageous)
• 3D Animation & Production (Advantageous)

go to method of application »

ROLE PURPOSE

• The Managing Partner is the senior business and client leader responsible for the overall success, growth and evolution of the Publicis/client partnership.
• The role owns the strategic direction of the business, senior client relationships, quality of the agency product, growth and commercial performance, integration of Publicis Groupe capabilities, and the development of a future-fit partnership that continually creates greater value for the client.
• The Managing Partner will ensure Publicis operates as a true strategic business partner - moving beyond traditional agency delivery to bring together creativity, data, media, technology, production, customer experience, AI and transformation capabilities around the client's business priorities.
• A critical part of the mandate is to lead the evolution of the partnership into a future-fit, integrated operating model, ensuring that global and Groupe capabilities are translated into practical, locally relevant value for the client.

The Managing Partner is ultimately accountable for ensuring that the partnership delivers:

• Business impact and strategic value.
• Outstanding creative and strategic work.
• Commercial growth and sustainable profitability.
• Strong senior client relationships.
• Integrated Groupe capability.
• Future-fit technology and AI adoption.
• A high-performing team and culture.

Responsibilities

STRATEGIC BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

• Own and articulate the strategic direction and ambition for the client/Publicis partnership.
• Translate the client's business priorities into an integrated agency agenda.
• Ensure Publicis understands the client's business, customers, competitive environment and strategic objectives.
• Partner with senior client leadership on immediate priorities and longer-term opportunities.
• Ensure Publicis proactively identifies opportunities rather than simply responding to briefs.
• Lead the evolution of the relationship from service provider to strategic growth partner.
• Establish clear priorities for the Publicis leadership team and ensure decisions translate into measurable outcomes.
• Balance immediate delivery requirements with longer-term growth, innovation and transformation.

SENIOR CLIENT PARTNERSHIP

• Own and develop senior strategic relationships across the client organisation.
• Build trusted relationships with executive and senior client stakeholders.
• Develop a deep understanding of priorities, expectations and challenges across client business units.
• Act as the senior escalation point for the partnership.
• Maintain high standards of strategic, creative and delivery excellence.
• Ensure client feedback is actively addressed and translated into improvement.
• Identify relationship, commercial or delivery risks early and ensure corrective action.
• Create greater alignment and integration across client stakeholders and Publicis teams.
• Build trust, access and strategic influence at senior levels.

BUSINESS GROWTH & PARTNERSHIP EXPANSION

• Own the growth agenda for the client partnership.
• Identify opportunities to grow existing scopes, services and capabilities.
• Proactively identify unmet client business needs and develop relevant solutions.
• Bring the best of Publicis Groupe capabilities into the relationship.
• Lead or support strategic growth proposals, pitches and cross-sell opportunities.
• Expand the partnership into relevant areas including data, customer experience, commerce, digital transformation, media, content, production, technology, AI, automation and personalisation.
• Develop commercially sound propositions around new opportunities.
• Ensure growth is sustainable, relevant and aligned to the client's strategic priorities.
• Focus on increasing the value of the relationship, not only the volume of work.

 INTEGRATION & POWER OF ONE LEADERSHIP

• Act as the senior integrator across Publicis Groupe capabilities servicing the client.
• Bring together creative, media, production, technology, data, strategy, digital, PR, activation and other relevant capabilities.
• Ensure the client experiences Publicis as one connected partner rather than multiple agencies or disciplines.
• Clarify ownership and accountability across Groupe entities.
• Remove organisational barriers that prevent integration.
• Establish effective leadership and decision-making forums.
• Resolve competing priorities or ownership issues across agencies.
• Drive collaboration around client business problems rather than agency structures.
• Ensure the most appropriate Groupe capability is deployed against each opportunity.

AI, TECHNOLOGY & FUTURE-FIT LEADERSHIP

• AI, technology and future-fit capability are core leadership responsibilities of the Managing Partner, not separate technical workstreams.
• Understand the strategic implications of AI and emerging technology for the client's marketing ecosystem.
• Identify where AI can improve effectiveness, speed, personalisation, quality, decision-making and efficiency.
• Ensure Publicis proactively brings relevant AI-led opportunities to the client.
• Champion responsible adoption of AI across the partnership.
• Support the development of AI-enabled products, services, content and workflows.
• Ensure leaders and teams continually develop their AI and technology literacy.
• Connect the client with relevant Publicis Groupe technology, data and AI capabilities.
• Encourage experimentation while maintaining appropriate governance, security and human oversight.
• Ensure technology and AI initiatives are linked to measurable business and operational value.
• Keep the partnership abreast of global developments in marketing technology, customer experience, automation and AI.

FUTURE-FIT PLATFORM & OPERATING MODEL LEADERSHIP

• Provide executive sponsorship for the implementation and adoption of client and Groupe platforms that enable the future operating model.
• Ensure technology platforms become strategic enablers rather than additional administrative layers.
• Align senior stakeholders around the future operating model and expected benefits.
• Connect local client requirements with global and Groupe capabilities.
• Remove barriers to implementation and adoption.
• Champion the behavioural and organisational changes required to embed new ways of working.
• Ensure platforms improve collaboration, visibility, integration, speed and effectiveness.
• Support clear integration and role definition across client workflow systems, Publicis workflow tools, asset-management platforms and other relevant technologies.
• Ensure the partnership continually extracts greater value from the broader technology ecosystem.
• Provide executive sponsorship and strategic direction while day-to-day platform implementation is led through the operations function.

TRANSFORMATION & CHANGE LEADERSHIP

• Lead the broader transformation agenda for the client partnership.
• Define the ambition for the future Publicis/client operating model.
• Sponsor transition from current ways of working into the future-state model.
• Ensure business continuity while transformation takes place.
• Align senior stakeholders behind required changes.
• Challenge legacy processes and behaviours that no longer create value.
• Encourage collaboration across previously siloed teams and disciplines.
• Create an environment where continuous improvement is expected.
• Ensure transformation results in tangible improvements to performance, quality and client experience.
• Build organisational readiness for evolving technology, AI and new ways of working.

CREATIVE, STRATEGIC & PRODUCT EXCELLENCE

• Own the overall standard of the agency product delivered to the client.
• Establish and maintain high strategic and creative standards.
• Ensure work is aligned to the client's business and brand objectives.
• Create the conditions for ambitious, effective and culturally relevant work.
• Partner closely with Strategy, Creative, Media, Data and Technology leadership.
• Champion integrated thinking from the beginning of the process.
• Ensure digital, data, technology and customer-experience thinking is embedded in the product.
• Protect quality while improving speed and efficiency.
• Encourage work with strong effectiveness and awards potential.
• Ensure performance learnings are fed back into strategy, creative development and future planning.

COMMERCIAL LEADERSHIP & PROFITABILITY

• The Managing Partner owns the overall commercial health and sustainable growth of the client business in partnership with Finance and Operations.
• Own revenue planning, forecasting and growth targets.
• Maintain oversight of scope, fee structures and client commercial agreements.
• Lead or support senior client commercial negotiations.
• Monitor margin, profitability and operating-cost performance.
• Ensure appropriate investment and resource decisions.
• Identify commercial risks and opportunities early.
• Ensure new opportunities are supported by viable commercial models.
• Balance client value, quality, growth and agency profitability.
• Work closely with Finance and Operations to ensure accurate commercial visibility and corrective action where required.

TALENT & LEADERSHIP

• Build and lead a high-performing senior client leadership team.
• Attract, retain and grow exceptional talent.
• Ensure the right leadership and specialist capability exists across the account.
• Create clarity around roles, responsibilities, decision rights and accountability.
• Develop future leaders and succession capability.
• Hold leadership accountable for performance.
• Build a collaborative, inclusive and high-performance culture.
• Encourage cross-functional working rather than siloed delivery.
• Identify emerging skills required for the future.
• Ensure teams continually develop capability in AI, technology, data and integrated working.
• Create a culture of learning, experimentation and continuous improvement.
• Partner with Operations and Talent on workforce and organisational planning.

OPERATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

• The Managing Partner owns the business ambition, senior client relationship, growth agenda and strategic direction, while the senior operations leader owns the operating engine required to deliver it.
• Partner closely with the senior operations leader to ensure strategy is converted into effective execution.
• Ensure clear operating models, governance and accountability.
• Maintain visibility of resource capacity, commercial performance and delivery health.
• Ensure workflow, platform adoption and performance management support the business ambition.
• Resolve structural or operational issues that materially affect client value or business performance.
• Create a complementary leadership model similar to an MD/COO partnership, avoiding duplication of accountability.

PERFORMANCE, EFFECTIVENESS & ACCOUNTABILITY

• Ensure the partnership is measured against meaningful business, commercial, client and operational outcomes.
• Create visibility across client satisfaction, relationship health, revenue, profitability, scope growth and strategic influence.
• Track creative quality, campaign effectiveness and integration across Groupe capabilities.
• Monitor delivery performance, platform adoption, AI adoption and transformation progress.
• Maintain visibility of leadership and talent health.
• Use performance information to drive decisions and corrective action, not simply reporting.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Strong senior client relationships and client satisfaction.
• Increased strategic influence with client leadership.
• Growth in the value and scope of the Publicis/client partnership.
• Achievement of agreed revenue and profitability targets.
• Successful transition, stabilisation and ongoing evolution of the account.
• Effective adoption of the future operating model and enabling technology platforms.
• Increased integration of Publicis Groupe capabilities.
• Demonstrable adoption of AI and future-fit capabilities that create measurable value.
• Improved quality and effectiveness of the agency product.
• Stronger collaboration across client business units and Publicis disciplines.
• High-performing leadership and talent.
• Improved business and operational performance.
• Increased innovation and proactive opportunity development.
• Reduced dependency on reactive briefing and traditional agency delivery.
• Strong client perception of Publicis as a strategic growth and transformation partner.

Qualifications

CRITICAL CAPABILITIES

• Strategic business leadership.
• Senior client relationship management.
• Commercial and financial acumen.
• Integrated marketing and communications leadership.
• Digital and customer-experience understanding.
• AI and emerging technology literacy.
• Business transformation and change leadership.
• Organisational leadership and talent development.
• Growth and new-business capability.
• Strong understanding of modern agency operating models.
• Ability to navigate complex multinational organisations.
• Excellent communication, influence and presentation skills.
• High levels of judgement and decision-making.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity, complexity and change.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Tertiary qualifications within the advertising industry essential
• At least 10 years of relevant experience the advertising or marketing industry and at least 5 years of experience in a leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated experience managing large, complex or integrated client relationships.
• Strong track record of commercial ownership, growth and senior client leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to lead across communications, experiences, data, digital and technology.
• Experience integrating multiple disciplines, agencies or specialist capabilities.
• Experience leading organisational or client transformation is highly advantageous.
• Relevant tertiary or postgraduate qualification is advantageous; demonstrated leadership experience, business achievement and industry capability should be considered alongside formal qualifications.
• Strong written, verbal and presentation skills.

go to method of application »

ROLE PURPOSE

• The Head of Strategy is the senior strategic leader responsible for the quality, ambition and evolution of the strategic product across the Publicis/client partnership.
• The role ensures Publicis deeply understands the client's business, customers, culture, market and growth challenges, and translates that understanding into clear strategic direction that inspires creativity, shapes integrated solutions and creates measurable business value.
• The Head of Strategy will lead a future-fit strategy function that combines human insight, culture, data, media, technology and AI to move the partnership beyond reactive briefing toward proactive, intelligence-led planning and opportunity creation.
• A critical part of the mandate is to connect strategic thinking across disciplines and Groupe capabilities so that the client receives one coherent view of the problem, the opportunity, the audience and the path to growth.

The Head of Strategy is ultimately accountable for ensuring that the strategic product delivers:

• Clear, differentiated and actionable strategic direction.
• Deep understanding of the client's business, customers, culture and market.
• Strong strategic influence and senior client confidence.
• Integrated thinking across brand, creative, media, data, technology and experience.
• Meaningful use of AI, data and emerging intelligence capabilities.
• Better briefs, stronger upstream planning and more proactive opportunity creation.
• A high-performing, future-fit strategy team and culture.

Responsibilities

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP & VISION

• Set and champion the strategic vision and planning standard for the client/Publicis partnership.
• Translate the client's business priorities into clear strategic agendas across brand, customer, communications, experience and growth.
• Ensure strategy moves upstream into business and marketing challenges rather than beginning only once a communications brief is received.
• Lead integrated strategic thinking across brand, digital, social, media, data, customer experience, commerce and innovation.
• Create clarity from complexity and frame the questions that the client and agency should be solving.
• Develop strategic platforms and longer-term thinking that create consistency beyond individual campaigns.
• Ensure strategic recommendations are practical, differentiating and connected to measurable outcomes.

SENIOR CLIENT & BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

• Build trusted senior relationships with client stakeholders as a strategic adviser and provocateur.
• Develop a deep understanding of the client's business model, categories, customers, competitive environment, priorities and growth challenges.
• Challenge client and agency thinking constructively and help redefine briefs where the stated problem is not the real business problem.
• Lead high-value strategic workshops, planning sessions and senior client conversations.
• Anticipate emerging client needs and bring proactive strategic perspectives before they become briefs.
• Partner with the Managing Partner to increase Publicis' strategic influence and access across the client organisation.
• Ensure strategy consistently demonstrates how Publicis can contribute to business and brand growth, not only communications delivery.

CONSUMER, CULTURE & MARKET INTELLIGENCE

• Create a strong understanding of people, culture, category and context at the centre of the strategic product.
• Stay closely connected to shifts in South African culture, consumer behaviour, technology, media and society.
• Turn research, cultural observation, customer data and market intelligence into useful strategic insight.
• Identify tensions, behaviours and unmet needs that can unlock distinctive creative and business opportunities.
• Ensure teams move beyond descriptive data toward meaningful interpretation and implication.
• Build repeatable intelligence and knowledge-sharing practices that strengthen strategic quality over time.
• Bring relevant global thinking into local strategy without losing cultural relevance.

DATA, AI & FUTURE-FIT STRATEGY

• Data, AI and technology are core inputs to modern strategy and should strengthen how problems are understood, opportunities are identified and decisions are made.
• Champion the use of AI to accelerate research, synthesis, scenario exploration, knowledge retrieval and strategic development while maintaining human judgement.
• Build strategic fluency in data, analytics, connected identity, personalisation, customer journeys and emerging technology.
• Partner with Data, Media, Technology and Experience teams to connect behavioural and performance data to strategic decisions.
• Identify where AI and emerging technology create new customer, brand, communication or business opportunities for the client.
• Develop frameworks that help the client navigate changing consumer behaviours, platforms and technology.
• Ensure AI-generated analysis is interrogated critically and supported by appropriate governance, source quality and human oversight.
• Help evolve the strategic product from periodic planning toward more continuous, intelligence-led decision-making.

INTEGRATED STRATEGY & POWER OF ONE LEADERSHIP

• Act as the senior strategic integrator across Publicis Groupe capabilities servicing the client.
• Bring together brand strategy, communications planning, media, data, experience, technology, commerce, content and other relevant strategic disciplines.
• Ensure the client receives one connected strategic point of view rather than separate discipline-specific answers.
• Create common strategic frameworks and language that enable teams to solve problems together.
• Partner with network and global strategy leadership to access relevant thinking, tools and capability.
• Remove strategic silos and ensure specialist expertise is brought in at the right point in the process.
• Help make Power of One tangible through the quality, coherence and breadth of the strategic product.

BRIEFING & UPSTREAM PLANNING

• Own the strategic quality of the briefing process in partnership with Client Leadership and Operations.
• Ensure briefs clearly define the business problem, audience, desired behaviour, strategic proposition and success measures.
• Lead or support development of strategic briefs for priority initiatives.
• Challenge incomplete, overly tactical or execution-led briefs before they enter the creative process.
• Build stronger upstream planning practices that reduce reactive work and improve visibility of future priorities.
• Connect annual, quarterly and campaign planning so that individual briefs contribute to broader strategic objectives.
• Support the adoption of future-fit briefing tools and processes that improve quality, consistency and speed.

CREATIVE & EFFECTIVENESS PARTNERSHIP

• Partner closely with the Executive Creative Director to ensure strategy and creativity operate as one problem-solving unit.
• Provide inspiring strategic foundations that unlock ambitious creative thinking rather than constrain it.
• Stay engaged throughout creative development to protect the strategic idea and strengthen the work.
• Use culture, audience understanding, data and evidence to improve creative choices.
• Partner with Media and channel specialists to define how ideas should behave across touchpoints.
• Ensure measurement frameworks are established early enough to assess whether the work achieved its intended effect.
• Lead strategic learning from performance and effectiveness, feeding insights back into future planning.
• Support development of effectiveness cases, award submissions and thought leadership where appropriate.

GROWTH, INNOVATION & NEW BUSINESS

• Contribute actively to growth of the client partnership by identifying strategic opportunities beyond current scopes and briefs.
• Develop perspectives on emerging client, category and customer challenges that can unlock new work.
• Lead strategic thinking for pitches, proposals, capability presentations and new-business opportunities.
• Partner with Creative, Data, Media, Technology and Experience teams to develop new propositions and solutions.
• Help define the strategic rationale for new products, services, platforms and transformation opportunities.
• Strengthen Publicis' reputation through distinctive thinking, thought leadership and visible strategic contribution.

TALENT & STRATEGY LEADERSHIP

• Build, lead, mentor and inspire a high-performing strategy and planning team.
• Ensure the team has the right mix of brand, integrated, digital, cultural, data and experience strategy capability.
• Create clear standards for strategic quality, behaviour, collaboration and performance.
• Develop strategists' ability to simplify complexity, generate insight, tell compelling stories and influence senior stakeholders.
• Create an inclusive culture of curiosity, sharing, challenge and continuous learning.
• Identify future capability requirements and build fluency in AI, data, technology and evolving strategic disciplines.
• Maintain strong relationships with Groupe and network strategy leaders and create opportunities for knowledge transfer.
• Partner with Operations and Talent on resource planning, recruitment, development and succession.

STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION & FUTURE OPERATING MODEL

• Play a leading role in evolving the strategic function and the broader client operating model.
• Challenge legacy planning processes that create unnecessary delay, duplication or disconnected thinking.
• Develop more agile, collaborative and intelligence-led approaches to planning.
• Support transformation programmes by ensuring business, customer and strategic objectives remain clear through change.
• Help define how strategy should interact with future workflow platforms, knowledge systems, AI tools and connected data.
• Ensure new ways of working improve strategic quality and speed rather than simply adding process.
• Create an environment where strategy is continuously learning and improving.

OPERATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

• The Head of Strategy owns the strategic product, planning standards and strategic capability, while the senior operations leader owns the operating engine that enables the strategy team and wider account to deliver effectively.
• Partner closely with Operations to ensure the strategy model is appropriately resourced, prioritised and supported.
• Provide visibility of strategic capacity, specialist capability requirements and key planning dependencies.
• Support efficient briefing, review and workflow structures that give strategists sufficient time and access to solve the right problems.
• Use agreed platforms, governance and ways of working to improve collaboration, visibility and knowledge sharing.
• Escalate capacity, process or structural issues that materially affect strategic quality or client outcomes.
• Ensure the Strategy team participates effectively in integrated planning and delivery rhythms.

PERFORMANCE, EFFECTIVENESS & ACCOUNTABILITY

• Create clear accountability for strategic quality, team performance and client impact.
• Establish meaningful measures for strategic contribution, including client confidence, effectiveness, proactive opportunity creation and quality of briefs and thinking.
• Track whether strategies translate into differentiated work and measurable business or brand outcomes.
• Use campaign performance, audience learning and client feedback to improve future strategic recommendations.
• Maintain visibility of team health, workload, capability and development.
• Ensure strategists are accountable not only for producing presentations, but for improving the quality of decisions and outcomes.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Strong senior client confidence in Publicis' strategic leadership and thinking.
• Increased strategic influence and earlier involvement in client business and marketing challenges.
• Consistently high-quality briefs, strategic platforms and integrated plans.
• Stronger connection between business problems, audience insight, strategy, creative work and measurable outcomes.
• Increased proactive opportunities and strategic propositions brought to the client.
• Meaningful adoption of AI, data and technology within the strategic process.
• Improved integration across Strategy, Creative, Media, Data, Technology and Experience.
• A high-performing strategy team with strong capability, retention and development.
• Improved effectiveness learning and evidence of strategy contributing to business and brand results.
• Reduced dependency on reactive briefing and campaign-by-campaign planning.
• A stronger external and internal reputation for strategic excellence and thought leadership.

Qualifications

CRITICAL CAPABILITIES

• Strategic business and brand leadership.
• Integrated strategy and communications planning.
• Consumer, cultural and market insight.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability.
• Data literacy and ability to translate evidence into implication.
• AI and emerging technology literacy.
• Senior client relationship and influence.
• Compelling storytelling and presentation capability.
• Creative partnership and ability to inspire ideas.
• Effectiveness and measurement understanding.
• Integrated leadership across multiple disciplines and agencies.
• Strategy team leadership, coaching and talent development.
• Growth, innovation and new-business capability.
• Ability to simplify complexity and lead through ambiguity and change.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Significant senior strategy, planning or consulting experience within advertising, marketing, communications, digital, media or related industries.
• Demonstrated experience leading strategy across large, complex or integrated client relationships.
• Strong track record across brand, communications, digital and integrated strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to turn business, customer, cultural and market understanding into actionable strategic direction.
• Experience leading and developing teams of strategists or planners.
• Strong senior client-facing experience, including facilitation, workshops, presentations and strategic counsel.
• Working knowledge of data, analytics, AI, emerging technology and modern customer-experience thinking.
• Experience integrating multiple disciplines, agencies or specialist capabilities.
• Experience in transformation, innovation or future operating-model development is advantageous.
• Relevant tertiary or postgraduate qualification is advantageous; demonstrated strategic leadership, business impact and industry capability should be considered alongside formal qualifications.
• Strong written, verbal and presentation skills.

go to method of application »

ROLE PURPOSE

• The Business Unit Director is a senior client and business leader responsible for the successful leadership, growth, integration and delivery of an assigned area of the Publicis/client partnership.
• The role translates the Managing Partner's overall business ambition into strong day-to-day client leadership, integrated agency delivery, commercially sound account management and consistently high standards of strategic, creative and operational execution.
• The Business Unit Director develops trusted client relationships, understands the client's business and marketing priorities, leads the account management team and coordinates relevant Publicis capabilities to ensure work is delivered effectively across TTL, digital, social, content, media, customer experience and emerging channels.
• A critical part of the mandate is to move the relationship beyond campaign administration toward proactive business partnership - identifying opportunities, improving integration, using data and digital intelligence more effectively, and ensuring the team continually creates greater value for the client.
• The Business Unit Director is ultimately accountable for ensuring their area of the partnership delivers strong client relationships, high-quality integrated work, sustainable growth, commercial discipline, effective resource utilisation and a high-performing client leadership team.

Responsibilities

STRATEGIC BUSINESS LEADERSHIP

• Translate the Managing Partner's strategic direction into a clear business agenda for the assigned client portfolio, business unit or scope.
• Develop a strong understanding of the client's business, customers, competitive environment, brand priorities and commercial objectives.
• Support short- and long-term strategic, creative, operational and financial planning for the client business.
• Ensure account teams are focused on solving the client's business and customer problems, not only delivering campaign outputs.
• Bring proactive perspectives and opportunities to the client rather than relying only on incoming briefs.
• Provide clear direction, accountability and decision-making across the account management team.

SENIOR CLIENT PARTNERSHIP

• Own and develop strong day-to-day and senior relationships across assigned client stakeholders.
• Act as a trusted client partner, bringing clarity, challenge and informed recommendations to business and marketing conversations.
• Maintain high standards of responsiveness, communication, expectation management and follow-through.
• Identify relationship, delivery or scope risks early and ensure timely corrective action.
• Act as an escalation point for client issues within the assigned business area, escalating material risks to the Managing Partner where appropriate.
• Translate client feedback into visible improvement across the team and agency product.

BUSINESS GROWTH & PARTNERSHIP EXPANSION

• Support the Managing Partner in growing the value and scope of the client partnership.
• Identify unmet client needs and opportunities across strategy, creative, digital, data, customer experience, media, content, production, technology and related capabilities.
• Develop commercially sensible growth opportunities and coordinate the right Publicis expertise to respond.
• Drive organic growth through proactive thinking, strong client relationships and consistent delivery performance.
• Support pitches, proposals, scope expansions and strategic growth conversations.
• Focus on sustainable growth that creates value for both the client and Publicis.

INTEGRATION & POWER OF ONE LEADERSHIP

• Coordinate the relevant Publicis Groupe disciplines and partner agencies required to deliver integrated solutions for the client.
• Drive collaboration across Strategy, Creative, Media, Digital, Data, Technology, Production, PR, Activation and other specialist capabilities.
• Ensure the client experiences a connected agency team rather than separate departments or agencies.
• Clarify roles, ownership, responsibilities and hand-offs across integrated workstreams.
• Enable strong intercompany and interdepartmental communication, knowledge sharing and decision-making.
• Resolve integration issues quickly and escalate structural barriers where necessary.

DIGITAL, DATA & FUTURE-FIT CLIENT LEADERSHIP

• Lead with a digital-first mindset and understand how digital platforms support and enhance broader integrated campaign development.
• Maintain working understanding of consumer journey mapping, search, SEO, UX/UI, digital development and QA, performance media, social platforms, CRM, data and insight gathering.
• Ensure teams define meaningful KPIs linked to client business objectives rather than channel activity alone.
• Use campaign and performance information to drive optimisation and proactive client recommendations.
• Support the use of real-time dashboards, reporting and connected data to improve decision-making and campaign performance.
• Build practical fluency in AI, automation and emerging marketing technologies and identify where these can improve client value, speed, quality or efficiency.
• Champion responsible use of AI and technology while maintaining appropriate governance, security and human oversight.

FUTURE-FIT OPERATING MODEL & TRANSFORMATION

• Support the Managing Partner and Operations leadership in implementing the future client operating model.
• Help embed agreed workflows, governance structures, standards, platforms and ways of working across the account team.
• Challenge legacy processes that create unnecessary duplication, delay or fragmented delivery.
• Ensure transformation and new technology adoption do not compromise business continuity or client service.
• Support behavioural change across teams and reinforce new ways of collaborating, briefing, reviewing and delivering work.
• Provide practical feedback from client and team experience to continuously improve the operating model.

CREATIVE, STRATEGIC & PRODUCT EXCELLENCE

• Maintain oversight of the quality of strategic and creative work delivered within the assigned business area.
• Ensure briefs clearly reflect business objectives, audience understanding, desired outcomes and agreed success measures.
• Create the conditions for Strategy and Creative teams to develop ambitious, effective and culturally relevant work.
• Ensure digital, data and customer-experience thinking are integrated into the agency product from the outset.
• Participate actively in key strategic, creative and integrated reviews.
• Use campaign performance and client feedback to improve future strategic and creative output.

COMMERCIAL LEADERSHIP & PROFITABILITY

• Manage the commercial health of the assigned client portfolio in partnership with the Managing Partner, Finance and Operations.
• Maintain visibility of scope, fees, estimates, budgets, resource requirements and commercial risks.
• Support revenue planning, forecasting and delivery against agreed contribution targets and ratios.
• Identify resource and infrastructure optimisation opportunities and drive efficiencies and economies of scale.
• Ensure new or expanded work is appropriately scoped and commercially viable.
• Balance client value, delivery quality, resource efficiency and agency profitability.

TALENT & CLIENT LEADERSHIP

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing Account Management / Client Leadership team.
• Attract, retain and grow strong client-service talent and create clear accountability for performance.
• Embed Publicis values, expected behaviours and a culture of collaboration, ownership and continuous learning.
• Develop the team's ability to lead integrated campaigns, build client confidence and operate effectively across digital and traditional channels.
• Support knowledge transfer, upskilling and exposure to best practice across the Groupe.
• Conduct regular performance conversations and support formal review and development processes.
• Demonstrate professional maturity and collaborate effectively with specialist agencies and partners.

OPERATIONAL PARTNERSHIP

• Partner closely with Operations to translate client and business priorities into effective delivery.
• Implement and monitor agreed workflow processes, operating standards and governance.
• Support efficient internal and external resource allocation and utilisation.
• Ensure projects are appropriately scoped from a resourcing, timing and delivery perspective.
• Maintain visibility of delivery health, workload, risks, dependencies and escalation requirements.
• Use agreed systems, reporting and planning rhythms to improve accountability and transparency.
• Ensure the Account Management team can seamlessly coordinate integrated campaign delivery.

PERFORMANCE, EFFECTIVENESS & ACCOUNTABILITY

• Create clear accountability for client satisfaction, commercial performance, delivery quality and team performance within the assigned business area.
• Track whether campaigns and programmes are meeting agreed business and communication KPIs.
• Use real-time and post-campaign performance information to drive optimisation and learning.
• Ensure operational issues are solved decisively and not allowed to become repeated delivery failures.
• Maintain strong standards of written, verbal and presentation communication.
• Provide regular visibility to the Managing Partner on business health, growth opportunities, risks and required decisions.

MEASURES OF SUCCESS

• Strong client satisfaction and trusted relationships across assigned stakeholders.
• Consistent delivery of high-quality, integrated strategic and creative work.
• Achievement of agreed revenue, contribution and profitability targets for the assigned business area.
• Growth in the value and scope of the client relationship.
• Effective integration across Publicis Groupe agencies, disciplines and specialist partners.
• Improved digital, data and performance-led decision-making across client activity.
• Effective adoption of agreed workflows, platforms and future ways of working.
• Efficient resource utilisation and strong delivery discipline.
• A high-performing, engaged and developing Account Management / Client Leadership team.
• Early identification and resolution of client, commercial, delivery and operational risks.
• Strong contribution to the client's perception of Publicis as a strategic and integrated business partner.

Qualifications

CRITICAL CAPABILITIES

• Strategic business and client leadership.
• Senior client relationship management.
• Integrated marketing and communications leadership.
• Digital ecosystem and customer-journey understanding.
• Commercial and financial acumen.
• Business growth and organic opportunity development.
• Operational judgement and delivery oversight.
• Resource planning and project-scoping understanding.
• Data, measurement and performance literacy.
• AI and emerging technology literacy.
• Cross-agency integration and collaboration.
• Talent leadership, coaching and development.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Excellent communication, influence and presentation capability.
• Ability to lead through complexity, pressure and change.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

• Relevant tertiary qualification within advertising, marketing, business, communications or a related discipline.
• At least 12 years of relevant experience in the advertising, marketing or communications industry.
• At least 4 years of experience in a leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to lead across brand building, communications, experiences, digital and technology.
• Strong experience leading complex, integrated client relationships and multi-disciplinary agency teams.
• Strong understanding of ATL, BTL and the broader digital ecosystem, including how digital supports integrated campaign performance.
• Experience managing commercial performance, resources, workflow and delivery at a senior client-leadership level.
• Previous experience with multinational, technology or telecommunications organisations is advantageous.
• Business Management or relevant postgraduate qualification is advantageous.
• Solid written, verbal and presentation skills in English.
   

go to method of application »

Overview

• The Creative Director — Art Director is a senior creative leader responsible for translating the creative ambition of the Publicis/client partnership into distinctive, effective and beautifully crafted work. 
• The role leads concept development and visual direction across major briefs, campaigns, platforms and experiences, while guiding and mentoring multi-disciplinary creative teams. 
• A critical part of the mandate is to combine world-class art direction and design craft with digital-first thinking, culture, technology, AI and new production models, ensuring ideas are conceived to work coherently across channels from the outset. 
• The role is accountable for strong conceptual thinking, visual excellence, integrated execution, creative team leadership and client confidence. 

Responsibilities

CREATIVE LEADERSHIP & DIRECTION 

• Help set and uphold the creative standard for the client/Publicis partnership, working closely with the Executive Creative Director. 
• Lead concept development and visual direction across major integrated campaigns, brand platforms, digital experiences and content ecosystems. 
• Provide clear, constructive direction to creative teams and protect the core idea through development, production, adaptation and rollout. 
• Lead brainstorms and creative workshops, creating the conditions for ambitious ideas to be challenged, improved and delivered. 
• Remain deeply connected to South African culture, visual language, media behaviour and global creative trends. 

SENIOR CLIENT & BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP 

• Build trusted creative relationships with client stakeholders and confidently present creative thinking with clear rationale. 
• Understand the client's business, brand, customers and growth priorities sufficiently to interrogate briefs and identify creative opportunities. 
• Balance creative ambition with business relevance, feasibility, timing and effectiveness. 
• Respond constructively to client feedback while protecting the integrity and quality of the creative product. 

CREATIVE PRODUCT EXCELLENCE 

• Drive platform-neutral conceptual thinking with a strong weighting toward visual craft and digital execution. 
• Define and oversee the visual language, design system and aesthetic direction of campaigns and experiences. 
• Ensure every major piece of work has a clear idea, strong strategic foundation and appropriate level of craft. 
• Oversee art direction across design, film, social, digital, content, experience, retail and emerging formats. 
• Create and mock up compelling creative ideas that help teams and clients see the potential of the work. 
• Use audience, performance and cultural learning to strengthen future creative output. 

INTEGRATION & POWER OF ONE CREATIVE LEADERSHIP 

• Work seamlessly with Strategy, Copy, Media, Data, Technology, Experience, Production, PR and Activation to create genuinely integrated solutions. 
• Ensure integrated thinking happens at the start of the process rather than being assembled after ideas are developed. 
• Create ideas across multiple channels while making best use of each platform's role and behaviour. 
• Help remove discipline and agency silos that limit the quality or effectiveness of the work. 

AI, TECHNOLOGY & FUTURE-FIT CREATIVITY 

• Champion responsible use of AI in ideation, visual exploration, prototyping, production and optimisation. 
• Use emerging tools to increase creative exploration, speed and production efficiency without compromising originality or craft. 
• Maintain practical fluency in relevant design, prototyping, generative AI and emerging creative technologies. 
• Partner with Strategy, Data, Technology and Production to explore new possibilities in dynamic content, personalisation and connected experiences. 
• Maintain appropriate standards around brand safety, intellectual property, governance and human oversight.

Qualifications

• Must have 10+ years’ experience 
• Highly conceptual individual (Must demonstrate with at least 5 projects) 
• Demonstrate exceptional strategic thinking (Provide 3 examples) 
• Must have led the conceptualisation and execution of TTL campaigns and pure digital campaigns (Show minimum of 4 examples) 
• Must demonstrate an understanding of digital platforms 
• Track record of winning international and local awards i.e. Cannes, One Show, Loeries, Clios, Bookmarks etc. 
• Show at least 1 international and 1 local gold medals 
• Demonstrate how you’ve previously dealt with conflict 
• In-depth working knowledge of existing and emerging technologies & platforms (advantageous) 
• Be comfortable with AI being a part of the everyday activities of the role. 

BUSINESS KPI’S 

• Must demonstrate examples of leadership skills & problem solving 
• A strong understanding of best practice interaction and visual design principles 
• Must be able to oversee 7-8 projects 
• Have the ability to attend every review on a project with 3 new ideas 
• Oversee projects and manage and grow the team through the process 

THE PERSON 

• Good understanding of influencer, Mobile, Podcast, digital, social, out-of-home, guerrilla, activations and direct marketing 
• Great time management 
• Demonstrate ability to work under immense pressure & meet tight deadlines 
• Adept problem-solving skills 
• Strong communication skills with ability to provide rationales for creative choices made 
• Strong presentation skills 
• Able to work with team members & delegate effectively 
• Understand the client’s business requirements, and understand how our services should be applied to solve business problems 
• Sell an idea or campaign internally and externally 

WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THESE TOOLS 

• Illustrator 
• Photoshop 
• InDesign 
• After Effects (Advantageous) 
• Figma 
• Keynote / PowerPoint 
• ChatGPT, Claude AI, Midjourney and similar generative AI tools 
• Google Web Designer & DV360 (Advantageous) 
• Facebook Creative Hub (Advantageous) 
• 3D Animation & Production (Advantageous)