Creative Director at Brand Union

Job description

The Brand Union is a leading WPP-owned global brand agency with over 500 people in 23 locations, serving every major market. The agency has deep expertise in brand strategy, design, brand management and employee engagement, and is in the business of helping clients define, create, and curate positive moments of interaction. We believe the experience of the brand is the brand. For more information, visit www.thebrandunion.com and follow @TheBrandUnion

Job Purpose Summary

• Drive the highest standards of creative work across a core group of Brand Union clients to establish equity with existing and future clients
• To establish a strong understanding of each key client in the core business to best understand and help develop the following: -
• Potential creative approaches best suited to amplify creativity within new, current and on-going workstreams
• New opportunities to extend the reach of Brand Union within the clients business
• Work actively with all creative and design team to develop skills and experience in leveraging big ideas across all channels
• To establish best practice ways of working; in accessing, developing and cultivating ideas within different disciplines and across all clients.
• To be aware of, and drive insight into, key design and consumer trends affecting categories worked
• To be an advocate and voice for Brand Union in; thought leadership, external communication and public speaking
• Maintain a constant understanding of the core relationships across the business from all relevant perspectives: workflows, upcoming initiatives, strategic drivers, client objectives, industry and category news, competitor understanding etc. Leverage this knowledge to identify opportunities, amplify creative output and develop business along side team leads
• Build support and work with colleagues from within Brand Union, as well as across the network, to ensure the creative output is delivered with maximum effect, consistently, globally, and with the network benefit of working with Brand Union obvious
• Be key to the creative leadership group of the wider studio and standards of work leaving the studio, through hiring the best talent and nurturing the skills and experience of the creative team.
• To actively support new business activity and help establish the best teams for the task

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Oversee creative/strategic development work to ensure presented work is of the highest possible standards. Challenge briefs and outputs constantly, as the internal champion for client work
• Establish and influence positively all creative interactions
• Creative Direction & consultancy
• Attend key client presentations, meetings and social events
• Engage Cross function CDs & London management team in regular dialogue around relationship and commercial issues, through the Business Review sessions and as required (alongside Client Director)
• Ensure issues raised by client are addressed promptly and effectively
• To work as part of a team to deliver high quality work that is on time and within budget
• To make sure quality control procedures are adhered to, checking and acquiring sign off for work before despatching to client
• To establish close working relationships with each of the teams to best help support, guide and amplify the creative work

Role-specific professional and technical skills

• Strong and demonstrated experience through multiple brand touch points, including packaging design, digital, retail.
• A strong desire to continually challenge, improve and grow creative talent within the business.
• Relevant client or agency experience.
• Demonstrable track record in delivering large-scale brand design programs, and wider communications and activation strategies.
• An excellent communicator who can articulate strategic thinking and creative concepts with equal impact.
• Able to think on their feet and make decisions; someone who finds solutions rather than simply reports problems.
• Highly organised, highly professional, and able to communicate at all levels within client business.
• Absorb and consolidate multiple briefs on multiple brands, and build plans for the future development for the brand.
• A highly capable, credible client presence, to form trusting client partnerships.
• A people-person; able to delegate and get a job done.
• Good knowledge across brand communications production, event production, digital, video/film production and sales promotion.
• Strong knowledge of creative technical programs in order that they can advise client team on timings, relevance and production scope
• Ambitious with a keen desire to learn. Enthusiastic, interested, motivated.
• Team player, able to take instruction and guidance and willing to train the team around them whether direct reports or not.

Our values mean that our people are not afraid to focus on the user of the brand to apply true insight and creativity, always with an eye towards helping brand builders achieve their business goals.

We relish and embrace challenges, but we never forget that our work has to work.

We look for opportunities to explore and evolve. Not only do we always ask ‘why?’ but also, ‘why not?’

Our best work will always be ahead of us.