Creative Strategist

Buyers Support Group; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Buyers Support Group is seeking a Creative Strategist to translate macro shifts into road maps, assortment opportunities, and go‑to‑market strategies. You’ll support the sales team with client workshops, trend recaps, and storytelling that lands.

Lead market road mapping, vendor workshops, and US landscape projects for launches, turning insights into commercial strategy for beauty, fashion, and consumer products.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or related experience in marketing, design, or merchandising.
• 4-8+ years in trend forecasting, strategy, or product development.
• Experience translating trend insights into commercial strategy.
• Experience in beauty, fashion, retail, or consumer products preferred.

Responsibilities

• Integrate macro and micro trends with retailer objectives to identify growth opportunities.
• Translate cultural signals into clear business implications.
• Lead retailer and market road mapping; build overarching strategy and vision.
• Own vendor workshops from framing to follow‑through.
• Lead US Market Landscape projects for new partner launches.
• Develop plans for product and assortment development, including white space ideation.
• Package market intelligence for diverse audiences from creatives to executives.
• Lead AI integration into trend design practices and establish guardrails.

Skills

Storytelling

Commercial instincts

AI tools

Facilitation

Organization

PowerPoint/Keynote

Adobe Creative Suite

Trend platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree in marketing/design/merchandising/business

Tools

PowerPoint/Keynote

Adobe Creative Suite

WGSN

Mintel

Helium10

Job description

Company Description Buyers Support Group (bsg) is a dedicated sales partner that emphasizes service, professionalism, and collaborative relationships. The company provides targeted expertise to help clients build efficient, successful processes, particularly in navigating decision‑making at Target. bsg leverages deep knowledge of retail dynamics and data‑driven insights to support optimization and growth. Through thought leadership and close joint partnerships, bsg works to deliver strategic value and long‑term results for its clients.

About the Role As Creative Strategist, you'll sit at the intersection of what's happening in culture and what bsg, our partners, and our retailers need to do about it. You'll translate macro shifts and micro signals into road maps, assortment opportunities, and go‑to‑market strategies. You will support our sales team through client workshops, trend recaps, and storytelling that actually lands.

What You'll Do

• Integrate key macro and micro trends with bsg, our partners, and retailers objectives to identify and unlock growth opportunities
• Translate cultural, consumer, and category signals into clear, actionable business implications

Road Mapping & Vision

• Lead retailer and market road mapping; build the overarching strategy and vision that guides how we show up in the market
• Own vendor workshop initiatives, from framing the opportunity through facilitation and follow‑through
• Lead US Market Landscape projects supporting new factory‑direct partner launches
• Lead plan and proposal building for product and assortment development opportunities, including white space ideation
• Build the case — market context, consumer rationale, competitive positioning — that moves an idea from concept to commitment

AI Integration

• Serve as the lead point on integrating AI into the bsg trend and design practice in a meaningful, differentiated way
• Explore and operationalize applications across design workflows and forward‑looking trend forecasting
• Establish practical guardrails, standards, and best practices the broader team can adopt

Trend Communication

• Lead cycle recaps, Right on Target, and trend spotlights
• Package complex market intelligence into formats that resonate across audiences — from creative teams to executive stakeholders to vendor partners

Experience

• 4-8+ years in trend forecasting, creative strategy, brand strategy, product development, or a closely related discipline
• Demonstrated experience translating trend insight into commercial strategy — assortment, road maps, or go‑to‑market plans
• Experience in beauty, fashion, retail, or consumer products strongly preferred
• Track record of mentoring or developing team members, formally or informally

Skills & Capabilities

• Exceptional storytelling and presentation skills; you can hold a room and make a complex idea feel obvious
• Strong commercial instincts — you connect creative thinking to business outcomes
• Working fluency with AI tools and genuine curiosity about where they're headed; comfortable being the person who figures it out first
• Skilled at facilitation and cross‑functional influence, including with external vendor and retailer partners
• Highly organized self‑starter who can run multiple projects with competing timelines
• Proficiency in PowerPoint/Keynote, Adobe Creative Suite, trend platforms such as WGSN, Mintel, Helium10, etc.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Design, Merchandising, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Travel

• Minimal travel expected for market research, vendor workshops, trade shows, and partner meetings.