Creative Director

Hired Recruitment; Pretoria; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading branding agency in Pretoria is seeking an experienced candidate for a strategic role in brand and communications management. This position involves collaborating with executives to define brand vision, overseeing internal and external communications, and managing a high-performing team. The ideal candidate should possess over 10 years of relevant experience, including proven team management skills, strong brand storytelling capabilities, and a solid background in budget management. This is a full-time role offering comprehensive involvement in driving brand initiatives.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in a leadership position in brand marketing and creative design.
• Experience managing agencies across creative and public relations.
• Proven track record in team management and development.

Responsibilities

• Define overall brand vision and strategies in collaboration with executives.
• Oversee content accuracy for distribution about the company and brands.
• Monitor performance and make corrections for optimal outcomes.

Skills

Brand portfolio positioning

Storytelling

Media relations expertise

Integrated marketing campaign experience

Budget management

Education

Degree in Communications, Design or related fields

Master's Degree in Communications, Design or related fields

Job description

Overview

A strategic thought-leader in branding, design and marketing communications.

An expert storyteller who creates marketing campaigns that drive consumer engagement, conversion and competitive advantage.

A team-builder and cross-functional leader who brings innovation and best practices to the organization to drive growth and new standards of excellence.

A collaborator who works toward the common goal of the company and its multiple brands while serving both internal and external customers.

Brand and Communications Strategy (25%)

• Work with the Executives and internal customers (Performance Marketing, Ecomm and Business Development) to define overall brand vision, brand and product strategies, and coordinate implementation.
• Translate business direction into brand and creative strategy, plans, objectives, success metrics and tracking.
• Develop product positioning to articulate competitive value propositions aligned with consumer needs.
• Oversee planning and execution of design, messaging and product launch campaigns, setting metrics for success, monitoring, reporting and optimizing.
• Drive strategy implementation across brands, making mid-course corrections as required.

Design & Creative Management (25%)

• Drive effective asset creation (budget, concept, strategy, execution) across all mediums, channels and campaigns.
• Work with licensing partners and internal teams, including Legal, to ensure technology and branding messaging provide maximum benefit.
• Collaborate with the Design Lead to create unique, impactful brand stories via inspiring content and design.
• Ensure brand representation, corporate identity, brand story and compliance to requirements.
• Drive brand messaging for the LXE brands, differentiation, and positioning.
• Research: utilize multiple data sources to monitor category & brand performance metrics and consumer insights.

Communications Management (25%)

• Ensure accuracy and consistency of all content distributed internally and externally about the company, portfolio brands, product and special projects.
• Compile and execute communications strategies across all portfolio brands and channels.
• Leverage industry-leading techniques to drive organic growth, brand awareness and share of voice.
• Monitor performance and make course corrections for optimal performance.
• Manage social media reporting approval and analysis, incorporating learnings into strategy.
• Coordinate cross-functional knowledge sharing for optimization of paid campaigns.
• Drive creation of public and media relations strategies across the LXE portfolio.
• Manage internal media relations activities and media relations agencies.
• Support external association relationships and lobbying efforts.
• Oversee planning and execution of PR / media relations initiatives, setting metrics for success, monitoring, reporting and optimizing.
• Oversee media monitoring and reporting, and establish relationships with media.
• Create, execute and manage an awards strategy across the LXE portfolio.

Team Management (10%)

• Drive, track and report on the optimization of resources (people and systems).
• Foster cross-functional collaboration and increase team effectiveness.
• Oversee recruitment, selection, orientation, training and development.
• Monitor and appraise job and project results, develop a climate for open information flow.
• Ensure the team meets timelines and produces high-quality content.
• Provide required support and resources to foster professional growth.

Budgeting and Reporting (10%)

• Compile realistic budgets for brand marketing, aligning to strategic goals.
• Drive optimization and cost-saving in brand marketing budget.
• Establish, improve and actively manage team objectives and metrics.
• Interpret and present feedback on brand marketing initiatives and operations.
• Report performance on a weekly and monthly basis to the executive team.

QMS (5%)

• Drive compliance to the Quality Management System within the reporting team.
• Continuously improve related processes and procedures.
• Take ultimate responsibility for brand marketing approvals and accuracy of output.
• Manage the marketing claims matrix for LXE and portfolio brands.

Qualifications

• Minimum education (essential): Degree in Communications, Design or related fields.
• Minimum education (desirable): Master's Degree in Communications, Design or related fields.
• Minimum applicable experience: 10+ years in a leadership position in brand marketing and creative design and copywriting across agency and in-house creative departments.
• Required experience in brand management, storytelling, creative brand development and messaging, product positioning, marketing communications, public relations, owned social media and integrated campaign creation.
• International exposure (U.S. required) and experience managing creative & public relations agencies.
• Proven track record in team management and development.

Skills

• Business-connected brand and creative strategy development
• Brand portfolio positioning
• Storytelling
• Media relations and social media expertise
• Product launch and integrated marketing campaign experience
• Agency management
• Budget establishment and management

Additional Responsibilities

• Manage cross-functional collaboration for media materials and ensure internal approval processes are followed.
• Support external associations and lobbying efforts with strategic insights and content creation.
• Oversee media monitoring, awards strategy, and continuous improvement of output and quality from the reporting team.