Creative Director - Art Director

Publicis Groupe; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Publicis Groupe Africa is seeking a Creative Director — Art Director to translate the client partnership’s ambition into distinctive, craft-focused work. You will lead concept development and visual direction across major campaigns and experiences, mentoring multi-disciplinary teams while ensuring integrated, digital-first execution across channels.

You will combine world-class art direction with culture, technology, AI, and new production models, delivering strong concepts, visual excellence

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ experience in creative leadership roles.
• Highly conceptual individual with at least 5 projects.
• Exceptional strategic thinking with 3 concrete examples.
• Led TTL campaigns and pure digital campaigns with 4+ examples.
• Strong understanding of digital platforms across channels.
• Proven track record of international/local awards (Cannes/Loeries/etc.).
• At least 1 international and 1 local gold medal.
• Demonstrated ability to handle conflicts effectively.
• Solid knowledge of existing/emerging technologies & platforms.
• Comfortable with AI as part of daily creative practice.

Responsibilities

• Lead concept development and visual direction across major campaigns.
• Guide multi-disciplinary teams and maintain core idea through production.
• Run brainstorms and workshops to push ambitious ideas.
• Stay connected to SA culture and global creative trends.
• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders and present ideas.
• Balance ambition with business relevance, feasibility and timing.
• Oversee visual language, design systems, and aesthetic direction.
• Drive integrated, platform-neutral thinking across channels.
• Champion responsible AI use in ideation, prototyping and production.

Skills

10+ years exp

Conceptual thinker

Strategic thinking

TTL campaigns

Digital platforms

Awards winner

Gold medals

Conflict handling

AI readiness

Tech savvy

Tools

Illustrator

Photoshop

InDesign

After Effects

Figma

PowerPoint

ChatGPT

DV360

Facebook Creative Hub

3D Animation

Job description

Company description

Publicis Groupe Africa is a leading marketing, communications, and business transformation network operating across 36 African countries, combining creativity, technology, and local insight to deliver integrated client solutions.

Publicis Groupe Africa is part of Publicis Groupe, the second-largest communications group globally, founded in 1926. The African network operates as a partnership of 44 communications agencies with offices spanning 36 countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, and many others

Its headquarters are in Johannesburg and Cape Town, providing a central hub for continental operations.

Telecommunications is one of the most dynamic categories in the market that sits at the intersection of technology, culture, connectivity, customer experience and everyday life. This role offers the opportunity to work with a leading telecommunications client and help shape the next generation of its agency partnership.

We are building a connected, future-fit model that brings together creativity, intelligence, data, technology, AI and world-class execution around the customer. It is an opportunity for ambitious creative talent to influence the work, the ways of working and the capabilities we build — creating a partnership designed not only for today's challenges, but for what comes next.

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)

Additional information

Publicis Groupe Africa is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits any forms of Discrimination or Harassment. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our employees in line with our Employment Equity Plan.