Senior Art Director

Ogilvy South Africa; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Ogilvy South Africa seeks a Senior Art Director to lead creative efforts in a dynamic marketing environment. Candidates should demonstrate over 8 years of experience, exceptional conceptual skills, and the ability to drive strategic thinking. This role involves overseeing projects, mentoring team members, and ensuring that creative solutions exceed client expectations.

Qualifications

• Must have 8+ years experience in creative roles.
• Must show a minimum of 5 projects demonstrating strategic thinking.
• Must have industry recognition with awards.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor the creative team in delivering exceptional integrated concepts.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously while adhering to deadlines.
• Define the visual language of overall campaigns.

Skills

Conceptualization

Strategic Thinking

Art Direction

Time Management

Communication

Creativity

Tools

Illustrator

Photoshop

After Effects

InDesign

Google Web Designer

Job description

Since we believe in creative work that disrupts, we are looking for a candidate who is going to embrace modern marketing principles and is a self-starter. This is an individual who is not afraid to challenge the norm and embodies our philosophy of divine discontent (Never stop chasing brilliance attitude).

We are therefore looking for a Senior Art Director. Must have 8+ years experience.

To complement the above, well also be looking for:

• Highly conceptual individual (Must show a minimum of 5 projects)
• Demonstrate exceptional strategic thinking (Provide 2 examples)
• Track record of leading the conceptualization and execution of campaigns (Show minimum of 4 examples)
• Must demonstrate in-depth understanding of new and existing digital platforms
• Must show an understanding of various programmes (Editing, recording etc.)
• Must have some industry recognition in a form of international and or local awards (i.e. Cannes, One Show, Loeries, Clios, Bookmarks etc.)
• Must have at least 1 international gold and or 1 local gold medals

RESPONSIBILITIES

As a senior creative you will help lead our passionate, multi-talented studio, guiding more junior members to deliver, and encourage exceptional integrated concepts that exceed client briefs and expectations.

A Senior Art Director is an important contact point in our agency, so they can expect to be craft-led, strategically driven, media agnostic, agile and consistently conceptual, with a desire to transform brands by creating exceptional, intuitive, and human-centred products and experiences.

The successful candidate will be tuned into all aspects of South African popular culture and the platforms and media it plays in, as well as have a strong point of view on what it takes to win in this space, with the experience to back it up. Immaculate art direction ability is paramount.

Must be able to work on two sizable and one small size project at any one time. Have the ability to attend every review on a project with new 3 ideas. Must be comfortable running projects independently.

What you'll do everyday

Responsibilities

• Be part of the strategic process and interrogate the brief
• Scope, plan & manage the creative process on projects
• Manage & mentor the creative team
• Work with other disciplines (Strategists, Developers, Media, Accounts, etc) to ensure cohesive team integration, and alignment with broader business objectives
• Be a champion for innovative media solutions on every brief
• Play an active role in campaign planning
• Participate in pitches for new business
• Define the visual language of overall campaigns
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Generate ideas and sell them into clients and other members of the team
• Mock up creative ideas
• Consistently produce creative elements against a deliverables list
• Lead the craft of an idea
• Compile presentations for clients & new ways to present
• Attend client briefings & present to clients
• Attend film and photoshoots
• A grasp on media specs
• Source inspirational material and references of how to push creativity

You'll also be required to develop the following:

• Good understanding of Influencer, Mobile, Podcast, Out-of-Home, Guerrilla, Activations, and Direct Marketing
• Great time management
• Ability to work under pressure & meet tight deadlines
• Strong communication skills with ability to provide rationales for creative choices made
• In-depth working knowledge of existing and emerging technologies & platforms
• A strong understanding of strategic processes
• Able to work with team members & delegate effectively
• Understand the clients business requirements; and understand how our services should be applied to solve business problems
• Be agile

Working knowledge of these tools:

• Illustrator
• Photoshop
• After Effects (Would help)
• KeyNote / PowerPoint
• InDesign
• Google Web Designer & DV360 (Would help, but not required)