Idea Hall is hiring a seasoned and strategic Executive Creative Director (ECD) to join our fun and collaborative team in our Costa Mesa headquarters office. If you are an experienced creative, with strategic design and conceptual experience, and a true team player who likes to play as hard as you work, we want to hear from you!

The ECD role is an imperative position responsible for directing and overseeing the agency’s creative projects and campaigns. The ECD manages the agency’s creative department of creative directors, art directors, writers, production services managers, and freelance creative staff, reporting directly to President/CEO. The ECD will be responsible for developing the overall creative strategy for agency clients (and all internal-facing creative initiatives), working closely with clients to create an original idea, and then work with the rest of the creative team towards the development of the idea.

The ideal candidate will have extremely strong written and presentation skills. The ECD will foster relationships with key client contacts, speaking directly with them about their needs. The ECD will also get to provide creative insights in designing and developing concepts, ensuring they are always on Brief, prior to client presentations.

The ECD will also be a part of the agency’s Executive Leadership Team, with the ability to affect change and business decisions for the agency at both a macro and micro scale.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Directing the creative functionalities of concept development, collaborating with team members, creating a successful work environment, meeting work expectations, and discussing team goals and achievements
• Providing strategic solutions for the agency’s clients, considering their unique positions in the market, always looking to maintain brand standards and elevating the brand’s reputation in the market
• Developing unique creative concepts, including the visual representation to sell them into the client, anticipating client concerns and preparing solutions in advance
• Developing and writing omni-channel marketing campaigns, preparing well-designed presentation decks, and assigning various responsibilities to team members for carrying out the plan effectively
• Keeping track of the latest advancements in the technologies used in creative direction and understanding the progress in marketing technologies (both traditional and digital marketing)
• Participate in regular planning for key agency clients, offering business generating ideas that move the needle for their business
• Maintain and evolve the agency’s own brand on an as-needed basis
• Possess an understanding of fiscal responsibility and ensure agency profitability without compromising the creative quality of client projects
• Mentor and coach creative team members along their career path

Requirements:

• Showcase exceptional leadership qualities with the ability to work with multiple team members and different personalities, and energize the team with unity
• 10+ years of hands-on creative agency experience developing omni-channel creative concepts for well-known and fast-paced clients
• Lead with a storytelling perspective, weaving the main idea eloquently into all presentation decks and written materials
• Exceptional understanding of various production procedures, creative software and web design principles; and deep knowledge of photography, typography and printing techniques
• Ability to develop big ideas in the form of creative concepts, with various campaign extensions (traditional, digital, experiential, retail, communication, etc.)
• Creativity, insightfulness and team-oriented and optimistic understanding of the creative process
• Ensure all mandatory processes and guidelines are always followed by the creative team – be the final gatekeeper for all creative work before delivery
• Digital and social fluency with an understanding of how to drive conversation and engagement across platforms via design and written word
• Understanding of UX/CX across multiple platforms and customer journey
• Understanding of how analytics feeds into campaign strategies
• Exude executive level written and verbal communication skills, including public speaking
• Client-facing qualities, attending client meetings, presenting work discussing needs and identifying opportunities
• Highly organized and detail-oriented with a proven ability to multi-task and manage multiple projects and clients
• Proven ability to work well with a team and thrive in a fast paced environment
• A passion for B2B, commercial real estate, finance/fintech, non-profit and professional services
• Proactive TEAM PLAYER with a positive, can-do attitude
• Excellent client relationship skills

About Idea Hall

Idea Hall is an award-winning, creative communications agency. We’ve been named a “Best Place to Work in Orange County” by Orange County Business Journal; one of the “8 Coolest Hidden Gem Companies to Work for in Southern California” by Medium; and rank #88 out of 360 companies in the nation on Entrepreneur’s “Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America” list.

But we’re not your typical agency. We unite public relations, creative, branding and marketing together to build a powerful service offering to meet our clients’ many and diverse needs. Think of it as the peanut butter in your chocolate. The rock in your roll. It’s assembling commonly disparate forces together to build powerful brands, effective communications, and raving fans. It’s PR, with the soul of a creative.

Our culture is collaborative, fun and entrepreneurial. We’ve built our culture on a foundation of our five core values: Excellence, Teamwork, Respect, Honesty and Making a Difference. Our values represent how we work with one another. They keep us accountable, define our beliefs, guide our policies/practices and build a strong community.

Building brands and buzz is what we do. At our core we believe in being “Champions of All Things Good” for our clients and our community. We’ve been named to the OC Civic 50 by OCBJ for the past five years! Idea Hall is Orange County’s boutique agency, but don’t let our size fool you. Big things come in small packages. But our box needs to get bigger, brighter, and that’s where you come in.

Idea Hall operates a hybrid work environment guided by the needs of the team, our clients, and the agency at large. We offer an outsized benefits package for an agency of our size, including a monthly wellness allowance and technology stipend, 401K profit sharing and defined benefits plans, medical/dental/vision/life insurance, flex spending accounts for healthcare and childcare, and a host of culture-building goodies and perks throughout the year.

To apply, send your resume and cover letter to jobs@ideahall.com, and include “ldea Hall Executive Creative Director” in the subject line. We look forward to hearing from you!