An Art Director is a person who directs or supervises the work of other artists. More simply, an Art Director is a person who directs art. As an Art Director, you are not only the communicator but also responsible for how the communication is conveyed.
The position of Art Director is a critical function within the OgilvyOne creative department and requires you working in all kinds of traditional and new/emerging media. If words are the “voice”, you are the “body language” of our clients’ offline and online communication (and body language accounts for over 80% of it). As part of a team, it is your job …
…to make OgilvyOne Beijing’s creative product, online and offline, the best of any direct and interactive agency in Beijing, China and throughout the region. To make us the number one agency to work with, in the eyes of clients, prospects, staff and job seekers.
You will be able to apply your skills to all aspects of your assigned clients. This includes online and offline work. The unique opportunity presented by working at OgilvyOne Beijing will boost your skill set, enabling you to develop into a truly integrated advertising professional.
Your Very Important Duties: • Understand the marketing objectives and business problems of your client and think conceptually to solve them. • Understand the importance of and come up with the “big idea” for our client’s brands and their products • Execute ideas flawlessly – paying particular attention to design, layout and typography. • Work independently, know what the next steps are and involve the right people at the right time to get your project done in the best possible quality. • Build a personal portfolio of exceptional third parties: photographers, illustrators, production houses and talent. And know when to use them! • Communicate with others, learn from your colleagues, discuss issues and seek help if you are stuck. • Partner with Account Management to sell creative ideas to clients • Be aware of emerging trends in technology and marketing and advertising. Read the press and the industry websites to learn about innovative campaigns and new technologies and apply them creatively to your campaigns. • Collect your own portfolio / scrap book of samples with offline work and materials that can be used for your projects. • Your job does not end with delivering a layout. For interactive projects, you are required to work closely with the flash designers and programmers, clearly briefing them on your thoughts and requirements. You will involve your colleagues form Multimedia Design in the early stage of idea development and communicate with them throughout the design phase of a project. On offline projects you involve the print producer in the early stages of your project and clearly communicate your requirements and illustrate your ideas with examples. • You demonstrate a high level of Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash skills for Interactive, and Freehand, Illustrator and Photoshop (inDesign) for offline. • You collect good and bad examples of direct mail, direct response advertising and online communications, making notes on what works and what doesn’t (these will be presented to the team in informal sessions); • You are driven by a passion to achieve award-winning work, to compete with the best creative talents in the world!
Other very important duties: • You will guide and mentor junior creative colleagues in developing their creative talent and their understanding of the job. • You interact with the client and account management to gain a total understanding of the client’s business strategy and the market. • You maintain an updated presence on Truffles, including posting a photo, logging on and “sniffing around” for a minimum of half hour per week • You have the responsibility to ensure our work reflects production values that will enable us to compete in major international award shows. • To be aware of the activities of our clients’ competitors in the interactive marketplace. • To play a dynamic role in brainstorming sessions; • You will report any areas of concern (or reasons for delight) to the Executive Creative Director.
It might seem like trying to formulate a precise job description for a creative person is an impossible task. A bit like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. And maybe this would be true if we were artists.
But we are not. We are creative salespeople. David Ogilvy said, “We sell or else.” Our creativity is about accountability. It needs to be measured, as do the results of every piece of work we produce.
