Creative Director

Creative Director

Midwest Center for Stress & Anxiety

 

Pay: Salary and bonus

Job type: Production, content development

Req'd education: Minimum Bachelors Degree

 

As Creative Director, you will have responsibility for developing and executing/producing advertising as well as overseeing the development of other marketing communication materials to directly fuel the growth of the direct-to-consumer Midwest Center business.  You will also have significant content development responsibilities, as you will be a key contributor to the content used in the Company’s audio, video, and print products.  The Midwest Center has already touched almost 1 million consumers with its life-changing products, and the Creative Director’s job will be to 1) build and execute the Company’s end-to-end strategy for reaching its consumers with advertising, and 2) contribute content to the Company’s products that will propel The Midwest Center via new expansion opportunities.

 

The candidate will have a strong direct marketing background and be well-experienced in managing the entire creative production process for direct response-oriented companies.

 

Specifically, this candidate will have managed ad agency relationships, freelancer relationships, and in-house creative department relationships; as well as working productively within the constraints of defined production budgets. Further, this candidate will have successfully developed and completed finished advertising campaigns for direct sales-oriented products and retail products across several media types. The candidate will be experienced in using several vehicles, including long-form infomercials, short-form television, and, ideally, print, radio, and Internet content.

 

More About The Company:

 

The Midwest Center is the leading provider of self-care and coaching programs for people who suffer from stress, anxiety, and depression. During its 20-year history, Midwest has sold over 900,000 of its Attacking Anxiety & Depression programs to consumers in addition to the best-selling books, From Panic to Power and Life Without Limits, written by Lucinda Bassett, Midwest's founder.

 

Key Responsibilities: 

  Understands the direct response discipline, and is knowledgeable of best practices and development processes to ensure the creative product produced works and achieves its targeted goals. Understands how to produce creative that markets a higher-end, self-help DR product that willsell via DR while contributing to the brand image of The Midwest Center. Ensures that marketing campaigns follow company brand guidelines and are consistent with PR efforts. Oversee the look and feel of the company’s products, channels, and campaigns. Manage external ad agencies and freelancers: project timelines, budgets, and achieving due dates with expected production quality levels. Work with the Product Management department to understand the target market(s) and utilize these learnings to develop creative positioning and finished advertising. Work directly with key media personalities at The Midwest Center in developing and creating new content and promotional material. Oversee production of television, radio, print, and Internet campaigns to achieve successful high quality executions, consistent with brand image. Develop annual creative production calendar and adapt as necessary to address business needs. Draft estimates, timelines and creative briefs for each project and manage them to completion. Develop successful creative executions with external ad agencies and vendors, and/or internal creative services. Own the creative execution process from start to finish ensuring appropriate involvement from other departments Guide the content development process for new products, such as book-on-tape, video, and Internet subscription services.

 

Job Requirements:

  Be creative and strategic-thinking, a reasoned risk-taker willing to try new things, and have excellent communication and teamwork skills. Must be comfortable with multi-tasking and maintaining strong attention to detail across multiple projects. Must have a minimum of 5-7 years of experience in direct response marketing, ideally encompassing television, radio, print, and on-line marketing. BA or BS in Marketing or Communications or relevant field is required; an MBA would be a plus.

 

Specific additional requirements:

 

Experienced in Television with:

  Editing Agency contacts/freelance contacts Constructing offers/order slates Graphics/graphic designs Constructing calls to action (CTA’s) Having produced short-form and long-form television Having helped produced a successful infomercial Scripting/can write and has written scripts DR “tricks of the trade� Talent identification Concepting infomercials Testing Pricing/offers





Experienced in Radio with:

   Recording/editing Contacts/freelancers DR “tricks of the trade� Scripting/concepting





Experienced in Print/Online with:

   DR Tricks of the trade. Script and copywriting Agency contacts Concept development Headline construction/banners Offers/offer treatments/promotions Online advertising elements Consumer/audience testing and focus groups





Managerial Skills:

  Project management/GANTT chart/grids Organizing a content library Budgeting Being cost conscious Knowing how to negotiate a good deal Understanding residuals, talent release forms, talent management, etc. Structuring creative contacts: editors/writers/music houses/production houses/agencies Multitasking to complete work on simultaneous projects Understanding the financial mechanics/metrics of DR Working well with creative, financial, and product management personnel