Creative Director

About Sleek

We are an award-winning London based live experience marketing agency that connects the world's biggest brands with their audiences. Sleek delivers a broad variety of event formats from exhibitions for 16,000+ delegates through to private dinners designed to facilitate the conversations that matter and experiences that impact.

Over the years, Sleek has experienced significant and consistent growth. Jennifer Davidson is our founder and remains the team's driving force today. As a privately owned agency we value connections and prioritise people, we know that our team, our clients and our suppliers make us what we are. Our primary goal is to make our clients' lives easier and we operate as an extension of their team. Go further passion is at the heart of Sleek, earning our reputation for expertise, creativity and imagination combined with an impeccable client experience.

OUR CULTURE

Communication is at the heart of our agency and that's especially true when it comes to our team. We are proud to attract and retain the best people and we know it's critical that individuals feel both challenged and supported with opportunities to progress. Sleek believes in a collective effort when it comes to decision making - we value everyone's contribution and are proud to be accredited as an Investor in People.

No two days are the same and our client base and growth pattern means it can be intense at times. This is when the agility of the Sleek team really comes into its own. We know that the instant you move out of your comfort zone, it means you are growing and that's a genuine opportunity to thrive. We work hard to ensure we are supporting one another to be better and hold each other up when we face challenges.

As individuals we are self motivated, have very high standards and are always willing to learn, regardless of seniority. We know how vital it is for team members to know their value to the business and feel rewarded for their contribution. What you put in, we will always give back.

OUR WORK PLACE

We spend a large proportion of our lives at work and it should be a place that makes you feel good. Sleek is based in a stunning office a short walk from Wimbledon where we share everything from playlists to weekend baking efforts. We genuinely have a lot of fun together.

We regularly socialise after work including our Thursday early finish office drinks. In addition, Jen absolutely loves arranging social events for the team including; weekends mini breaks, team away days, Christmas wreath making and more.

You'll find Sleek to be a welcoming place for everyone, from those just starting out in their careers to seasoned professionals. We will always support you as an individual within an environment where you can realise your true potential.

Role Overview

We are looking for a visionary Creative Director to take the lead on our in-house strategic, creative services. This is a new role to Sleek, following several years of considerable growth and a successful first phase of evolution into a full-service agency.

We are looking for a talented, dynamic individual who can build upon the foundations of our existing creative work and take us to a new reputational status as a go to, creative and strategic partner.

You will be passionate about creating experiences that leave a lasting impact, bringing our clients' brand voices to life and knowing how to measure that impact. You'll be the spark igniting the red thread, gifted at storytelling and pulling our clients and project teams in on the concepts. You'll be a pro at creating concepts, plus look/tone/feel, event strategy, flow and content. You'll weave event strategy into creative decisions for not only events themselves, but for the wider live event team operations.

As a natural problem solver with a can-do attitude, you'll have experience collaborating with project teams, a design studio and direct reports to leave a lasting impact on your colleagues too.

Responsibilities

CREATIVE

• Drive Sleek's evolution as a full-service agency, growing the creative credentials of the business
• Deliver compelling creative concepts and campaigns, from initial pitch to through project activation
• Create quality content to support immersive storytelling in live events, leveraging both physical and digital touchpoints (with a lens also on sustainability)
• Create, plan and deliver a strategic vision for clients through creative projects
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of client brands when unpacking the brief and building the creative idea
• Deliver engaging presentations to bring clients on the creative journey
• Understand, embrace and implement latest creative trends and techniques
• Bring unique ideas to event formats, unafraid to push boundaries that could surprise and delight clients and audiences
  
  

PROJECT

• Conduct venue site visits where required to understand creative limitations and opportunities
• Join project meetings to ensure quality and consistency in the creative and champion it
• Collaborate with project leads on actionable critical paths
• Understand the project KPIs, particularly in relation to creative, to measure our success
• Seamless integration with technical production to bring creative concepts to life
• Align with event budgets and make commercial decisions
• Weave sustainability, re-usability and life span into creative concepts and touchpoints
• Contribute to internal debriefs and using the learnings for future planning and guidance
  
  

TRAINING & TEAM OPERATIONS

• Be an ambassador for creativity internally in the agency, showing the value it brings to projects
• Integrate a new, evolved creative offering into the agency and secure the advocacy and understanding of other teams
• Own and evolve the creative briefing process
• Lead (and potentially grow) a creative team with strategic oversight
• Observe internal processes and if improvements are spotted, recommend these with sound reasoning
  
  

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Significant contributor to RFPs:
• suggesting the optimum creative contributors to pitch teams
• understanding competitive scenarios, challenging the brief and adding value in discussions and presentations where appropriate
• creating original event concepts and red threads, bringing our clients' objectives to life
• leading winning creative presentations
• Provide social media content when attending networking events, FAMs, exhibitions, etc
• Contribute to our customer success; business development will leverage your expertise as a valuable creative resource
• Build a rich understanding of our clients and their company objectives, being in tune with them and proactively recognising when something new or an idea could be shared with them
• Organically drive revenue growth by engaging clients through your expertise
  
  

Requirements

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE, SKILLS

• Demonstrable success at Creative Director level from pitch to implementation phase and with client retention
• A portfolio of client work with globally recognised brands, working on multi million pound campaigns / event activations
• Strong B2B audience credentials ideally with some B2C and B2E experience, translating a concept across multiple physical and digital touchpoints that enhance the audience experience
• Ability to deliver insightful strategic creative rationales to demonstrate the thinking behind a concept and give weight to an idea
• Extensive presentation skills and adept in engaging a variety of audiences, including C suite, in creative presentations to connect with the work
• Proven track record of leading winning creative/strategic content for pitches
• Ability to inspire clients and colleagues and secure their buy in
• Proven track record of client and employer confidentiality
• Desirable software familiarity: Google suite, Adobe Creative Suite, SketchUp, CAD, and new tech AI capabilities.
  
  
  

About You

We are seeking individuals who represent the following:

• Curious and creative with a keen eye for innovation
• Dissatisfied with run-of-the-mill and regurgitated ideas, sparking innovation
• High attention to detail
• Pragmatic and a natural problem solver with a can-do attitude
• Strong sense of accountability
• Naturally proactive, self-motivated and thrives in a fast-paced environment
• Collaborative team-player, with the ability to develop positive, strong working relationships and secure the buy-in of the team
• Actively seeks and welcomes feedback
• Demonstrates best practice and mentors junior members of the team
• Embodies the values of the Sleek team
• Able to travel when required
  
  
  

Benefits

Our benefits were created by Team Sleek to ensure they appeal to a wide range of individuals. Here is a taster of the types of things they include;

• 27 days holiday (excl. UK public holidays). Additional days holiday for each year of service (capped at 3)
• Birthdays off (if on a weekday)
• Core hours flexibility
• Pay Day early finish - Fridays (15:00)
• Career growth - development and training
• Standard Pension Plan
• Fitness membership
• Company discounts and perks
• Company social events inc. weekly office drinks