RJP

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 1

Creative Director Realistic Job Preview

Tori Cox, Natalie Elliott, Lauren Leshley, & Lauren McConnell

Central Washington University

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 2Introduction

The Realistic Job Preview (RJP) exists to alert applicants to the positives, negatives, and

duties of a potential job. The RJP came about because of the many problems that can occur when

a job description does not cover all of the duties and details that a job actually entails. One

example of this can include a job description that says a position is full time, while in reality the

hours are more than the average 40 hour a week job, with a lot of work needing to be done at

night and on weekends. This RJP looks at the position of Creative Director at different

advertising companies. Our team was drawn to the position because of our mutual creative

interests. Because advertising is a booming industry and is incorporating media more and more,

we decided to focus on three of the top advertising companies who use media in their campaigns.

These three include Mullen, a Boston-based advertising company who continues to climb the

ranks of the industry; Razorfish, a web graphics and advertising agency focused on becoming a

leader in mobile marketing ; and HUGE, a digital marketing agency that has managed to expand

to an international level within the first ten years of its existence. All of these companies are

leaders in their field and were able to give the team a holistic understanding of what a Creative

Director should do in their position.


Mullen Advertising

Company Description

Mullen Advertising was founded in 1970 by a man named Jim Mullen (Gianatasio,

2009). The company is based in Boston, Massachusetts but has four other campuses in Los

Angeles, North Carolina, Pittsburg and New York (Mullen.com, n.d.). Mullen is considered one

of the top advertising companies in the nation, offering their services multiple big name

companies such as M&Ms, Google, Capital One, Adidas, PBS, and Match.com (Mullen.com,

n.d). The company’s current CEO, and third CEO in the company’s history, is former Boston

office President Alex Leikikh. Leikikh was chosen by former CEO of 10 years Joe Grimaldi as

his successor as he moves on to becomes a chairman for the company (Mullen, 2013).

Mullen takes pride in being an “unbound” company that always likes to ask the question

“what if?” (Mullen.com, n.d). On their website the company describes their “unbound”

philosophy as “[harnessing] the power of creativity, technology, media, and community to help

[their] clients achieve their greatest ambitions in a post-digital, consumer-controlled world”

(Mullen.com, n.d). According to CEO Leikikh, the company is “not huge believers in

formalizing anything and [they’re] not formal and disciplined when it comes to creating

departments. That's the antithesis of taking the best brains and smashing them together" (Bruell,

2014). This means that employees, especially executives, will often play many roles within the

company and may have to take their time to “find their fit” in the department (Bruell, 2013).

One of Mullen’s main advertising targets, and something that makes they unique, is their

focus on advertising to women. Mullen is very “frank” about their focus on women in their

advertising ("Mullen NC," n.d.). In fact “Frank about Women” is an advertising campaign that

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 4Mullen has currently been pushing which seeks to understand "the female psyche and women's

evolving mindsets, behaviors, and expectations" through developing advertisements directed

toward women, for women (Mullen NC," n.d.) Their hoping that through their research they

might be able to develop “gender-savvy ideas" that speak to women ("Mullen NC," n.d.).

Job Description:

● Creative Director is in charge of overseeing the implementation of creative strategy,

working directly with a team of designers and copywriters

● Position requires individual to be able to lead a team, while also reporting to those in

higher positions

● Have a passion and clear understanding for what drives consumer behavior

● Requires more focus on the creation of innovative work than the managing of individuals

● Job is located in Boston, Massachusetts

● Job is a full time position, must be available Monday through Friday, with some possible

need for late night/weekend availability

Applicant Requirements:

● Applicant must have a four year degree in a related field (e.g. Communication,

Marketing, Graphic Design, etc)

● Applicant must have seven to ten years of experience working for an agency or in a

marketing-communication environment

● Applicant must have a known creative reputation, as well as have had internationally

recognized work

● Applicant must be very self-motivated, willing to keep up with deadlines without

constant supervision

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 5● Applicant must be capable of crafting big ideas and experience, able to execute them

across all channels

● Applicant must be able to conceptualize and strategize ideas, while also leaving room for

collaboration with others

Positives of Mullen

Being an employee for Mullen not only allows you the opportunity to work for an award-

winning company, but it also looks great on a resume when applying for future jobs. Many of the

perks of working for Mullen include living in a great location and the ability to work alongside

big companies like Google. Also, working with talented and smart co-workers that emphasize

non-traditional thinking can be a major benefit to newcomers in the field (Glassdoor, Mullen

reviews).

Negatives of Mullen

One difficulty of working at Mullen is that, according to employees, "the talent landscape

is constantly changing" (Glassdoor, n.d.). This is due to a 20% turnover rate that CEO Leikikh

justifies by claiming the high demands of the company and the volume of hires each year results

in some mistakes (Bruell, 2014a). Other employees, past and present, complained of long hours,

including nights and weekends, and low-pay, though they said these negatives were hallmarks of

any job in advertising. However, employees worried about work-life balance, which they said

Mullen employees did a poor job of, and potential burnout due to long hours and understaffing.

The culture of Mullen is such that most of the focus is on generating new business rather than

producing quality products for old customers. The people who are promoted are the ones who

prioritize new business over old, and the majority of the company's talent is used for new clients,

leaving newer or less able employees to handle returning clients. A negative that might deter

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 6future applicants is the lack of on-the-job training. Several employees said they were expected to

either know how to do their job, learn, or figure it out on their own; the company did not feel

responsible to help them.


Razorfish

Company Description

Formed in 1995, Razorfish was the brainchild of Jeffrey Dachis and Craig Kanarick

(History of Razorfish, 2014). The web graphics and advertising agency has capabilities in

strategic consulting, experience design, brand building, technology platforms, data services,

retail/commerce and media services. Some major clients have included Delta Air Lines,

McDonald’s, Microsoft and Unilever. Their intended clientele, or audience, includes any

company looking to “navigate the unknown, drive change and transform business” (Creative

Director, 2014). With locations in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, New York, Portland, San Francisco,

and Seattle, as well as several international locations such as Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Hong

Kong, Mumbai and Shanghai, Razorfish works with large, international businesses as well as

local organizations. With producing some of the world’s most exciting digital work, Razorfish

was named 2014 Global Agency of the Year by the Mobile Marketing Association, with

Razorfish incorporating mobile marketing as an indispensable part of their work and their

products for clients (PRWEB, 2014).

Razorfish is currently in the process of merging with another company, Rosetta, and

current CEO Pete Stein will be stepping down with Tom Adamski taking over as CEO (Bruell,

2014). Also, in the past year Razorfish has made moves towards workforce reduction, these

adjustments impacting less than 2% of their global headcount. These changes were made to help

the company align with their clients progressing needs (Coffee, 2014). Even in the midst of these

changes, Razorfish has continued to keep up with their high quality work, always catering to the

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 8customers needs and making moves to make their whole operation more efficient and respected

in their field.

Job Description

● Manages art directors, copywriters, and designers on creative projects.

● Responsible for all phases of creative work.

● Involved in hiring/layoffs

● Must lead, mentor, and critique members of creative team

● Provides career/path direction for creative team


● Applicant must have four years interactive design experience

● Applicant must have creative reputation and/or experience working with/for Fortune 500

companies

● Applicant must possess management/coaching skills

● Applicant must be able to communicate clearly

● Applicant must have concept development experience

● Applicant needs expert knowledge of creative development process

Positives of Razorfish

Razorfish has many benefits for its employees. One of the main concerns people have

when working for a new company is the work-life balance. Razorfish allows a better work-life

balance through the availability of lots of vacation time (Glassdoor, Razorfish reviews). You get

to work with talented people and it is a great place to develop and expand creative skills. Another

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 9huge perk is that Razorfish strives to take good care of their clients (Glassdoor, Razorfish

reviews). A client-focused philosophy is very important to applicants in the field.

Negatives of Razorfish

Razorfish, like most companies, has its downfalls along with its strengths. One such

downfall is the current merger it is experiencing with Rosetta. During mergers like this

organization within the company may become a little confusing. It’s easy to be given mixed

information from the upper management. This lack of clear communication can be frustrating

within the working environment and a major hindrance to employee satisfaction.

Another dissatisfaction that many employees seem to find with Razorfish is their poor

upper management. According to the website Glassdoor, many employees feel that the

hierarchical structure at Razorfish is a rigged one that prevents advancement for many

employees and lacks concern for their lower level employees. One employee expressed that “the

senior management team seems to truly be out for themselves and their bonuses” (Glassdoor,

Razorfish reviews).

Finally, much like many other large companies a major complaint from many employees

is the long hours that they work. Long hours is the number one complaint of reviewers on

Glassdoor, one commenter stated that to work at Razorfish “difficult and long hours are needed

and expected” (Glassdoor, Razorfish reviews).


HUGE

Company Description

Huge is a digital agency that provides companies with business strategy, marketing,

design, and technology services. The company was founded in 1999 in Brooklyn and now has

offices in Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, Washington D.C., London, Atlanta, Singapore,

and Rio de Janeiro. Some of its capabilities and services include brand strategy and planning,

business, innovation and product strategy, business consulting, content strategy and

development, customer relationship management, ecommerce, experience design, integrated

campaigns, media, mobile and emerging platforms, product design, social and communications,

and technology services (Huge, n.d.). Essentially, Huge works with a client to launch or revamp

their digital presence across multiple mediums. The original founders were former employees of

an advertising agency called Deutsch, with David Skokna being the lead founder (Huge, n.d.). In

2005, Aaron Shapiro became the company’s tenth employee and then rose to CEO in 2010

(Huge, n.d.). The company currently has over 500 employees and has generated over $100

million (Huge, n.d.).

Job description:

● Creative Director develops original concepts and campaigns.

● Creative Director must oversee a team of creative people and their individual projects.

● The Creative Director acts as a representative of Huge’s culture.

● Creative Director manages the relationship with the client for all things creative.


● Applicant needs experience in a creative leadership role in a digital agency environment

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 11● Applicant needs recognized expertise in advertising, collateral, identity, or interactive

design

● Applicant understands both fundamentals of design and new platforms/technologies

● Applicant gives clear direction and timely feedback to team members

● Applicant possesses leadership skills

● Applicant communicates and present ideas clearly

● Applicant prioritizes work needs above other commitments

● Applicant handles budget, deadlines, and talent availability

● Applicant has online portfolio of past work

Positives of Huge:

Employees at Huge work in an environment that fosters creativity and encourages

collaborations, with employees working in small teams to create custom designs and prototypes

for the clients; the expectation to build real relationships with clients sets Huge a part in their

approach to client relations, wanting to bring real understanding to how the clients business

works. Huge has the goal of helping each and every client become bigger and better than what

they currently are.

Employees at Huge get the opportunity to work with international clients, as well as the

opportunity to work around the world. The active and creative work environment at Huge gives

employees a variety of experiences in a short amount of time, giving each employee the chance

to constantly be learning new skills to aid clients.

Because of their dedication to keeping employees healthy and happy, Huge provides

health, dental and vision insurance for their employees as well as disability insurance. They also

provide both maternity and paternity leave, adoption assistance, family medical leave and

CREATIVE DIRECTOR RJP 12childcare assistance, which creates a family oriented work environment that does not

compromise family life for work life.

The work environment itself contains many perks and benefits, including employee

discounts, mobile phone discounts, free lunch and snacks, birthdays off of work and free bagels

every Tuesday. Their desire to have a cohesive, relaxed group of employees is aided by having

relaxation spaces such as a ping-pong table and a beer fridge for during employees down times.

Huge is also a pet friendly workplace, letting inspiration be found everywhere, even in mans best

friend.

Negatives of Huge

Despite the many perks of working at Huge, there are quite a few setbacks as well.

According to review writers on the website Glassdoor, Huge has it’s own set of negatives. A

common complaint brought up by a few posters is Huge’s lack of initial training. According to

one reviewer Huge is a “sink or swim environment, where you will receive no mentoring, and

will be blamed for not scaling the learning curve on your own” (Glassdoor, Huge reviews). Sink

or swim is actually a phrase used by quite a few posters to describe Huge’s advancement culture.

Long hours are another thing you can expect at Huge. There are six different posts on

Glassdoor.com addressing this fact. Many contributors comment on the need and expectation to

work long hours. One writer said that he or she “was working very long hours, sometimes up to

15 per day - for a whole week” (Glassdoor, Huge review).


Conclusion

Hopefully, our RJP has illuminated some of the realities of the Creative Director position for those who would apply. By pointing out the 15 hour days, lack of training for new employees, lack of concern for lower-level employees, and hierarchical structure, the pool of potential applicants will be narrowed down to those who are willing to put up with the negatives to have this job. However, though some may be put off by all of the above, some will be drawn to the challenge the job presents with Creative Directors being called to focus on overall creative strategies, not just mindless managing. At the management level, the Creative Director must have the passion and drive for creativity and to inspire their teams to generate phenomenal results. Whether it’s free beer, advertising for Walter White, or bringing your dog to work, each of these companies has something to offer to the individual who is willing to put in the time and effort. If the Creative Director positions described above sounds appealing, we encourage the reader to apply to these positions or others like them.


References

About Huge. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2014, from http://www.hugeinc.com/about.

Bruell, A. (2013, January 28). Mullen Is No. 8 on Ad Age's Agency A-List | Special:

Agency A-List 2013 - Advertising Age. Advertising Age Special Report Agency AList

2013 RSS. Retrieved October 24, 2014, from http://adage.com/article/special-report-

agency-alist-2013/mullen-8-ad-age-s-agency-a-list/239316/

Bruell, A. (2014a, February 3). Mullen Is No. 2 on Ad Age's 2014 Agency A-List |

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