Art Director, Marketing

The mission of the role is to cross-functionally build processes, drive outcomes and build out a unified  marketing creative footprint, using research and data, across both internal and external lines. The  Creative Director- Marketing will be responsible for helping streamline both internal and external company and brand communication, no matter the user or receiver, but uniformly and in ways that build sales. 

This position will have a leading role in setting the guidelines for art direction for overarching brands (both licensed and in-house), as well as outputs for new categories or key launches that require additional guidance. They will be assisting with the directive, but leaving it up to the Studio and packaging teams to execute against. Similarly this leader will have their finger on the pulse of competitive efforts, and will help us to test strategic shifts.  This leader will have shared responsibility for management of the DAM and guide proper upload, storage and distribution of assets. 

This individual will act as an operational leader to internal teams and leadership to establish process change and more efficient rollout of tools as well as upstream internal WOW & SOP regarding adaptation, education and creating with both research and intent. 

This role will be influential in supporting the Brick and Mortar, Omni and Digital Merchandising Teams in launches of new products, promotional and holiday creative, alignment across retail and consumer platforms, as well as influencing creative across marketing platforms. The importance of cross-functional partnerships to this role are vast, requiring high amounts of succinct and impactful interaction with the sales team, studio team, licensing and product development. Additionally, this position will be responsible for working with outside vendors and agencies as needed to gather and provide stats, services and additional guidance, especially with regard to new digital asset technologies and working with IT to implement best practices . 

 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: 

The Creative Director- Marketing is responsible for working collaboratively to influence the strategy, creation, distribution and publication of creative and digital art properties across owned tools, owned sites and partner sites, including licensors. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in retail art, branding, photography, media, creative processes, digital shelf and merchandising tools, with a historical understanding of the retail environment of sales, marketing and digital merchandising. Additional responsibilities include managing and working with individuals on customer portals as well as managing and understanding impact of marketing initiatives like product detail page conversion, video & social importance and tools to scale and convert, as well as overall knowledge about brand and category movement, and the importance of influence and inspiration to the goal of conversion. Daily positive and upbeat internal and external department communication (both written and verbal) is an integral part of this position, as well as clear and effective communication with partners on both the retail and service side. 

• Influencing best-in-class media content creation & research-driven online representation of brands 
• Manage, distribute & communicate digital media, both art and directional guidelines, internally to communicate importance and measurable impact. 
• Create representative brand guidelines for digital creative, and make these available for reference, as well as regular vetting of brand-forward properties online.  
• Ensure consistency of brand identities for licensed and house brands in packaging, content creation etc., and liase with licensors on brand guidelines as it relates to packaging, photography, video and social media content  
• Create visual identity for website, using existing templates, working with digital merchandising team and PIM on content but maintaining the visual integrity of TNC the company, its brands and our licensed partners 
• Optimize SERP & SEO relevancy through all visual media, including strategic metatag and html tagging. 
• Analyze content creation process, usage, in partnership with internal counterparts, to recommend or implement data-based optimizations where applicable. 
• Educate & help evangelize established workflows, be accountable for partners methodically adding newly delivered content to the DAM system as appropriate. 
• Create and manage cost of digital content creation and management, also budgeting new initiatives and tracking for effectivenessi.e. Banners for Amazon, infographics etc. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

• College Degree 
• Solid background (5-7+ yrs) in art & ecommerce asset management for corporate retail or wholesale business 
• Technically skilled with regards to art and brand direction, production, editing and distribution 
• Experience working within an eCommerce or digital retail environment, and managing others. 
• Possess a creative mindset with excellent communication and project management skills. 
• Strong analytical background and presentation skills 
• Experience managing complex digital shelf, site merchandising and discoverability insights. 
• Able to tackle complex situations, evaluate alternative courses of action, and provide fact-based solutions/recommendations. 
• Socially aware, with an interest in consumer insights, shopping journey and influential tools 
• Desire to work in a highly collaborative environment, with a passion for problem-solving. 
• Strong influencing and relationship-building/management skills. 
• Change agent with an ability to think out of the box and bring new innovative ideas to the table. 
• Deep experience in Microsoft Adobe and technically able to pick up new systems. 
• Able to quickly change and adapt, with a yearning to learn, grow and push new ideologies.