WHAT DOES A CREATIVE SERVICES MANAGER DO?
Published: September 5, 2024 - The Creative Services Manager orchestrates the operations of the Creative Services Department by planning, organizing, directing, and evaluating to ensure project completion aligns with organizational branding and quality standards. Budgets for contracts, equipment, and supplies are managed effectively, while strategic departmental goals are set and outcomes evaluated to foster a productive work environment. This role also involves collaborating with HR for staffing processes, facilitating staff development, and maintaining compliance with company and industry regulations.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Creative Services Manager
1. Creative Services Manager Duties
- Creative Strategy Development: Work directly with internal stakeholders to develop creative strategy and guide the execution for Culture as well as company-wide projects and programs.
- Team Leadership: Lead and develop the internal design and video teams, guiding growth and success within the organization.
- Creative Direction: Provide creative direction and manage the workflow of the internal creative team as well as an agency partner.
- Creative Process Excellence: Drive excellence in the areas of creative process and production.
- Approval Management: Manage creative approval process, provide feedback, and ensure implementation of changes.
- Project Management: Manage project prioritization and resource allocation to ensure deadlines are met.
- Status Updates: Provide timely status updates for projects keeping internal teams up to date on asset deliverables.
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate with stakeholders to understand project scope, budget, timeline & objectives.
- Brand Consistency: Ensure brand consistency across all projects.
- Media Evaluation: Evaluate media recommendations as fit within strategy and budget.
- Creative Brief Development: Provide support in the development of clear and actionable creative briefs.
2. Creative Services Manager Details
- Leadership: Plan, organize, direct, control, and evaluate the operations of the Creative Services Department.
- Project Management: Work directly with team leads in Creative Services to schedule staff, budget time for projects, and ensure completion of projects on time and at a quality level that is appropriate and meets the branding for our organization.
- Budget Management: Plan, administer, and control budgets for contracts, equipment, and supplies.
- Reporting: Prepare reports and briefs for management committees.
- HR Coordination: Cooperate with HR to interview, hire, onboard, and oversee training for staff.
- Communication: Communicate job expectations to staff.
- Performance Management: Ensure company goals and objectives are being met by each employee and provide feedback.
- Staff Motivation: Motivate and inspire staff and facilitate personal growth through team and individual activities and goal-setting.
- Strategic Planning: Attend regular meetings with other leaders, including the Managing Director, to plan and address company and programming needs.
- Administrative Approval: Approve timesheets and time off requests for staff under supervision.
- Goal Setting: Set strategic long and short-term departmental goals and evaluate outcomes.
- Work Environment: Foster a productive work environment.
- Regulatory Compliance: Ensure adherence to company and industry regulations.
3. Creative Services Manager Responsibilities
- Resource Management: Process time requests for resources such as booking jobs into the workload system and resolving any conflicts.
- Brief Administration: Compile and send out the brief chase for projects.
- Deadline Enforcement: Police the brief submission deadlines.
- Resource Coordination: Attend and drive resource catch-ups.
- Freelance Management: Manage all aspects of creative, design, and artwork freelance requirements (bookings and administration).
- Freelance Expansion: Manage and expand the list of freelance resources.
- Departmental Meetings: Attend and run Creative Services' daily departmental meetings.
- Utilization Analysis: Prepare analysis of time and utilization reports - identify instances of under-utilization, identify the root cause, and proactively take steps to address the issue.
- Resource Validation: Sense check resource requests against estimates.
- Scope Control: Act as a gatekeeper to spot early instances of scope creep and challenge account management teams on whether they have negotiated overruns with clients.
- Usage Tracking: Log and track usage after purchases.
- Inter-Unit Reporting: Track all work undertaken for other units within the McCann group and report on these at the end of each month.
- Material Tracking: Track all studio materials used and report on these at the end of each month.
4. Creative Services Manager Job Summary
- Design Collaboration: Work with art directors and marketing managers to create new designs for social media, digital retail, print advertising, promotional collateral, in-store point-of-purchase displays, and trade show graphics.
- Campaign Management: Manage entire campaigns, events, and programs.
- Designer Coordination: Incorporate the support of designers toward the execution of assignments.
- Concept Development: Involved with the conceptual development of creative efforts within the department.
- Creative Translation: Translate project details and creative direction into concepts or design solutions.
- Graphic Production: Create and produce graphic elements from scratch or design with elements from existing book covers and style guides.
- Brand Creation: Contribute to the creation of new intellectual properties and brands.
- Audience Design: Design for audiences ranging from infants to young adults.
- Production Assistance: Assist staff and external agencies in all aspects of production where graphics are concerned, including training, explanation of standards and procedures, and gathering and shipping of graphics materials.
- Design Review: Occasionally review design submissions and provide feedback to designers.
- Quality Standards: Demonstrate high standards of efficiency, consistency, accuracy, and creativity.
- Technical Graphics: Develop graphics within technical specifications and sometimes consult with production departments.
- File Management: Maintain file structure consistent with naming conventions and update server archives with final files.
5. Creative Services Manager Accountabilities
- Creative Workflow Management: Manage the creative workflow, working with the Creative Services and Creative Directors to ensure the right teams are working on the right briefs and workloads are managed effectively.
- Project Management: Project managed specific projects, driving them from initial briefing to final delivery, ensuring a streamlined approach to stakeholder management, reviews, and approvals to ensure projects are developed to full potential.
- Meeting Facilitation: Attended and chaired resource catch-ups, project briefings, creative reviews, and presentations. Taking detailed notes to conclude and manage forward actions to ensure all roles have a clear understanding of delegated work.
- Team Communication: Worked closely with the Creative, Brand, and Digital teams and as the central point of contact. Provide clear communication and a smooth flow of information, handling all new requests and managing expectations and timings to ensure a wholly connected approach across teams, suppliers, and key stakeholders.
- Vendor Liaison: Liaised with third-party media and delivery partners to ensure creative work is delivered on time, on spec, and to the highest possible standards.
- Process Improvement: Worked closely with the Creative Services & Production Director to refine processes and workflows.
- Freelancer Management: Managed all aspects of creative, design, and artwork freelancers (bookings and administration).
- Team Supervision: Supervise team, schedules, and assign duties.
- Content Effectiveness: Monitor the impact and effectiveness of content and provide feedback on messaging and positioning.
- Brand Identity Implementation: Define and implement internal brand identity across all media and programs, ensuring materials are on brand and of the highest quality.
- Staff Management: Responsible for employee actions, including staffing, performance management, and development.