Design & Visual Identity Director

About the team :

The Design Team exists to lead the total business to consistent, distinctive, creative visual identities that makes marketing more effective and sells more. Rigour and flair in equal measure: Iconic brands deeply embedded in consumers memory structures. The team is a melting pot of diverse talent; future facing, deeply collaborative and with the confidence to lead Marketing to black belt visual thinking and output. Our creative training means we are comfortable with ambiguity, think non-linear, prototype rapidly and consult freely. Our partners expect us bring a unique design and visual skills and to lead the business to make the right strategic and commercial decisions.

About the role :

The Design & Visual Identity Director is rooted in Design Thinking, Visual instinct & Semiotics Understanding. How we think, behave, lead and bring about decisions is different to most who work in consumer goods organisations;

• Bold, influential leaders who are inspired by proactively shaping consistent visual output for brands
• Deeply curious and expert about the visual world, consumers, how people shop & decide, about brands and markets
• Immersed in visual culture and obsessive about harnessing it, constantly bringing new partners, ideas and approaches
• Creative and pragmatic, mastering the art and science of design: commercial artists in the mould of those who started our profession: Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Christopher Dresser, Walter Gropius, Walter Landor
• Intellectually rigorous as well as artistically open & curious
• Truly collaborative, visual architecture is co-owned with Planning, a great teammate and a voice of creativity
• A design industry thought leader and agitator

Scope: Partnering with the brand team to lead design and visual thinking for one or more of our North America brands.

Partnering with the Innovation team to lead design and visual thinking for new to world Innovation brands

Complexity: North America focused, with an eye to brands that are also sold globally, Innovations that may be sold across multiple markets. Penetration will vary from full to recently launched. On and off trade

Role Responsibilities :

1. To significantly grow the effectiveness of marketing through championing visual consistency and creative excellence. The role partners with the Consumer Planner to enable and support the decisions of the Global Brand Director and effectively align & influence key markets. Thought leadership for visual architecture system is essential. New ways of working to achieve implementation of visual architecture systems will be as important.

2. Proactively identifies and defines the current reality of a brands visual meaning and consistency. Articulates what it will take for a brands visual output to be coherent with purpose, consistent and practical

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3. Synthesises insight, semiotics, quantitative and qualitative data, decodes consumers implicit understanding of visual stimulus in a meaningful, actionable way. Seeks out deep visual understanding and implications that will drive ideas led design

4. Influencing & Inspiring. It is critical that you can effectively influence and inspire brand teams, Innovation and markets to deliver your ambition. This means genuine relationships, tough conversations when needed and above all to be a master of inspiring the business in the opportunity.

5. Harnessing experts to deliver insight, pack expertise, print quality, creative brilliance

Experience / skills required :

You are a passionate leader with a burning curiosity to understand the consumer, visual insights and re-imagine the future. 15+ years experience working as a Creative Director, Art Director, Strategy Director of Strategic Account Director in a design or brand consultancy. Experience leading design in a consumer goods company will be a benefit. A proven track record of breakthrough strategic and creative thinking. You will have strong entrepreneurial flair to both identity new opportunities and navigate through the complex business landscape An expert influencer. You are able to build strong interpersonal networks within Diageo as well as with partners and have the ability to manage stakeholders in a clear concise manner.

Barriers to success in role

Lack of compelling design and visual skills: the role demands a skillset that is different to how marketers have been trained Lack of strong communication and influencing skills: the ability to be clear, concise and inspire are key Lack of insight and influencing capability into agencies: the role demands influencing a wide range of agencies - all creatives who produce work that is seen by consumers. Inability to think about long-term consequences of application to a broad and often changing portfolio/marketing assets Inflexibility - success in role depends on the ability to learn about markets and understand consumer response to actual visual output. This is not a theory role, guidelines are only the start, real application and constant improvement are key.

Diversity statement:

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this. We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you'll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You'll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, attitudes, and more.

Our ambition is to create the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.

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