Category: Creative Leadership
-
Branding Lessons from Holiday Ads
Every year, holiday ads show up with the same goal: create something people remember. Some succeed, but most don’t. The holidays are one of the rare moments when audiences lower their defenses, expecting sentiment and a healthy dose of nostalgia. They’re open to feeling something, but only if the story earns it. That makes December…
-
The Dreamer and the Disruptor
The song “Imagine” taught me the power of plainspoken truth. Lennon didn’t hide behind metaphors when he could aim directly for the heart. He wrote as if the emotional center of a message was the whole point, and not an afterthought. That instinct has followed me throughout my career and is the part of copywriting…
-
From Freelance to Fractional: Rethinking How You Hire Creative Talent
The creative industry has a language all its own: Freelancer. Contractor. Fractional. Full-time. They sound interchangeable, until you’re the one trying to hire the right partner for your brand. Let’s be honest: choosing the right creative partner isn’t just about budget or bandwidth. It’s about chemistry, trust, and the kind of energy you want in…
-
Creative Leadership Without the Title: How to Influence as a Senior Creative
At one of my previous jobs, I was a senior copywriter who desperately wanted to be promoted. I was doing the work, mentoring the juniors, bringing ideas that stuck in pitches, but the organization was flat. There was nowhere to go. No title to chase. And no ladder to climb. When you’ve put in the…
-
From Freelance to Fractional: Rethinking the Future of Creative Work
Freelance is a word everyone knows. It conjures images of coffee shops, pajama pants, and the occasional “Hey, can you turn this around by tomorrow?” email at 9:47 p.m. It’s flexible, it’s scrappy, and for a lot of creatives, it’s been the way to balance passion with a paycheck. But lately, there’s a new word…
-
The Art of the Creative Brief: How to Set Yourself (and Your Team) Up for Success
The success or failure of a project almost always comes back to the creative brief. A great brief doesn’t guarantee a great campaign, but a terrible one practically guarantees mediocrity. Done well, a brief is less about checking boxes and more about setting the stage. I like to think of a brief as a GPS…
Sara Barton 