A creative director is the manager of the advertising agency’s creative department. If an agency is large enough, creative directors may just be in charge of groups (of art directors and copywriters) within the creative department. Depending on the size of the agency, a CD may be in charge of four to forty or more creatives.

As supervisors of other creatives, creative directors have to be well-versed in both art and writing, and in all aspects of advertising. They also have to understand the client’s products and services very well, and be well acquainted with the competition’s products and services, too. Creative directors will help teams who they think are making mistakes in the way they approach the advertising assignments, re-directing their efforts.

The creative director also works with others in the agency, such as the media department and the account department to make sure that all teams are working together to create the best advertising. The creative director will meet with the client to develop the strategy that the agency will use in developing the advertising. The creative director sees the work before it is shown to the client, and may be the one to show it to the client. It is the CD’s responsibility to make advertising that the client wants to buy.
Average Salary: $95,000
Average Hours (per week):

Weeks are well over 40, as deadlines, travel, commercial shoots, meetings, etc. require working on weekends and late nights.
Union:

No.
Certifications:

Programs offering management courses are in universities. Seminars are provided by various advertising organizations. Winning the numerous advertising awards, for some, is a certification.
Training Period:

Copywriters and art directors work their way up through associate creative director positions to creative director, learning on the job. All agencies have their own system, but because of the pressure and the responsibility, it takes six to ten years to become a CD. The creative director must be able to communicate extremely well. The CD needs to be an excellent salesperson as well as being exceptionally creative, and a good manager of people. Anyone hoping to be a Creative director needs to have a very broad liberal-arts education. Production and sales training is on the job.
Strongest Market(s):

The biggest cities – NYC, SF, LA, and Chicago — have the biggest ad agencies, though there many large agencies with national accounts in all the major cities.
Entry Level Salary:

$66,000 -$75,000 is usually the minimum pay for a CD or ACD.
Top Salary:

$125,000 is the average top salary, though the successful CDs at major ad agencies will easily make twice that.
Job Growth Forecast:
Since advertising agencies are shrinking, there is not expected to be anything more than a 2 percent gain, if that, in the number of creative director positions in advertising.

Related posts:

1. Media Director
2. Advertising Account Director
3. Advertising Art Director
4. Advertising Account Executive
5. Advertising Manager