What does an executive creative director do?
An executive creative director is primarily in charge of directing and overseeing creative projects and campaigns. They manage a company's creative team that typically consist of writers, graphic designers, and content specialists. As an executive creative director, it is their duty to set goals and timelines, understand the client or company's needs, conceptualize plans and insights, control the budget, and develop strategies to optimize operations and outcomes. Moreover, they monitor the progress of all projects and campaigns, resolving issues and concerns should there be any.
Executive creative director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real executive creative director resumes:
- Manage marketing teams of SEO & PPC experts, marketing managers, and sales professionals.
- Gain ranking in Google via SEO efforts, build social media presence, and manage PPC campaigns.
- Lead and supervise creative teams and create award-winning advertising campaigns and programs that target physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.
- Full campaign management responsibility from conception to completion which includes copywriting, campaign scheduling, sales lead generation and execution.
- Participate in brainstorming and idea creation sessions for various clients to assist in the development of new products and services
- Collaborate with creative and social media team in brainstorming and producing on brand graphics for the company's Facebook posts.
- Lead and supervise creative teams and create award-winning advertising campaigns and programs that target physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.
Executive creative director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 39% of Executive Creative Directors are proficient in Sketch, Graphic Design, and Creative Direction. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Creativity, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Executive Creative Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Sketch, 39%
Created pattern tile designs and home decor with overseas vendors from sketch to final product.
- Graphic Design, 5%
Managed graphic designers, web developers, art directors and copywriters across traditional and digital platforms.
- Creative Direction, 4%
Recognized as corporate-wide subject matter expert in photography, creative direction and digital publishing.
- Creative Strategy, 4%
Presented creative strategy and concepts to clientele and managed a creative department staff of 42 in NJ and 12 in CA.
- Digital Marketing, 3%
Developed robust digital marketing practice.
- Photography, 3%
Collaborate with various other Producers as Director, Creative Director and/or Director of Photography.
Most executive creative directors use their skills in "sketch," "graphic design," and "creative direction" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential executive creative director responsibilities here:
Leadership skills. One of the key soft skills for an executive creative director to have is leadership skills. You can see how this relates to what executive creative directors do because "art directors must be able to organize, direct, and motivate other artists." Additionally, an executive creative director resume shows how executive creative directors use leadership skills: "brand marketing, thought leadership + advertising across all channels in the computer continuum. "
Creativity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling executive creative director duties is creativity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "art directors must be able to come up with interesting and innovative ideas to develop advertising campaigns, set designs, or layout options." According to an executive creative director resume, here's how executive creative directors can utilize creativity in their job responsibilities: "developed organization and growth plans to build creative and account management teams. "
Communication skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of executive creative directors is communication skills. This skill is critical to many everyday executive creative director duties, as "art directors must be able to listen to and speak with staff and clients to ensure that they understand employees’ ideas and clients’ desires for advertisements, publications, or movie sets." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "account management - well-honed communication skills developed on the corporate side, ad agency side, and customer side. "
Time-management skills. For certain executive creative director responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "time-management skills." The day-to-day duties of an executive creative director rely on this skill, as "balancing competing priorities and multiple projects while meeting strict deadlines is critical for art directors." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what executive creative directors do: "maintained sensitive post-production deadlines, ensured client expectations have been met and are exceeded. "
The three companies that hire the most executive creative directors are:
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Compare different executive creative directors
Executive creative director vs. Graphic design manager
A graphic design manager is primarily in charge of leading and overseeing the efforts of a graphic design team, ensuring adherence to goals and deadlines. It is their duty to learn and analyze the purpose of design, coordinate staff, liaise with internal and external parties, set goals and objectives, manage schedules, and conceptualize plans. Furthermore, as a graphic design manager, it is essential to lead and encourage teams to reach goals while implementing the company's policies and regulations, including its vision and mission.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between executive creative directors and graphic design manager. For instance, executive creative director responsibilities require skills such as "sketch," "creative strategy," "digital marketing," and "photography." Whereas a graphic design manager is skilled in "project management," "customer service," "adobe photoshop," and "adobe creative suite." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Graphic design managers tend to reach lower levels of education than executive creative directors. In fact, graphic design managers are 6.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Executive creative director vs. Art consultant
A lead graphic designer is responsible for creating, designing, and updating the company's visual aspects. The lead graphic designer works closely with the branding department alongside the advertising and marketing team. It is essential for the lead graphic designer must be creative, willing to think outside the box, and brave to dare novel ideas. The lead graphic designer is also responsible for leading the creative department in accomplishing assigned tasks from management.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, executive creative director responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "sketch," "creative direction," "creative strategy," and "digital marketing." Meanwhile, an art consultant has duties that require skills in areas such as "art gallery," "fine arts," "contemporary art," and "art collections." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, art consultants achieve similar levels of education than executive creative directors. They're 4.0% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Executive creative director vs. Lead graphic designer
A Senior Designer/Art Director is responsible for the execution and on-time delivery of high-quality creative materials. They determine how best to represent a concept visually and which photographs, art, or other design elements to use.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, executive creative directors are more likely to have skills like "creative strategy," "digital marketing," "photography," and "creative concepts." But a lead graphic designer is more likely to have skills like "adobe photoshop," "design concepts," "adobe illustrator," and "adobe creative suite."
Most lead graphic designers achieve a lower degree level compared to executive creative directors. For example, they're 5.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Executive creative director vs. Senior designer/art director
Even though a few skill sets overlap between executive creative directors and senior designer/art directors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an executive creative director might have more use for skills like "creative output," "ecd," "video production," and "integrated marketing." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of senior designer/art directors require skills like "web banners," "adobe photoshop," "visual design," and "marketing campaigns. "
Senior designer/art directors reach lower levels of education compared to executive creative directors, in general. The difference is that they're 5.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of executive creative director
Updated January 8, 2025
