Creative Director

Do you love basketball, connecting with fans via compelling creative and leading teams? This job may be perfect for you! The Creative Director for Pacers Sports & Entertainment is responsible for leading a team of graphic designers and a copywriter to develop the strategic brand presentation and multi-platform campaign development to achieve the business goals for the organization. The role will manage and initiate projects across functions with the marketing team, as well as key internal departments including Ticketing, Partnerships, Community Engagement, and DEI. This individual will be responsible leading the team to elevate the visual and experiential expression of the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, Mad Ants and Pacers Sports & Entertainment.

The Creative Director will stand up a creative agency as we bring the majority of agency work in-house. The individual will build upon the current processes, forms, and communication cadence to implement best in class creative. The Creative Director will partner with brand leads to guide creative and campaign development from ask to execution, collaborating with internal clients, and partners to craft programs that generate buzz, engage consumers, and drive business objectives. This individual will be responsible for being at the pulse of popular culture overall including a hyper local focus on the Indianapolis cultural landscape, identifying unique brand building opportunities and collaborations for our organization to capitalize upon. The ideal candidate has a balanced skill set of process with creative. They will bring a sharp eye for detail and deep experience in design and campaign development to help shape the creative vision, while being able to implement healthy structure and procedures to the creative process and efforts through our in-house creative team. As the Creative Director, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the creative direction of our brand while optimizing the way our team collaborates and delivers exceptional work.

• Drive the development of efficient processes and systems that enhance creativity, streamline workflow, and elevate the quality of our creative output as we transition into an internal creative agency model within PSE.
• Oversee creation and management of process, procedures, forms, and project management for the creative team.
• Conceptualize and direct innovative, breakthrough multi-platform creative campaigns that evoke inspired, emotional responses from fans, partners and other key target audiences.
• Bring to life the Pacers, Fever, Mad Ants and PSE brands across visual representations including season campaigns, NBA tentpole programs, Diversity & Inclusion platforms, ticket sales initiatives and events.
• Collaborate with digital, social, video and game presentation teams to ensure flawless brand execution of brand concepts.
• Maintain aesthetic coherence amongst all consumer touchpoints and marketing materials, acting as a gatekeeper for quality & consistency across tone, voice and design.
• Collaborate with our revenue generating teams of Ticketing and Partnerships, ensuring that we are delivering upon objectives including customer acquisition and retention.
• Align with Brand, Analytics and Insights departments to leverage fan insights, market research and campaign performance data, to optimize creative output/strategy.
• Manage the creative team to oversee our creative calendar, align staff responsibilities, direct workflow prioritization and deliver campaigns on timeline/budget.
• Oversee process flow with key internal clients and external agencies, streamlining creative ideation, review cycles and the feedback loop with project stakeholders.
• Provide mentorship and ensure we maximize the capabilities of each team member.
• Establish clear guidelines, protocols, and best practices for creative projects from ideation to execution.
• Foster a collaborative and empowering work environment that encourages creativity, growth, and skill development.
• May be required to travel on rare occasions (<5% travel); trips may require air travel and/or overnight stay for one or more nights.
• Other projects and duties as assigned.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Bachelor degree, preferably in Graphic Design, Fine Art, Marketing, Communications, or a related field. Master's degree is a plus.
• A seasoned executive with proven experience (10+ years) of professional experience in a creative leadership role, preferably within an agency or in-house brand.
• Understanding of the Sports, Media & Entertainment side of creative execution a major plus.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign) is preferable.
• Strong design sensibilities, with the ability to balance creative excellence with operational efficiencies in delivering best-in-class campaigns.
• Experience developing brand identities, logos and 360 degree integrated marketing platforms across multiple advertising and communication mediums.
• An intellectually curious, conceptual thinker and passionate visual storyteller.
• Great creative instincts with the capacity to deliver constructive & informed feedback, guidance, and support to team members to ensure individual and collective success.
• Exceptional storyteller, with a mastery of written & verbal communication including the ability to present compelling pitch materials for buy-in with stakeholders including senior leadership.
• An exemplary team player, skilled in cultivating meaningful, trust-based relationships.
• Strong process/project management skills with the ability to oversee and deliver projects on timeline.
• Capacity to excel in a fast-paced environment, proactively manage against various priority projects and support multiple stakeholders across the organization.
• Demonstrated success managing creative teams and individuals, while fostering a culture of openness and creative inspiration.
• Significant knowledge of industry trends, the overarching cultural landscape and how people engage with advertising/media.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to:

• Sit
• Stand
• Walk
• Speak in public
• Use telephone
• Use computer
• Speak, hear and write

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• The noise level in the office work environment is usually moderate.
• The noise level in the Fieldhouse/game environment is usually loud.
• The stress level may become high during certain times.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, marital status, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.