A creative director, without the full-time cost
Senior judgment for teams that outgrew freelancers but don't need a department.
Creative direction on a fraction of a full-time schedule. Enough to keep the brand sharp and the team unblocked, without a director's salary or a six-month hiring process.
In-house teams that need someone senior in the room for the calls that matter, not a full creative department.
A brand that stays sharp, a team that isn't guessing, and no headcount added to do it.
Most in-house teams don't need more hands. They need better judgment, available at the right moments: before the rebrand no one asked for happens, before the CEO's favourite idea ships without a fight, before a good team's output quietly drifts off-brand because no one senior enough was in the room to catch it. Hiring a full-time creative director for that is expensive and slow. Leaving the gap open is worse.
Senior creative direction, sized to what you actually need:
- Creative direction on retainer. Regular time with someone senior enough to push back, not just execute.
- Judgment where it counts. Brand reviews, campaign sign-off, the calls that need someone who isn't inside the politics.
- A bridge, not a dead end. If you're headed toward a full-time hire eventually, this buys you time and shapes the role you're hiring for.
- No department, no overhead. No salary, no benefits, no desk. Just the judgment, on the schedule you need it.
- 01Fit call. What's the gap, what's the team missing, what does good look like. No commitment.
- 02Scope it. Hours, cadence, how we work together. Most land between 20 and 60 hours a month.
- 03Embed. Quick onboarding on the brand, the team, the calendar. Then I operate as part of it.
- 04Review. A regular check-in to scope up, down, or shift as the need changes.
Ad-hoc project work is billed at standard rates. Ongoing, reserved time isn't; it can land up to 20% below project pricing, and it gets better the longer the commitment. There's no rate card, because it scales with volume. The trade is simple: commit to the relationship, pay less per hour, and stop budgeting project by project.
Limited retained in-house engagements at a time. That's not scarcity marketing, it's the ceiling before the work stops being senior and starts being stretched. If the timing matters, sooner is better than later.
Standard NDA on every engagement. Internal work stays internal. Nothing goes into a portfolio or case study without asking first.
Can you manage an external agency for us?
Yes. A lot of engagements include directing an agency relationship on your behalf, so your team isn't stuck doing creative review on top of everything else.
What's the typical engagement length?
Six to eighteen months is common. Some stay open-ended. Others use it as a bridge to a full-time hire, and I'll help shape and staff that hire when the time comes.
Do we need a full brief before the fit call?
No. Bring the gap, not a finished brief. That's what the call is for.
A single project with no ongoing need. This is reserved judgment over time, not a one-off. If that's the ask, project pricing is the better fit, not this page.