Creative Lead

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Job Description

The Creative Lead position is crucial as Koala Japan establishes its role as Sleep Expert; both overseeing and hands-on leading of all aspects of graphic design, copywriting, videography, and other creative content production activities. The role entails close collaboration with the marketing team to develop compelling sales content, promotional materials, and content for new product launches, in addition to project management. Furthermore, while maintaining brand standards, the role ensures the timely delivery of high-quality digital assets, meets client expectations, and drives effective marketing communication strategies.

Responsibilities

• Develop creative strategy for Brand assets
• Aligned with the Koala Brand guidelines; develop and produces assets for video, print, sales, website and outdoor
• Ensuring consistent visual aesthetic across our ‘always on’ content ideas, as well as larger scale ‘hero’ content
• Lead product photo shooting projects; which includes arranging vendors, creating contact lists, coordinating products, providing art direction, and managing budgets, covering all processes and tasks necessary for product shoots.
• Lead brainstorming sessions and creative workshops to generate innovative ideas and solutions that address business objectives and customer needs
• Create Moodboards and storyboarding for key content
• When required, seek out a range of creative suppliers, such as directors, photographers, video production company, sound studios and idea suppliers
• Ensure that all creative work maintains brand consistency and effectively communicates our brand values and messaging across various channels.
• Review and refine existing creative guidelines and brand standards to ensure they are up-to-date and reflective of the brand's current positioning and values.
• Lead, motivate, and supervise production staff (copywriter, graphic designer), setting clear objectives and providing regular feedback.
• Foster a positive team culture based on communication and collaboration. Monitor performance and address issues promptly.
• Facilitate teams so that members think independently and collaborate autonomously to achieve business success, not simply to produce creative assets.
• Delegate tasks effectively and support team members' development. Recognize achievements and promote a positive work culture.

Qualifications

Required skills and experience

• A creative lead with minimum 5 years experience in the B2C ecommerce industry in Japan
• Native Japanese speaker (and Conversational level or higher in English ideally)
• Native understanding of Japanese culture, consumer and market
• An expert with the Adobe Creative Suite (i.e. illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign), Keynote or PowerPoint experience would also be desirable
• Experience in offline ads such as TV, OOH, PR stunts
• Expertise at digital ads for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
• Experience in directing and organizing shoots, both photo and video
• Knowledge of Japanese media industry, and how to produce creative executions that earn media attention and pickups
• Understands how to take a creative concept through to execution stage
• Strong awareness of technology and digital trends
• Ability to work in a team as well as autonomously
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to work under pressure and within required deadlines

Nice to have

• Proven experience in both online/offline asset production, including graphic design, copywriting, videography, and multimedia content creation
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to handle multiple projects and meet deadlines
• Proficient in industry-standard software and tools, such as Adobe Creative Suite
• Knowledge of marketing principles and strategies
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Minimum 3 years of experience in ecommerce and visual merchandising at retail storefront
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality
• Ability to adapt to changing priorities and work in a fast-paced environment
• Creative thinking and problem-solving abilities

About the Company

Koala is a high growth ecommerce startup originating in Sydney, Australia. We provide furniture for the digital age, and have become well known in Australia and Japan because of our approach to marketing & retail which is more akin to a tech-company. In just over 6+ years in Japan we have achieved significant growth and we're only just getting started! 

Koala’s mission is: Better furniture experiences, designed with the World in mind. Combining customer-centric products, a world-class technology and fulfilment platform, incredible customer service and social good; we are changing the way in Japan people buy and enjoy furniture to create happier, healthier habitats.

Benefits

Treehouse Perks and Privileges…

Koala is only as good as its employees are happy - and we’re one happy international bilingual bunch! We offer our teams flexible hybrid working options and the freedom and autonomy to do their best work in a way that works for them from anywhere in the globe! Whether that’s working your own version of 9-6, working from home in your pajamas from time to time or hanging out at our Treehouse (this is what we call our office digs) in Omotesando, or enjoying the 20+ days annual leave (+generous time off for volunteer, parental, Koala life leave and more) you decide whatever helps you find your flow! The Treehouse has plenty of social activities to get involved with, including Thursday lunches, and help you get to know your fellow Koalas better as well as free Koala products for all employees - who better to shout from the tree tops how awesome our products are, right?! We also recognise that we can’t grow as a brand unless we support the growth of our teams so this is a strong focus for us via our Learning Management platform Juno, as well as individual and team growth budgets and dedicated days. Lastly and importantly our employee experience respects and embraces all families, formed, found and evolving. You’ll have access to our Employee Assistance Program, which includes unlimited sessions for financial, work, relationship, family or wellbeing support. We believe that simply doing ‘no harm’ isn’t good enough So, how are we doing our part? BCorp Certified, WWF Partnership, volunteer days, a member of SoftLanding,  1% and so much more. All in all, the Koala Kommunity is a great place to hang out in and belong to!

Koalities we look for…

At Koala, we do things a little differently and we don’t shy away from the fact that we expect a lot from our employees! We want you to challenge expectations, always look to make a difference and give us something different from the norm. We want people that bring great energy, that have a long-game focus and are always curious to find new angles and approaches to the way we work. We're a team full of entrepreneurial spirit and have a relentless focus on 'what's next' but while always reviewing 'what's been done' and learning, growing and adapting. We're confident, but NEVER arrogant and we adapt to change uber quickly. Honesty and selflessness drive everything we do, as well as a total focus on exceeding our customers’ expectations. So if you feel like this could be you... well what are you waiting for? Drop us a line, and let's see what you've got! ;)

There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ candidate, Koala is a place where everyone has opportunity. So however you identify and whatever background you bring with you, please apply if this is a role that would make you excited to come into work every day. We’re an equal opportunity employer, and recognize that a diverse workforce is crucial to our success as a business.