Associate Creative Director, Creative Strategy

underdog & company is looking for an Associate Creative Director, Creative Strategy to bring ideas to life at the intersection of sports, culture, and brand storytelling.

As a senior member of a newly forming creative strategy team, this person will serve as both a strategic thought partner and a hands-on creative leader. They will turn complex business challenges into clear strategic platforms, original experiential and sponsorship ideas, and compelling narratives that move clients and win new business.

Our team supports a diverse network of agencies and clients, from brands and B2B businesses to teams, leagues, and the agencies themselves. The right candidate will be equally comfortable leading a brainstorm, shaping a pitch narrative, presenting to senior executives, and jumping into the details of a deck.

Agency experience is required. This role reports to the VP of Creative Strategy.

Key Responsibilities

● Lead creative strategy and concept development for priority client assignments, integrated campaigns, and new business pursuits.

● Turn business objectives, audience insights, and cultural tensions into sharp strategic platforms and original activation ideas.

● Lead brainstorms and working sessions, helping teams generate, evaluate, and strengthen ideas against the brief.

● Build clear activation ecosystems that demonstrate how a central idea can scale across experiential, sponsorship, content, social, and other consumer touchpoints.

● Shape presentation narratives, strategic frameworks, manifestos, taglines, messaging systems, and high-impact pitch materials.

● Lead senior client conversations and confidently present strategic and creative recommendations to C-suite audiences.

● Guide and elevate the work of junior strategists, writers, and cross-agency collaborators through clear, constructive creative direction.

● Own the editorial direction of quarterly trend reports, category-specific insights, and external thought leadership.

● Help build the team’s creative process, including briefing tools, brainstorm structures, templates, review standards, and shared resources.

● Move fluidly between long-term brand thinking, fast-turn pitches, and hands-on creative execution.

We are looking for candidates with 8+ years of experience across creative strategy, copywriting, brand experience, advertising, or integrated marketing.

● A portfolio demonstrating strong conceptual thinking, strategic storytelling, and campaign or activation ideas, not only finished copy.

● Experience developing experiential, sponsorship, sports, entertainment, or culturally relevant brand work.

● Proven ability to lead high-stakes pitches and present confidently to senior clients.

● Exceptional writing and editing skills across strategic, emotional, and highly practical communications.

● Experience guiding junior contributors and elevating cross-functional creative work.

● Comfortable working with ambiguity, shifting priorities, and the pace of a growing, entrepreneurial organization.

Salary Range: $115,000 - $135,000