Get a pre-vetted creative strategist inside your brand or agency.
Finding great creative strategists is hard. We do the legwork for you.
Real ad accounts reviewed, process tested, results verified. You interview two or three finalists, not two hundred applicants.
A bad hire costs a quarter, not a salary
Three months to notice, one to unwind, two more to replace. The account runs on last season's creative the whole time.
Recruiters can't evaluate this role
There is no credential for creative strategy. A recruiter screens for keywords and tenure, which is why the shortlist reads well and interviews badly.
Your performance is waiting on the seat
Media buying is close to solved. Creative is the variable. Every week the seat sits empty is a week of testing you don't get back.
The vetting
Almost everyone gets cut.
That is the entire product. Anyone can collect résumés. What takes time is finding out whether someone can read an account and decide what to make.
Illustrative. The real counts replace this once the first cohort is through. We would rather show the shape than invent the numbers.
- 01
Work review
Real ad accounts, not case-study decks. Which ads were theirs, what they changed, and what the account looked like on either side of it.
Most stop here.
- 02
Process test
Everyone answers the same question: a losing account and one week, day by day. Vague answers are the fastest disqualifier we have.
Then most of the rest.
- 03
Results check
Numbers with a baseline or they don't count. What was control, what beat it, and by how much. We follow up on the ones that sound too clean.
A few more.
- 04
Live evaluation
One hour, one real ad account, no take-home. We watch them diagnose it live. This is where you find out whether someone can actually think.
What's left is the bench.
How placement works
- 01
Tell us what you need
A short form: what you sell, who buys it, what your creative is doing now, and what a good hire has to be good at.
- 02
Meet 2-3 finalists in 14 days
We pull from the bench and match to your account. You interview people who have already passed the hard part.
- 03
Hire with a replacement guarantee
You pay a placement fee spread over the first three months. If the strategist is not working out inside 90 days, we replace them or you stop paying.
How we work
We would rather cut too many than place one who cannot think.
We spent years inside DTC ad accounts, first running them and then hiring the people who run them. We kept making the same mistake: hiring someone whose deck was better than their thinking, and finding out in month three. The only thing that ever caught it early was sitting with someone while they worked an account. So that is what we do now. Every strategist on this bench has spent an hour doing exactly that with us, and it is why the bench stays small.
For strategists
Deal flow, minus the pitching.
Brands reach us already knowing what they need and already sold on paying for it. You skip the proposal and go straight to a working session.
You never pay a fee. The client does. Make the bench and you stay on it, and we come to you when something fits.
Apply to the bench- No fee, ever
- No take-home projects
- One hour, one real account
- Full time or fractional
Questions
- What does a creative strategist actually do?
- A creative strategist decides what ads get made and why. They read the ad account to find which angles and formats are working, research the customer to find the objection worth attacking, write the brief and the hook, then run the testing loop to find out what beat control. A designer, an editor, and a media buyer all take direction. The strategist is the one giving it.
- What does it cost to hire a creative strategist?
- You pay a placement fee spread over the first three months. If the strategist is not working out inside 90 days, we replace them or you stop paying. Talking to us is free, and so is meeting finalists. In the wider market a full-time creative strategist typically runs $90k to $160k a year depending on seniority and category, and fractional engagements usually land between $4k and $12k a month.
- How fast can you place someone?
- You meet two or three finalists within 14 days of telling us what you need. The bench is vetted before you ever speak to us, so what you are waiting on is scheduling, not sourcing.
- What is the guarantee?
- If the placement is not working inside 90 days, we replace the strategist or you stop paying. We would rather absorb the work than have you carry a bad hire.
- Should I hire a fractional or a full-time creative strategist?
- It follows creative volume, not revenue. If you need fewer than roughly twenty new concepts a month, a fractional strategist working a few days a month is usually the better buy. Past that, the coordination cost of a part-time person exceeds the salary saving and you want someone full time. Tell us your spend and your concept volume and we will say which one you actually need.
- Which industries do you place into?
- Mostly DTC and ecommerce brands, plus some SaaS, and the agencies that serve them. If you sit outside that, say so when you get in touch. We would rather tell you we are the wrong fit than place someone who is guessing at your category.
- How are your creative strategists vetted?
- Four gates. We review real ad accounts rather than case-study decks. Everyone answers the same process question: a losing account and one week, day by day. Results have to come with a baseline or they do not count. Then a live working session with a real ad account, no take-home. Almost everyone is cut before the last gate.
- Do strategists pay to join the bench?
- Never. Strategists pay nothing, at any stage. The hiring brand or agency pays the placement fee.