007 - MØURNING the Creative Director?
Everyone from Molly-Mae to Moss are now “Creative Director” of huge companies, but why? What does this hiring spree mean for the position? Did we break it?
What do Molly-Mae, Kendall and Kate Moss have in common?
Well, other than being extremely good-looking and often plastered on billboards, they’re Creative Directors! Here’s us thinking they’re models and influencers 😅
Of course, we’re kidding and, of course, it’s no real news - hiring a celebrity Creative Director is currently the go-to marketing tactic but…
Who started this?
Why does it keep happening?
And, is “International Model” an essential career step to becoming a CD?
Let me, not so creatively, direct you below 👇
Molly-Mae Hagues walked so Creative Directors could run x (again, kidding). The UK reality star was appointed Creative Director of Pretty Little Thing (aka PLT) in 2019. This, naturally, came with backlash (A woman in a senior position and from the telly? Let's take her down!), then even more following an interview about her role in which she said her success was down to her work ethic, forgetting it's really due to her privilege.
Since taking the post; hundreds of tabloids followed, her Instagram announcement earned over a million double-taps and even the fashion world weighed in since she’s not a conventional Creative Director. Headlines, a viral social post, and the likes of Vogue reacting to one hire? That’s a pretty (little) good marketing tactic from PLT if you ask me.
But in a way, it makes sense Molly is Creative Director. Molly holds the taste and influence of a huge segment of the UK female population. What she thinks, chooses, and then puts out into the world is vastly adopted.
Alright, that’s Molly next up, Moss.
Yes, the queen herself, Kate Moss, is now the Creative Director of Diet Coke UK - heck, she even was the photographer at the launch party! Now with this hire, it might be a bit more for Kate than Coca-Cola.
I feel Kate might be on a mission to rewrite her SEO. Think about it, if you were to Google ‘Kate and Coke’ 5 years ago, you'd get a different result than what you would have right now. By collaborating with the world's biggest drink company to create billboards, limited-edition cans and press - Kate has earned a whole new suite of online content, and, thus, SEO. This is a very smart move considering Kate’s new venture, Cosmoss. Yep, definitely best to drown out old search engine results of a not-so-healthy party girl past if you're going to launch a new wellness brand months later.
On the flip, this SEO rewrite is to Coke’s benefit too. They leverage some of Kate’s old SEO and earn plenty of new content thanks to the irresistibly optimal tongue-in-cheek quotes - perfect multi-channel clickbait.
But in a way, it makes sense Kate is Creative Director. Diet Coke is synonymous with the fashion community, so employing someone even more synonymous can help reinvigorate the positioning. And it’s not like Kate hasn’t done this type of work before, her Topshop collections were iconic and her personal style has been referenced for decades.
Between Molly and Moss’ promotions, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Emily Ratajkowski have become Creative Directors - and as I am writing this article, Gigi Hadid has become one too.
I feel brands are trying to replicate the unique success of Molly’s hire. She was at peak fame, it was the first celeb vanity hire inviting critique from the fashion world and a lot of Googles as the unfamiliarity of what a Creative Director is to tabloid readers made for light research.
… actually in saying that, what even is a Creative Director nowadays? What separates a Molly-Mae from an Abloh?
Remember in 2018 when everyone had Creative Director in their Instagram bio? Especially younger creatives working on their brands and careers. Has to be said, many of them have changed their bio since (#SelfAwareness #ItsNotThatEasy #FrontalLobeCompleted), plus they’d hate to be confused with a very delusional posh kid who thinks doing a one-off poster design for their mate'‘s gig equates to Creative Direction.
However, this Creative Director bio was a sign of increasing awareness and aspiration for a creative life. An awareness driven by household names like Steve Jobs and Kanye, then made a feasible aspiration by first wave GenZ do-ers like Tyler the Creator and Tavi Levison. This cohort made creativity cool and demonstrated you have to get stuck in to achieve success - hence the tactic to place influencers in an “authoritative” creative position now. The “professional” position creates a sense of achievement and depth which generates praise for both the brand and influencer.
Anyway, I am sure that some of those young creatives who had Creative Director in their bio have gone to become legitimate ones - but how one becomes “legit” is no straight path.
To address an early notion, no, you don’t have to be an international model to be one (but it can help!). Instead, you could try the routes Jessica Walsh and Virgil Abloh took.
Let’s start with Jessica Walsh, who had a more “classiqué” glow-up. Historically, CDs were from the design world. A graphic designer type that direct visual positioning and meaning - this was the case for Jess. She specialised in design alongside coding, got hired at Sagmeister Inc then swiftly moved up the ranks to become Partner at 25. Though, she’s quoted saying ‘We can’t be like artists, who can stick to one style and never adapt what they do based on what’s going on in the world.’ Jess has a signature style, like, if she was in a GBBO technical challenge, you’d know which pie was hers. Jess' work is bright, bold and stunning.
Thanks to specialising and bossing job-to-job, Jess has been Creative Director multiple times.
The late Virgil Abloh is one of the most influential Creatives of our time, so it’s empowering that he had pretty normal beginnings studying Architecture in Chicago. His studies helped, but his skill set and environment perhaps helped more.
Virgil had a generalist skill set (i.e. he used any and all mediums to express, from clothes to music, to Art etc). By not being tied to a craft, he would start with a concept then utilise the medium(s) to best deliver it - therein was his genius. Virgil saw ideas as bigger than their output, and with designer houses being things of culture now, not just fashion anymore, they’re multi-medium and thus their CDs should be too - #VAforLV, baby!
Then when it comes to his environment, Chicago and college downtime allowed Virgil to make, earn opportunities and meet people that would start his career (actions Rick and Giuliano vouch for too, btw). Vigirl exemplifies this trio of factors in the story of him submitting “a perfect file” to a screen-printing store in Chicago (make) which leads to a job, which then leads to a Don C commission (opportunity) and eventual connection to Kanye (meet). With Ye as fuel and needing multi-medium creative input, they progressed in creative tandem.
Thanks to embracing his creative hybridity and being proactive in his environment(s), Virgil has been Creative Director multiple times.
You See? Same title, different paths - but, moreover, very different job specs. Truly, Jess and Vigril should have different job titles. Yes, they're both “Directing Creative”, but in different fields, in separate ways, and to varying degrees. Distinct titles would better underscore their individual talents, and make career mapping easier for the rest of us that want to follow their steps. The term CD is confused - and all these influencers becoming one isn’t helping.
Despite the confusion, there is this one thing that feels shared amongst Creative Directors - the title must be earned.
I shared this notion with MØRNING's co-founder, Lydia. I’ve always believed you can’t call yourself a "Creative", others have to witness and affirm it. Then when it comes to earning the other half of the title, Director, Lydia quoted a mentor about moving up the ranks who said, “Your work will announce it for you”. So perhaps, to be a CD it's about finding your creativity, levelling up, then the title will come - even if you are Molly-Mae.
What have we learned from this reflection on Creative Directors? Well, quite a bit, but mainly - its meaning is currently lucrative and cluttered.
From a marketing POV, hiring Celebrity/Influencer Creative Directors, obviously, lets brands ride influence but in a way which earns appreciation with a bit of substance (i.e. engagement, “Congrats, bestie!”). It’s an “achievement” by the influencer - not a superficial role which the previously popular ambassador role was. However, with so many Celebs being hired, it’s putting the “achievement” in question. Feasibly, not everyone with a following can be a great Creative Director so the gravity of the trick could expire soon.
Or, maybe, the change will not be the slowdown of Creative Directors, but an industry reaction causing an evolution of the term and who ascribes to it. To help decipher vanity from reality, it could be time we retitled "real" Creative Directors with new refined descriptions that clearly show their calibre. Perhaps, the “Vision Supervisor of Burberry”, or the “VP of Imagination at Droga5” are the kind of titles our industry is lacking? Anyone?
What are your thoughts?
How do you feel about this wave of Celebrities and Influencers being hired as CDs, and will it last?
Should we retitle "real" Creative Directors or make more title options for clarity and calibre? What would your alternatives be?
Till next time Misfits! xx
Very interesting. It will perhaps undo itself without the need to retitle ‘real’ CDs. The lack of experience and pure greed to gain access to followers rather than aim to achieve a more ethical and substantial company, which in turn would churn better press. It’s not about the celebrity aspect but it fails to empower the people who have made these creative industries their lives. Nothing worse then being directed by someone who doesn’t understand your job. My two cents. ♥️