CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Let’s set expectations and take a look at the journey ahead. Get to know your instructor, his background and professional perspective.

• Instructor intro
• Assignments overview
• Final project teaser
• Q&A

Understand how Creative Directors are judged in real agencies — where the bar is profitability × recognition, not just “great ideas.” Set your POV early, know what winning work looks like, and get clear on the competitive pitch you’ll be building toward from day one.

• How CDs are evaluated in real agencies
• “Create desire” as a benchmark
• Overview of the final project
• Case Study: Favourite CDs 

Step into a CD’s shoes and see the world through their lens. Learn how CDs spot strong ideas, make tough calls, guide teams, and turn creative chaos into decisions. Understand what makes taste, judgment, and instinct your most powerful tools.

• From maker to decision-maker
• The modern CD: Jack of all trades, master of none
• How CDs see ideas differently
• Taste, instinct & judgment
• Case Studies: What’s in a strong idea?

Creative direction begins by shaping the problem. Learn how CDs dissect briefs — cut through the noise, spot the real opportunity, and frame the problem before jumping into solutions. Partner with strategy, challenge assumptions, and identify ideas.

• Interrogating, co-writing & challenging the brief
• Finding clarity in messy inputs & partnering with strategy
• Spotting insights with creative potential
• AI as an insight discovery assistant
• Good vs. average vs. weak ideas
• Workshop: Backward briefing 

Spot what works, sharpen ideas, and know when to push or kill them. You’ll practise judging originality, relevance, and platform fit, and explore how AI can spark bigger, better ideas without losing your creative edge.

• How CDs evaluate ideas
• Platforms vs. executions
• Strengthening the core of an idea
• Originality vs. relevance
• When to push, when to kill
• AI as an idea expansion tool

Learn how to give feedback that sharpens ideas instead of shutting them down. You’ll practise spotting what’s not working, fixing it without hijacking the concept, and leading creative conversations with clarity and zero ego. Feedback won’t feel like rejection, it’ll feel like momentum.

• Mentoring vs. directing
• Feedback frameworks: Finding weak points & guiding with trust
• AI as iteration partner
• Get inspired: What’s the Big Idea?
• Demo: The elevator pitch
• Workshop: Creative feedback lab 

We’re all in the same team — being a CD means shaping ideas in alignment with client objectives. Learn how to collaborate with Client Services early, negotiating constraints without losing the core concept and confidently defending creative decisions, even when the room gets tough.

• Aligning with internal stakeholders early
• AI as a tool to help the “vision”
• Negotiating constraints
• Protecting the core idea while adapting to reality
• Get inspired: Master FBI Negotiator
• Demo: Prompting a prototype

Tech, tools, trends & the Picasso approach — learn how modern tools support creative leadership while retaining taste as an irreplaceable skill. Spot trends early, prototype smarter, and sharpen your instinct so you stay in control of the ideas, not the algorithm.

• Spotting trends & owning them
• Using tools without losing judgment: Where AI helps
• Prototyping as a leadership tool
• Taste as the irreplaceable skill
• Demo: Great artists steal
• Workshop: From Prompter to “Prompteer”

Presentation is storytelling. To be a CD is to sell ideas with authority. Learn how to structure a persuasive story, present with confidence, handle tough questions without freezing, and defend your creative choices.

• Structuring persuasive narratives
• Presenting with confidence
• Handling pushback & difficult questions
• Using AI for rehearsals & AI voice feedback
• Demo: The anatomy of a case study
• Demo: PR headlines

Creative leadership exists inside commercial reality. Understand how ideas survive (or don’t) in the world of budgets, timelines, and KPIs. Learn how money, scope, and business pressure shape what gets made and how to stay creative without ignoring the reality.

• Business: Scopes, SoWs & KPIs
• Budgets, timelines, timesheets
• Being creative inside commercial reality
• Advertising isn't art
• Workshop: Where does the money go?

Understand production without glamorising it. From budgets to collaborators, on-set choices to post-production decisions, you’ll see how CDs guide projects and make tough calls while protecting the vision.

• Budgets, profitability, collaborators
• Pre-production decisions & post-production judgment
• On-set behaviour
• Going beyond film
• When your idea isn’t ‘yours’ anymore – or is it?
• Case Study: Treatment vs. final output

Lead ideas by knowing what great looks like. Evaluate ideas like a jury, defend your decisions, and learn why some campaigns hit while others miss — all while building the confidence to critique with strategy, not just opinion.

• Evaluating work beyond executional polish
• The difference between craft & concept
• Recognising “award bait” vs. real ideas
• Case Study: Shortlist, Bronze, Silver, Gold or Grand Prix?
• Workshop: The Award Game 

Reflect on your final work, get actionable feedback, and learn how to translate your skills into real-world projects. Fine-tune your CD voice, build a portfolio that stands out, and tackle the pressure and doubts that come with leading creative teams. End the course ready to pitch, create, and own your next big move.

• Feedback on final pitches
• What makes a CD portfolio compelling?
• Articulating your CD voice
• Next steps: Staying creative under pressure
• The Lizard Brain & Impostor Syndrome
• Demo: Do the brave thing