Implementing Staffing Strategies That Work

By Kore1 on May 16, 2017 in Creative Hiring

 

The Company: A reputable ad agency in Las Vegas

Recently, KORE1 had the opportunity to work with a well-known ad agency in the Las Vegas area. Founded in 2001 by native and long-term Nevadans, their creative, savvy, and insightful team was built from the ground up. The agency’s talent and strengths garnered many awards, and in 2005 they joined forces with a larger nationwide powerhouse known for creating the well-known “What happens here, stays here” campaign. Their near-zero turnover is owed to their excellent work / life balance.

This agency focuses on Advertising, Media, and Public Relations sectors by providing a number of services: Account Planning, Creative Development, Copywriting, Print Advertising, Digital Advertising, Web Development, Banner Ads, Outdoor Advertising, Direct Marketing, Graphic Design, Print Production, Print Management, Corporate Identity, Email Marketing, TV & Radio Production, Media Planning & Placement, Media Research, Tracking, Search Marketing, Reporting, Public Image Consultation, Crisis Response, Community Outreach, Speakers Bureaus, News Releases, Media Relations, Media Training, Sponsorships/Promotions, Event Coordination, Strategic Planning, and Special Events/Openings for clients in the Hospitality, Entertainment, Education, Healthcare, Finance, B2B, and B2C industries.

The Challenge: Replacing a longstanding Creative Director

Our client’s Creative Director was getting ready to retire and they needed to fill this integral role for their business. The retiring Creative Director had been with the organization for over 15 years and developed an all-star creative team, deep client relationships, and hundreds of successful campaigns for their clients. Finding a replacement for someone who was such a staple in the business with vast experience and knowledge to transfer was no small undertaking.

An initial challenge was overcoming the issue of geography. The talent pool for Creative Directors with the ability to present to clients, lead and mentor a large team, and create industry-leading print and digital campaigns is small in Las Vegas. The second challenge was finding candidates that had portfolios of work that included large brands and integrated campaign experience that could impress clients with high standards.

The Strategy: Research comes first

Fact finding and digging deeper is critical to reading between the lines of a job description. We met face to face with the agency in order to best understand their environment and culture. The Executive Creative Director & Principal and Las Vegas Business Press Top 40 Under 40 award-winner spoke with us at length about the vital qualities his outgoing Creative Director possessed. We also met with the departing Creative Director himself so he could describe in-depth his responsibilities as well as his team’s and client’s challenges and successes. This provided essential qualities needed in a replacement to ensure a seamless transition. After several meetings and research, we started a nationwide search starting with Nevada and the surrounding states of CA, UT, and AZ.

The Solution: Implementing pragmatic and nontraditional approaches

Kelly Barker, Director of Creative and Digital Talent, and the KORE1 Recruiting team headed by Sr. Creative Recruiter Judy Johnson began to reach out to our deep Creative, Advertising and Marketing network of over 20,000 connections that have been cultivated over our team’s combined experience of nearly three decades. Our team’s ability to fully understand a client’s environment meant they knew the perfect fit when they saw it. The search to find the perfect candidate who had everything they were looking for took approximately one month.

The eventual hire had creative agency knowledge, presentation skills to work with clients, and an ability to be a great mentor to the team members who had known and worked with his predecessor for so long. His resume spoke for itself: he is an advertising agency veteran and has worked on major clients such as Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Norwegian Cruise Line, Pepperdine University, Western Digital, Schweppes Ginger Ale, Crush Soda and Deep Eddy Vodka, Chase, Netflix, and many more. Importantly, he was open to relocating his family to Las Vegas from California.

The Results: A successful hire

The Ad Agency hired KORE1’s candidate, and he is currently engrained in his new role and successfully contributing to the agency’s business goals by producing innovative and creative campaigns while leading a team of award-winning talent. The new Creative Director and his family have settled into the suburbs of Las Vegas in the beautiful up-and-coming town of Summerlin, which they have nicknamed the Irvine of the desert.

Solve Problems, Be Proactive, Implement Pragmatic Nontraditional Approaches.

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