Designer | Creative | Ogilvy Africa

Job Summary

As a Designer at Ogilvy Africa, the role goes beyond creating visually impactful designs. It focuses on conceptual thinking, creative problem-solving, and versatility across different outputs and digital channels.

The Designer is responsible for understanding client needs and translating briefs into creative visual solutions that meet client objectives. The role involves actively engaging with clients, Creative Directors, Account Managers, and multidisciplinary teams to understand objectives and develop innovative ideas and concepts.

The Designer works closely with Senior Designers, Art Directors, Account Teams, Content Managers, Community Managers, and Producers to develop work that is visually compelling, relevant to the brand, and effective across digital platforms.

The role requires strong proficiency in design, typography, content creation, photo editing, and digital/animation tools, together with the ability to adapt creative work for different platforms and audiences.

1. Key Responsibilities

A. Graphic Design

• • Create visually engaging content designed specifically for social media platforms.

  • Develop content with strong “thumb-stopping” quality that captures attention on digital platforms.

  • Work within brand guidelines and boundaries while bringing the best out of the brand across digital channels.

  • Create graphics and edit photographs that communicate and bring the brand essence to life.

  • Create static content as well as short-form videos and GIFs.

B. Creativity & Content Development

• • Participate actively in the creative process and develop content that resonates with the speed of culture.

  • Develop creative ideas and propose innovative approaches to digital content creation.

  • Keep up to date with the latest digital marketing and social media trends.

  • Use social media listening and current trends to create real-time content that makes the brand relevant.

  • Think creatively about how digital channels can be used to engage audiences.

C. Client & Brief Management

• • Understand client objectives and requirements.

  • Work from creative briefs developed with the Content Manager, Community Manager, Creative Director, or Account Manager.

  • Generate creative ideas and concepts that can be presented to clients.

  • Ensure design decisions and creative outputs are aligned with client objectives and brand guidelines.

  • Maintain strong client communication and management throughout projects.

D. Teamwork & Collaboration

• • Work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to create and develop digital campaigns.

  • Collaborate with Senior Designers, Art Directors, Account Teams, Content Managers, Community Managers, Producers, and Content Excellence teams.

  • Work with external specialists such as artists and photographers when required.

  • Contribute to the development of effective advertising campaigns.

E. Project Management

• • Manage assigned design projects from brief through delivery.

  • Work within agreed timelines and deadlines.

  • Manage multiple tasks and priorities in a fast-paced environment.

  • Work independently with minimal to no supervision.

  • Maintain and manage meetings, calendars, and assigned tasks in an organized manner.

2. Role Requirements

Experience

• • 4+ years of content creation experience for digital channels.

  • Experience creating content for platforms including:

    • Facebook

    • Instagram

    • Twitter/X

    • YouTube

Technical & Professional Skills

• • Strong understanding of the characteristics and nuances of different digital platforms.

  • Strong graphic design and content creation capabilities.

  • Understanding of typography and visual communication.

  • Ability to create and edit digital graphics and photographs.

  • Ability to produce short-form videos and GIFs.

  • Familiarity with leading design and animation tools.

  • Understanding of digital marketing and social media trends.

Required Attributes

• • Digital-native understanding of different social media platforms.

  • Passion for technological advancements in social media.

  • Ability to think outside the box and push the boundaries of digital channels.

  • Strong awareness of local internet trends, memes, and online culture.

  • Ability to execute quickly while maintaining high standards of creative craft.

  • Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.

  • Exceptional client management and communication skills.

  • High attention to detail.

  • Ability to work independently without supervision.

  • Strong organizational and task-management skills.

  • Ability to manage meetings, calendars, and assigned tasks effectively.

  • Strong team-player mentality.

COMPANY PROFILE

Ogilvy Africa is the largest network agency on the continent catering to 40 countries with a team of ~900 people across Central, East and West Africa. Headquartered in Nairobi - Kenya, Ogilvy Africa manages a portfolio of over 100 brands for clients such as AB InBev, Airtel, Africa CDC, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Distell, Equity Bank, Exxon Mobil, Kenya Airways, Mondelez, NCBA, Nestle, Philips, PWC, SAB Miller, Sanlam, Total, UNICEF, Unilever, and WWF amongst others.

Ogilvy has a distinctive positioning and proposition that is key for current times, when clients desire a partner to help them realize their growth ambitions or to get back to growth. Simply put our ambition is to be, “The Best Platform and Partner for Growth on the Planet.” This proposition is anchored on true shared value, what our world needs now, creating human(societal) value; employee value and commercial value. This proposition cuts across our key mega-businesses ABC (Advertising, Branding and Content), Experience (including CRM and e-commerce), PR & Influence and Media (focussed on performance marketing). In addition, we’ve created proprietary marketing products in areas such as real-time marketing, social intelligence, performance marketing, e-commerce enablement and content hubs. Our unique operating model, One Ogilvy, allows clients and brands to cut the complexity of agency structures and create seamless omni-channel experiences for their consumers, across touchpoints. Fuelled by the holy trinity of content, data, and technology; Ogilvy Africa strives to be the best-practice agency model, for Developing & Emerging markets. In our 20+ years in Africa, we have won the highest number of regional and global awards for the region including Cannes Lions, Clio awards, Dubai Lynx Festival, SABRE Awards (Global and Africa), WARC Effectiveness; to name a few.

Ogilvy is a leading global network of WPP. Launched by David Ogilvy over 70 years ago, it is referred-to as the Agency of Giants, by several industry experts. 2021 WARC rankings named Ogilvy, the #1 creative network in the world.

OGILVY BELIEFS

• People need regular OS upgrades: Even the best OS will be obsolete tomorrow unless its constantly upgrades.  Same is true for people.
• We need more cows than milk men: We are a culture of practitioners, not managers. We contribute before we comment.
• Creative about creativity: Creativity is, and will always be, our differentiator. Creativity now includes holy trinity of Data -Content -Tech.
• Diversity is a competitive advantage: New profiles, new skills, new styles of leadership make us a stronger company.
• Collaborative advantage > Competitive advantage: Find partners who are on top of their game at the skillset we need. It’s the only way to scale at the speed without pretending to have all the answers.
• Team > Individual: You get a lot more done when everyone stops worrying about who gets credit at the end. Teams Succeed, individuals fail.
• Fail often, fail fast: We see entrepreneurs in all our people and encourage a culture of pilots. Test, succeed and scale; or fail-fast learn, learn from the failure, and start something new.

Ogilvy encourages experimentation and an entrepreneurial mindset. Employees are encouraged to test ideas, scale successful initiatives, learn quickly from failures, and use those lessons to develop new ideas.