Associate Vice President, Creative Services
University of South Carolina

Founded in 1801, the University of South Carolina (USC or university) is the flagship institution of the University of South Carolina System (system). The system is the leading educator for the state, serving 53,000 students across eight institutions. Committed to serving a diverse population of students with widely varying backgrounds, career goals, and aspirations, USC offers over 350 degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and professional program levels, affording students the most comprehensive array of educational programs in the state. Graduate and undergraduate degree programs are offered in the following areas: arts and sciences; business; education; engineering and computing; hospitality, retail and sport management; information and communications; music; nursing; public health; and social work. Graduate programs are also available in law, medicine (Columbia and Greenville campuses), and pharmacy.

The flagship campus in Columbia is home to 16 colleges and schools and over 2,600 faculty, many of whom have earned significant recognition, placing the university in the top 5 percent of public universities in the nation for national faculty awards received. As a Carnegie-classified Tier I research (R1) institution, research grant awards were $309 million in the 2024 fiscal year.

The Position

Location: Columbia, South Carolina.

Reporting Relationships: The Associate Vice President, Creative Services will report to the Vice President, Marketing.

Responsibilities:

The Associate Vice President, Creative Services will lead the development and implementation of innovative creative strategies to enhance the institution’s branding and communication efforts. This role requires a visionary leader with a proven track record in creative direction, graphic design, digital media, and project management. The Associate Vice President will oversee a team of creative professionals, fostering a collaborative environment that encourages creativity and excellence.

Additional responsibilities will include:

• Develop and execute comprehensive brand building campaigns, manage the university’s visual identity, collaborate with various departments to ensure alignment with the USC brand platform and evaluate the effectiveness of creative initiatives.
• Manage and coordinate the creative teams, marketing service teams and designing process for effective execution of projects and making decisions for the department.
• Lead and develop the creative team; provide clear creative direction, motivate, and inspire internal and external stakeholders.
• Facilitate collaboration and communication with account services, production, digital, video, and technical teams.
• Manage multiple design projects from concept to completion, creative strategy, creative development, full production execution.
• Oversee all levels of creative development-collateral, website, social, digital magazines, OOH, print, direct marketing video concepts, and support materials.
• Actively strategize and contribute to the Hub’s growth; participate in the business development process, proposal creation and delivery presentations.
• Conceptualize, present, and develop strategic concepts for highly effective marketing programs that exceed client goals, creating client loyalty.

The Candidate

Education/Certifications: An undergraduate degree in marketing, communications or related field is required. An MBA is preferred.

Professional Qualifications:

• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in creative services, with progressive leadership and responsibilities.
• Proven track record of successfully executing large-scale creative projects, from concept development to final delivery, while adhering to strict timelines and budgets.
• Proven ability managing creative projects and ensuring the delivery of high quality and impactive creative content.
• Ability to leverage research, analytics, and stakeholder input to inform creative and strategic planning processes.
• Provide thought-leadership on cross-functional initiatives that reinforce USC’s value and relevance in the media marketplace among general audiences, donors, and other major constituents.
• Establish and drive new and innovative ways to support USC’s marketing and branding initiatives, ensuring that results translate over all media (TV, interactive digital ads, social media, print, etc.)
• Strong portfolio showcasing innovative design and successful campaigns.
• Work collaboratively with the internal/external teams and help lead all agency efforts.
• Proven ability integrating various media for overall campaign strategies.
  • • Print
    • Broadcast
    • Video Production
    • Collateral
    • Digital
    • OOH
    • Direct Marketing
• Understanding and ability to concept and engage multi-culturally diverse audiences.
• Ability to lead a creative team, make strategic decisions about work, present to clients and lead discussions to mutually beneficial decisions.
• Able to think strategically and translate business objectives into creative solutions by intimately understanding market trends, consumer behavior and industry best practices.
• Strong understanding of best practices related to designing digital platforms (website, social, video, interactive) as well as other various forms of media.

Personal Characteristics:

The successful candidate must possess outstanding leadership, interpersonal and communications skills. The candidate must be a high-energy, hands-on individual with strength of convictions - a self-confident leader who, in part due to his/her personal presence, style and demeanor, effectively sells ideas and solutions to others. This person is by nature a risk-taker and has a high level of ambition. Of equal importance, this person must have unquestioned integrity.

• Adept at strategizing and communicating effectively with various internal departments to solve problems and find solutions to challenges.
• A seasoned creative strategist with experience in developing creative platforms for all levels of brands.
• Creative and strategic thinker who will bring innovative ideas forward to solve problems and help the organization thrive.
• Problem solver who can take initiative and set priorities while being flexible.
• Adaptable, flexible, and able to multitask; ability to work within an ambiguous, fast-moving environment, while also driving toward clarity and solutions.
• Comfortable with the challenge to reach agreement among occasionally conflicting interests to enhance the common good of the organization.
• Highly intelligent, with exceptional conceptual and creative skills, and the ability to visualize and translate the needs of the marketplace into business opportunities.
• Ability to anticipate change and proactively pivot in order to take advantage of industry trends.
• Mature, confident, and successful professional with the executive presence and industry stature to effectively represent USC externally and bring enhanced credibility to the organization.
• Lives the values: Demonstrates the values of USC through words, actions, and by example.