Since 2009, I’ve worked where creative strategy, commercial performance and production meet.
See how I work ↓AT A GLANCE
Creative strategy, production leadership and commercial accountability since 2009. I turn business objectives, audience research and performance signals into sharper briefs, better creative and the next test. Experienced on both sides of the agency relationship, with the ability to coordinate specialist teams and stay close to the work.
THE OPERATING PHILOSOPHY
I treat creative as an iterative commercial system: understand the objective, build a testable angle, get it into market, read the signal and improve the next round. That approach runs through my experience across brands, agencies and in-house teams.
Lead creative inside venture-backed e-commerce where brand and creative were accountable to acquisition, traffic and sales. The work included television, paid digital, promotional campaigns and conversion-minded creative for Zando and Jumia.
Geist was primarily a branded-content advertising agency for major retail, DTC and consumer brands. I built the operating model from a 50+ specialist freelance network into a 20-person permanent studio, while still personally driving 10+ briefs a week. The work ranged from Black Friday commerce and social content to film, activations and premium brand storytelling. We also partnered with NeuralSense on biometric creative testing and used behavioural tools such as Hotjar to understand what people actually did, not only what they said.
SELECTED CREATIVE PARTNERS
I have worked on both sides of the agency relationship: as the agency building the work, and as the client-side lead managing external agencies, production companies, creators, photographers, talent and media partners. That means I know how to write a brief that avoids wasted rounds, negotiate scope and rates without killing momentum, spot padding or vagueness quickly, give sharp objective feedback, and keep multiple teams moving toward the same commercial outcome.
At Medialicious, acquisition and retention had separate briefs, audiences and reporting. As Head of Brands and Content, I helped build and develop McLuck within a multi-brand US social-casino portfolio, producing 15+ creative briefs a week in a $4M+ monthly paid-media environment. ROAS, CPA, conversion and retention signals informed the next hook, offer and creative variation.
Creative strategy, performance thinking, digital product and production leadership across consumer, DTC, fintech and technology brands. Recent work includes Apex Alchemy, a supplement brand I developed, Currency Partners and David Green Eyewear. My work with digital loyalty platform Snapback adds a further retention perspective.
PORTFOLIO
Selected campaigns, films and creative projects.
View portfolio on BehanceFORMAT FLUENCY
I have briefed, reviewed and developed work from creator-led UGC and offer-led statics to social video, carousels, scripted film, interactive TV, landing pages and CRM. Acquisition and retention need different messages and success measures, not the same asset resized. Across Meta and TikTok creative, the job is to make the hook, pacing, proof, offer and next action fit the audience and the placement.
WHAT THE ROLE LOOKS LIKE IN MY HANDS
OPERATING STACK
Notion, Monday and Slack connect research, briefs, production and review. Adobe, Figma and AI-assisted tools support ideation and execution. The value is a visible workflow with clear owners, fast feedback and a useful record of what worked.
OPERATING PRINCIPLE
The stack is there to make the creative operation faster, clearer and easier to scale: better research, tighter briefs, visible ownership, decisive feedback and a clean learning loop.
HOW I THINK
THE PERFORMANCE LOOP
The work is notWHY NOW
AI helps accelerate research, reporting, versioning and production. That creates more room for better testing, not a reason to abandon commercial discipline.
More output is not the goal. Better decisions are.
Start with the evidence.
Make the next test sharper.
Performance data shows where the funnel is working and where it is losing people. Audience research and behavioural insight help form the next hypothesis. Test the hook, message, proof, offer or journey, then judge the result against the commercial goal.
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
FORMAL FOUNDATION
AAA School of Advertising, Cape Town · 2006–2008
Creative brand communication with extensive marketing coursework built into the degree.
Quantic School of Business & Technology · 2020–2021
Executive MBA coursework. Programme not completed.
WHY I LIKE THIS WORK
Find the angle. Beat the control. Create commercial upside.
The bit I get a kick out of is seeing a better idea produce a better business result, then using what the market taught us to make the next round sharper.
George le Roux