Executive Creative Director, France/Benelux/Italy

WHY JOIN OATLY?

Hello potential future Oatly employee.

It’s us, the original oat drink company that started in Sweden nearly 30 years ago and we need more brilliant minds to come work with us to keep the momentum going and the oat drink flowing.

Sustainability, health, and transparency are the core values that guide everything we do. Basically, we exist to make it easy for people to eat better and live healthier lives without recklessly taxing the planet’s resources in the process. if you’ve ever wondered if a place actually exists that would allow you to do the best work of your life, where you can focus your vision and craft on doing something that betters the planet and the lives of us humans living here, where you would have the freedom and responsibility to develop the voice of a brand on a daily basis, then you should definitely read on.

As an Executive Creative Director (ECD) for Oatly, you'll be part of the infamous Oatly Department of Mind Control (ODMC), an idea machine embedded in Oatly that creates rule-breaking, trend-defying, laugh-inducing, behavior-changing, something else-hyphened work.

Being an ECD at Oatly is unlike being an ECD everywhere else.

The biggest difference is that you won’t have a client. We have removed all the buying and selling and presenting process that comes from usually working with clients. Everything becomes about getting the strategic pieces in place for why we are doing what we are doing and then all the energy goes toward creating ideas and executing those ideas.

As an ECD at Oatly you also keep the sole mandate for the work you want to run in your markets and are fully accountable for the work that goes out. You take responsibility for understanding the bigger picture, for getting the brief right, the work right and you need to know when what you are working on is ready to go out into the world because, well, there is no one else to approve it besides you. Let’s stress this, no boss approves your work. You approve the work. But keep in mind you’re not just an approver of things. Everyone at ODMC is a maker so if you are just an approver, then this is a great place to stop reading. However, if you like to make great stuff and lots of it without layers of interference and approvals then you are home.

The other big difference is that you sit squarely IN the business, working closely with the General Managers in your assigned markets (France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy) to identify the business challenges and opportunities. There are no account people or strategist that will do that for you. You'll need to establish strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring you're in tune with everything Oatly in your markets. Your ability to build and maintain these connections will be key to your success. You are a creative engine of growth, a driver of strategy and implementation for the business.

You are also the local guardian of one of world’s most un-explainable yet deeply resonating brand and voice, ensuring ODMC work propels our business in your maket(s).

Your mission is to work with your local market team to identify problems and unearth opportunities to scale the brand and move the business forward in significant ways, in a constant effort to lead in category defining ways and leave our competitors in the dust.

Last, we don’t work with classic CPG mega-budgets so it’s critical that you understand a great idea and how it can fully propagate. Needless to say, the bar for brand and creative excellence is extremely high. You need to make sure that the work is not only truly outstanding, but serves our greater business and mission.

The role reports into the the ODMC Managing Director. But again, that’s a formality since he will not review or approve your work. We’re weird, we know.

The role will be based in Paris or Amsterdam and requires native/full professional proficiency in English and French. Proficient Dutch, Flemish or Italian are very useful but not mandatory.

The role will require regular travel to the markets you oversee, as well as regular trips to our headquarters in Malmö, Sweden.

This next section is for all the bullet point lovers out there:

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO BRING TO THE TABLE:

• 10+ years of experience working in the creative industry and a body of work to prove it.
• A proven track record in big brand spaces.
• Experience in high-growth, morphing environments.
• An innate understanding of ground-breaking creativity and solid experience curating creative ideas.
• A knack for simplification.
• A love of experimentation and creative-weirdness.
• A devilish delight in breaking rules in really smart ways.
• A comfort leading across all media and engagement spaces.
• Just the right amount of ego. If you think everyone should stand back and admire your creative genius, then we suggest you stay where you are.
• The desire to be an active contributor and enabler of a friendly and collaborative culture.
• A strong sense of purpose about what you’re doing. We’re making creative work that inspires people to change their lives and contribute to the betterment of the planet, not work for the advertising industry.
• A proven track record of creative vision and leadership.
• A willingness to learn and unlearn in equal measure. The ODMC operates unlike any other “marketing” organization or in-house creative agency out there, which means you need to be ready to take all the rules you’ve learned in your past and intelligently break/remake at least half of them.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO:

• Work side by side with the General Managers in your assigned markets in identifying the opportunities and challenges the brand needs to tackle.
• Lead and manage your team (Creatives, Local Brand Lead, Project Lead) and collaborate with diverse disciplines at ODMC such as Events, PR, Content and Media.
• Set and drive the brand agenda in your markets.
• Make amazing stuff. Make people talk. Make other brands jealous.
• Build and foster a positive environment conducive to creative risk taking. One thing that we have learned is that trust is everything if you want to create life changing work.
• Protect our weird ways of working and the legacy of what makes ODMC so uniquely suited to making Oatly stand out. It is your job to make sure we don’t look and sound like every other food company out there.
• Know how to turn failure into fortune. Realizing that negative feedback, adversity, conflict, failure, getting sued, whatever negative force is at play in any given situation is the most powerful brief you can receive and opens up great creative opportunities.
• Take full responsibility and accountability in each market for setting, overseeing, and guiding ODMC budgets aligned with business goals.

WHO WE NEED YOU TO BE:

• Someone with a good sense of humor who loves to do things differently and is bold enough to challenge us in constructive ways.
• A leader who knows which fights to pick and isn’t afraid to push hard (but responsibly) to get an idea through the system.
• A doer who doesn’t shy away from writing/designing decks, ads and shelf wobblers.
• An inquisitive mind who understands that everything starts with an idea, not a process. And that an idea can come from anywhere and anyone.
• A kind and empathetic leader. You have the soft skills to bring people along amidst change and ambiguity and can point to teams that respect you and grew powerfully under your leadership.
• A passionate advocate of the sustainability agenda who wants to create societal shifts and drive the plant-based revolution.

YOUR APPLICATION:

As you can probably tell, we’re a norm-breaking company. For us, diversity and differences are an obvious asset. We know that amazing candidates can sometimes be put off applying for a job unless they can tick every box, and that makes us really sad. So please trust your gut and apply if it feels right. 

We treat all candidates equally: If you are interested, please apply through our application system - any correspondence should come from there. This will ensure that the candidate experience is smooth and fair to everyone!

We kindly ask that you apply in English.

Apply for the position no later than Sunday September 1st, 2024The Oatly Way

Oatly is a company built on the idea of change. Our mission is to help people upgrade their everyday lives and the health of the planet by making tasteful oat-based food products accessible to a wider audience. It's why we come to work every day. With head office in Malmö and production in Sweden, Netherlands, China, Singapore, and the US, our products are available in almost 30 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia.

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