TBWAMedia Arts Lab (or MAL as you’ll hear us called) is the bespoke global advertising agency dedicated solely to Apple.
Our mission is to create smart, simple and iconic work that transforms business and makes culture for the world’s best brand.
We believe that what MAL creates belongs to everyone; and everyone belongs at MAL.
We think creativity lives in open, safe and brave spaces, where diverse perspectives can come together, free of prejudice and discrimination.
We strive to be a partnership of equals.
Everyone has a role to play here, and we invite you to bring your fully authentic and crazy selves to this space.
Together, we’ll do the best work we’ve ever done.
We’re headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with 5 further international hubs and over 700 people making great work for Apple in 26 markets around the globe.
We’d love to meet you!
An Account Director at MAL must be a natural leader; perpetuating MAL culture and setting the example for what a MAL Account person should be.
This role will be responsible for leading the global strategic and creative development of the work and overseeing its flawless execution, while keeping an eye on the larger objectives of both the client and the agency.
The AD is a partner to the clients and a mentor to the team.
The Work
Serve as a key partner to our senior clients and agency leadership, providing clear POV’s and leadership.
Contribute to (and sometimes lead) the strategic/business debate with clients Oversee & guide brief development and integrated comms planning with pod leadership, media team & clients.
Create, shepherd, and champion ideas
– make the work better by bringing fresh thinking and relevant POVs to the table while ensuring it is strategically sound and globally relevant.
Be responsible for the overall quality control of the creative product.
Be responsible for the team showing up to meetings the MAL way
– simple, buttoned up, with exceptional thinking.
Become an expert in our client’s business and develop solid knowledge of the brand & its products and audiences, instilling this knowledge into the work, meetings and into the team.
Develop a deep understanding of agency processes, tools, and capabilities to get the work done effectively and efficiently.
Beyond this, think outside of the box to problem solve new work processes & solutions that may not be the ‘norm’.
Responsible for handling challenging conversations through the production process.
Financially responsible for the management of quarter-close budgets and projections.
Collaboration & People Management
Maintain strong, trusting, open relationships with internal departments & global MAL counterparts Engage and adapt to any audience, always considering context when communicating with others.
Ensure proper training of account team within the pod & share best practices or learnings with the department.
Model exemplary client management skills to the rest of the department.
Manage account resources across projects with GAD’s & PM.
Actively track progress of team members through regular performance check-ins, ensuring they have clear goals, direct feedback & balanced workloads to grow appropriately.
Who will thrive in this role?
Someone with an unrelenting ambition to create smart, simple, iconic work for our client.
A master communicator
– someone who can give clear direction and support to the team and client Must have the ability and ambition to manage multiple complex work streams in a fast-paced environment Someone with the ability to keep teams motivated and positive A champion of DEI, with the understanding that the expectation of DEI for leaders at MAL is that it is a responsibility and not just a passion.
Someone who is mature and unflappable under pressure and tight deadlines, with an art for dealing with conflict resolution.
Someone with the ability to turn lessons learned from each project and experience into training tools & growth opportunities