Once Considered a Brand's 'Dirty Little Secret,' Creative Directors Are Culture's Next Stars

Whether you're intrigued by the complex details of a streetwear brand's logo or entranced by your favorite artist's high-concept music videos, effective branding—and, with time, consumer loyalty—often begins with a striking visual moment. For a while, as veteran musicians, creative directors and business partners Jesse Rose and Jesse Rogg can attest, the praise for good visual branding was largely awarded to the brand or artist themselves without real acknowledgment of the creative mind responsible for actually conceptualizing the look. That changed, says Rose and Rogg, with the late Virgil Abloh, the beloved former artistic director for Louis Vuitton. "Virgil made like a difference to the culture in so many ways to the culture, but primarily with the name 'creative director,'" Rose told Adweek. "'Creative director' came out, and then people were like, 'What is that?'" Creative 100: Visionary Directors Changing How We See the World Abloh's visibility and strong creative perspective were crucial in helping everyday consumers understand the function and necessity of a creative director. More importantly, as Rogg notes, his impact, along with later, heralded works from others like Kwasi Fordjour and Imogene, ultimately helped position the creative director as talent to be celebrated rather than hidden. Now, through Original Creative Agency (OCA)—the first agency to strictly represent top-level creative directors—founders Rose and Rogg are aiding the effort to help brands and consumers regard these major figures differently: creative directors are no longer a brand's secret weapon, but rather some of the most visible architects of pop culture as we know it. "In the past, it was sort of this dirty little secret," Rogg said. "It was like the artist was supposed to look like they came up with everything. Now, people are understanding that there is a team and creative director—a creative partner that's really embedded in these ideas." Building it up Through their respective music careers, Rose and Rogg got to connect with major performing artists who built substantial followings but didn't have a technical person on staff to help them build a visual brand to support their music. After much observation, Rose and Rogg saw an opportunity to help connect these artists furnish their teams with a top-level creative who could help them execute their visions, similar to what icons like Beyonce and Rihanna had. This led to the formation of OCA, which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. At the time of the agency's inception, the music and fashion industries, in particular, were still looking for the language to define creative or artistic direction. "The whole point was to essentially legitimize the space," said Rogg. "It was sort of a nebulous topic that a lot of people knew of, but didn't necessarily know what it even meant, specifically." Since opening OCA's doors, the duo has built a roster of over 50 creative directors who tender a winding list of clients, including big-time acts like Cardi B, Lil Nas X, SZA and Jackson Wang as well as top brands like Apple, Amazon, VistaPrint and Riot Games, just to name a few. "We felt like this was gonna be the fastest-growing industry," Rose said. "Five years ago, people thought it was a cool idea. Now, it's a massive, multimillion-dollar industry." Jesse Rogg (L) and Jesse Rose (R) are the founders of OCA. As a collective, the visionaries represented by OCA are responsible for some of pop culture's most instantly recognizable moments. Fordjour, for instance, was both the co-director and creative director of Beyonce's visual album Black is King while art studio Uber and Kosher developed the visual identity for a major capsule collection for Hugo Boss. And while that information would have likely remained widely unknown even six years ago, the OCA founders say that more artists are specifically recognizing their creative directors, turning them into well-known names in the space. The duo specifically praised artists Tinashe and Charli XCX for their care in publicly recognizing Franc Fernandez and Imogene, respectively. But Rogg recognizes that there's still a ways to go before that same sort of enthusiastic acknowledgment is seen across the branding space. "I think we are seeing it a lot more from the artist side, that they're giving their creative directors sort of a spotlight, or at least giving them credit," he said." I think it's just the institutional side that's usually takes longer to sort of implement these recognition moments." Creating the culture So the question remains: if the creative director's function is to ultimately execute the brand's pre-existing visual identity, why should brands and artists publicly recognize these figures in the first place? For starters, the relationship offers an opportunity for mutual brand building. Imogene, who has also designed stages for Dominic Fike and worked on campaigns for Simihaze Beauty, stepped out as a creative director in 2019 and, while tendering an impressive resume stemming from over a decade's worth of experience in the music industry, is still building her own roster. So high-level word-of-mouth is key, especially as more artists and growing brands rely less on creative in-house teams in large labels and agencies for artistic direction. "Around the time that I started managing was when artists started to say, 'I don't want that anymore. I want something a little more specific,'" she said. "I think that has led to this position, which is becoming more of a forward-facing thing." View this post on Instagram A post shared by imogene (@imogene) And as the creative director becomes more of a hot commodity, they have the power to help brands tap into culture, according to Rose. "With the clients that we work with, whether we're working with a big brand like Nike or Alicia Keys, they want to credit the creative director because the creative director comes with credibility," he explained. "It's a cool association." But recognizing the creative director community isn't just important for the individual creative or any brand; it's also a key factor in illuminating just who is and isn't occupying this growing space. According to research from 2019, only 35% of creative directors were women, and nearly 73% were white. Imogene notes that while creative direction in some areas of entertainment and branding are becoming incrementally more inclusive, the live performance sector still lags behind, especially in terms of gender parity. "I think creative direction as it concerns photography and music videos definitely feels a lot more inclusive than it did five years ago," she shared. "As it pertains to the live world, it's a lot of straight white men." For their part, OCA's leadership and director roster buck that trend: Aside from the company's founders, Rose says its leadership team is entirely comprised of women. Additionally, OCA represents equally as many women directors as men. Rose and Rogg agree that as industries talk more openly about creative direction, the state of inclusion in the space has to be a part of that conversation. "If you're gonna represent culture, you can do so by representing all of the cultures. It has to be that way," said Rose. Rogg concluded, "I think as a whole, across all industries, it's going in the right direction. That being said, it is important to have those conversations now."