Associate Creative Director, Creative Strategy

underdog & company is looking for an Associate Creative Director, Creative Strategy to bring ideas to life at the intersection of sports, culture, and brand storytelling. As a senior member of a newly forming creative strategy team, this person will serve as both a strategic thought partner and a hands-on creative leader. They will turn complex business challenges into clear strategic platforms, original experiential and sponsorship ideas, and compelling narratives that move clients and win new business. Our team supports a diverse network of agencies and clients, from brands and B2B businesses to teams, leagues, and the agencies themselves. The right candidate will be equally comfortable leading a brainstorm, shaping a pitch narrative, presenting to senior executives, and jumping into the details of a deck. Agency experience is required. This role reports to the VP of Creative Strategy. Key Responsibilities●      Lead creative strategy and concept development for priority client assignments, integrated campaigns, and new business pursuits.●      Turn business objectives, audience insights, and cultural tensions into sharp strategic platforms and original activation ideas.●      Lead brainstorms and working sessions, helping teams generate, evaluate, and strengthen ideas against the brief.●      Build clear activation ecosystems that demonstrate how a central idea can scale across experiential, sponsorship, content, social, and other consumer touchpoints.●      Shape presentation narratives, strategic frameworks, manifestos, taglines, messaging systems, and high-impact pitch materials.●      Lead senior client conversations and confidently present strategic and creative recommendations to C-suite audiences.●      Guide and elevate the work of junior strategists, writers, and cross-agency collaborators through clear, constructive creative direction.●      Own the editorial direction of quarterly trend reports, category-specific insights, and external thought leadership.●      Help build the team’s creative process, including briefing tools, brainstorm structures, templates, review standards, and shared resources.●      Move fluidly between long-term brand thinking, fast-turn pitches, and hands-on creative execution.