It is the ultimate dream of many professionals working in the advertising industry to become the creative director of a reputed advertising agency. If you become the creative director then you have the freedom to determine the creative direction of the project without doing all the hard work. As a creative director is responsible for the standards of creative output of an agency he has to stay under immense pressure. The key to become a successful creative director is to stay calm under pressure and deal with the clients patiently.

Basically a creative director has to coordinate between everyone in the creative team that is working under him. Most creative directors start their career as either an art director or a copywriter. His expert guidance is needed to successfully deliver an advertising or promotional project within the timeline given by the client. Now the question which arises is that what makes a good creative director.

A successful creative director should acquire or have certain qualities and attributes which are as followed-

• Dedication– A good creative director should be completely devoted to his work. He should continuously nurture his creative side. Read about the latest trends and what people want.
• Focus– The right focus is crucial in order to become a good creative director. Keep in mind that you have to deliver a project within a deadline but that should never hamper the creativity of the project.
• Imagination– It is a must have quality of a creative director. If you don’t come up with innovative ideas or concepts then you should start looking for a new career option.
• Diplomacy– Yes it is very much needed to coordinate between the members of your team. Clashes of ideas happen all the time in an advertising agency and a capable creative director will solve the conflicts without hurting anyone’s ego.
• Communication Skills– Excellent communication skills is an essential quality required by a creative director. It will not only help you to communicate effectively with your team members but also interact with clients. Being the creative director it is your job to make the copywriter and designer understand what exactly you want.
• Marketing Knowledge– A bit of marketing skills is needed to pitch your ideas and concept.

Only a few professional have all those skills. Joseph Cianciotto is one of those rare people who have got all the required qualities. Starting his career in the year 1998 as a creative director and vice president of D’Arcy Worldwide, he went on to work for leading advertising agencies of U.S. including DDB NY and Translation. In those agencies also he was appointed as the creative director.

Joseph Cianciotto holds a degree in visual communication from Carnegie Mellon University. He has received many advertising awards such as Cannes, ANDY, One Show, Webby, Comm. Arts and Cilos for his outstanding work in the field of advertising. His out of the box thinking and business mind has made him stand out from the crowd. When not working, he is most likely to be seen with his wife and two daughters.