Creative Strategy Director - McDonalds Happy Meal

ABOUT US
tms unites technology, marketing, and sourcing to drive transformational change for the world's leading brands. With 1,200+ employees across 26 countries, we offer an impressive range of solutions - from inspiration and innovation to category management and delivery.
Operating as a creative agency, a strategic consultancy, a sourcing business, and a technology provider, we engage with over 110 million customers every single day for our clients, including McDonald's, T-Mobile, O2, Starbucks, and adidas.
Most importantly, we're a place where you can achieve great things, and be recognized as the best.
WHAT MATTERS THE MOST
Breakthrough, business-driving ideas come from extraordinary people with the freedom to be their most authentic selves at work. Authenticity and diversity are critical elements of our business. They can only be realized when we create access and equity for all. We foster a culture of inclusion and belonging and aspire to be ever-evolving.
tms is a place where brilliant people are better together. If you want your ideas to be heard and to contribute to a culture of inclusion and authenticity, bring us your voice! Visit us at tmsw.com.
At tms we believe that from day one our job is to prepare you, develop you, train you and invest in you so that while with us you will become ready to take on the next challenge better prepared than you thought possible.
So whether you're here for a meeting, a project, or a career - be prepared to Leave Changed.
WHY WE THINK YOU WILL LOVE THIS ROLE
The Creative Strategy Director will sit within our Global Consumer Strategy team.
This is a rare opportunity to work on Global McDonalds Happy Meal, a culturally relevant brand - one that collaborates with some of the biggest IP partners on the planet and consistently creates moments that resonate with Gen A and Gen Z audiences worldwide.
This is not a traditional campaign role.
You'll be shaping ideas that:

• Show up across multiple channels and touchpoints
• Come to life in product, retail, digital, and gaming environments
• Spark social conversation and cultural relevance

If you've ever wanted to:

• Move beyond ATL into experience-led, culturally-driven work
• See your ideas realised across unexpected and innovative platforms
• Operate at the intersection of strategy and creativity

...this role is designed for you.
WHAT YOU WILL BRING TO THE ORGANIZATION
You will be a natural strategic and creative leader, at a Senior level looking for the next step up, seeking greater responsibility for shaping powerful, flexible campaign platforms and ensuring they translate seamlessly across channels.
You will:

• Develop big, culturally resonant ideas that can flex across markets and formats
• Translate strategy into tangible, executable outputs - from visual identity to product and digital experiences
• Work across cross-functional teams (creative, design, digital, retail, partnerships) to bring ideas to life
• Guide and inspire teams, ensuring a consistent and compelling vision across all touchpoints
• Navigate complex stakeholder environments with confidence and adaptability
• Embrace an "always in beta" mindset, evolving ideas based on feedback, data, and new inputs

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO HAVE

• Proven experience developing multichannel campaign concepts from strategy through to execution
• Strong understanding of how ideas translate into:
  • Campaign visual identity
  • Product / merchandise
  • Digital and gaming experiences
  • Retail environments
• Experience leading or shaping cross-functional, integrated teams
• A track record working on culturally-led brands or campaigns, with a strong grasp of culture strategy
• Ability to operate in the space between strategy and creative-whether as:
  • A strategist deeply embedded with creatives, or
  • A strategically minded creative / hybrid profile
• Background in a top-tier creative or integrated agency environment
• Comfortable working with multiple stakeholders, adapting thinking without losing the core idea
• Great storyteller and stage setter for the work we create and the ability to persuade and influence internal and senior external stakeholders.
• Culture and trends obsessed, cascading that understanding in a compelling way to drive great ideas.

Additional considerations

• This is a global role, requiring flexibility to collaborate across time zones (including US-based teams)
• Minimum 2 days per week in our London office

Final thought
We're looking for someone who doesn't just write strategies-but shapes ideas that live in culture. Someone who can take a thought and turn it into something people see, use, share, and talk about.
If that sounds like you, we'd love to talk.
#LI-Hybrid