VML, part of WPP, is a leading creative company that combines brand experience, customer experience, and commerce, creating connected brands to drive growth. VML is celebrated for its innovative and human first, award-winning work for blue chip client partners including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy's. The agency is recognized by the Forrester Wave™ Reports, as a Leader among Marketing Creative and Content Service Providers, Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Services and, most recently, Marketing Measurement & Optimization. In addition, VML’s specialist health network, VML Health, is one of the world’s largest and most awarded health agencies. VML’s global network is powered by 26,000 talented people across 55+ markets, with principal offices in Kansas City, New York, Detroit, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney.
About WPP
WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com.
Senior Social Creative
About VML
At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse.
Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences. Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, building connected brands that drive growth for our clients. We do this by leveraging our three core practices: Brand Experience, Customer Experience and Commerce. Within these practices we offer expertise across communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, data, production and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work.
The Role: Senior Social Creative
We are looking for a Senior Social Creative who doesn't just understand social. They help define what great social creativity looks like.
This is a copy-led creative role for a writer who can turn cultural insight into compelling language, distinctive brand voices and original social-first ideas. You should be as comfortable writing a six-word hook or reactive comment as you are developing a campaign platform, creator script or global social narrative.
This role is for someone who lives and breathes social culture, has exceptional creative instincts, and knows how to develop ideas that genuinely earn attention in today's fast-moving social landscape. You understand that the strongest social ideas aren't adapted from bigger campaign thinking. They're born from culture, communities, creators and platform behaviours.
As a senior member of the creative team, you'll lead the development of bold, social-first concepts across always-on content, campaigns and reactive moments, helping shape the creative direction for one of our flagship client accounts. You'll partner closely with Creative Directors, Strategists, Designers, Producers and Account teams to create work that is culturally relevant, platform-native and commercially effective.
You will originate ideas through language, lead copy development from concept to execution, and help define how the brand sounds across platforms, audiences and cultural moments.
You'll also play an important role in elevating the creative output of the wider team by bringing fresh thinking, inspiring those around you, and maintaining a consistently high creative standard across everything we produce.
Key Responsibilities
Social-First Ideation
Lead the development of original ideas that are born in social, not adapted into it
Translate strategic insight and audience understanding into breakthrough social-first creative
Originate campaign platforms, recurring formats and reactive ideas through strong conceptual and verbal thinking
Drive creative thinking within brainstorms, workshops and concept development
Push creative ambition whilst ensuring ideas remain executable across platforms
Express ideas simply and persuasively, from a single-line proposition through to a fully developed creative narrative
Copywriting & Verbal Craft
Lead copy development across social campaigns, always-on content, reactive moments and creator-led work
Write compelling hooks, headlines, captions, scripts, supers, voiceovers, dialogue, comments and community responses
Develop distinctive campaign platforms, naming systems, recurring formats and social series
Define, evolve and protect a distinctive brand voice, adapting tone intelligently across platforms, audiences, markets and cultural moments
Turn complex strategic, product or technical messages into simple, culturally relevant and highly shareable creative
Write natural, believable language for creators and talent that feels platform-native rather than overly scripted or advertising-led
Maintain exceptional standards of grammar, rhythm, clarity and verbal craft across every output
Present and defend copy choices with confidence, clearly explaining the strategic and creative thinking behind them
Platform-Native Thinking
Bring an expert understanding of how audiences behave across TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube and emerging platforms
Understand how language behaves differently across platforms, from immediate hooks and on-screen copy to captions, comments, scripts and community responses
Stay ahead of trends, creators, platform innovations and cultural shifts, identifying opportunities before they become mainstream
Champion ideas that enable brands to participate authentically in culture rather than simply reacting to it
Recognise the difference between following a trend and creating something distinctive and ownable for the brand
Content Creation & Craft
Lead the development of compelling creative concepts across copy, visual direction, storytelling and content formats
Collaborate closely with designers, motion creatives, editors and producers to bring ideas to life with exceptional craft
Write sharp, natural scripts for creators, talent, social films and platform-native entertainment
Shape the relationship between words, visuals, sound and edit so every element strengthens the core idea
Ensure every piece of work feels platform-native, culturally relevant and creatively distinctive
Be ruthless in the edit, making work shorter, clearer, sharper and more memorable without losing meaning
Reactive, Community & Editorial Creativity
Identify creative opportunities within comments, community conversations, creator interactions and live cultural moments
Write with the speed, judgement and confidence required for reactive social, without compromising brand voice or quality
Bring strong editorial judgement, identifying which ideas should become posts, formats, recurring series or larger campaign platforms
Exercise sound cultural judgement, understanding when a brand has a credible role in a conversation and when it should remain silent
Help build a brand presence that feels consistent, human and recognisable across both planned and unplanned moments
Collaboration & Leadership
Partner with multidisciplinary teams to develop integrated creative solutions
Work confidently with Creative Directors and senior stakeholders to shape and refine ideas
Present and sell creative ideas clearly to internal teams and clients, responding constructively to feedback while protecting the strength of the work
Provide guidance, inspiration and constructive feedback to more junior creatives where appropriate
Support the development of junior writers by raising standards of concept, copy and presentation craft
Thrive in a fast-paced environment, balancing multiple projects while maintaining creative excellence
Executional Standards
Set a consistently high standard of creative quality across all social outputs
Ensure ideas are strategically sound, creatively ambitious and flawlessly executed
Help shape content calendars, campaign rollouts and reactive opportunities with creative leadership
Use audience response, platform signals and performance data to sharpen creative thinking without allowing optimisation to flatten originality or brand distinctiveness
Champion innovation, experimentation and continuous improvement across the team
Take ownership from first thought through to final delivery, maintaining the integrity of the idea across scripts, decks, production and publishing
The Ideal Candidate Will
Be a writer first, with a sharp eye for visual storytelling and an instinct for how words and images work together in social
Live and breathe social media, internet culture and digital creativity
Have significant experience in a creative, social or digital agency environment developing social-first campaigns
Be an exceptional ideas person with the confidence to lead creative conversations and influence stakeholders
Be able to express a strong idea in one line, one frame or one compelling opening hook
Have an instinctive understanding of platform-native storytelling and audience behaviour
Be deeply connected to creators, trends, internet culture and emerging social behaviours
Be equally comfortable writing polished campaign language, natural creator dialogue and fast, culturally fluent reactive copy
Be able to shift tone confidently across humour, entertainment, utility, emotion and more elevated brand worlds
Have an outstanding portfolio demonstrating exceptional social-first copy, original campaign thinking, distinctive brand voices, scripts, reactive work and creator-led ideas across multiple platforms
Be comfortable leading projects from concept through to execution in collaboration with multidisciplinary teams
Be comfortable originating ideas independently rather than waiting for a visual route or format to define the concept
Be passionate about mentoring others, raising creative standards and continuously pushing the quality of the work
Have strong editorial and cultural judgement, with a clear point of view on what a brand should say, make or leave alone
Desirable (but not essential)
Experience leading creative development for global or large-scale brands
Experience presenting and selling creative ideas to senior clients and internal stakeholders
Strong understanding of content production, motion, design and creator-led workflows
Experience working across integrated campaigns where social is the lead creative channel
Experience defining or evolving brand tone of voice across multiple platforms and markets
Experience writing for creators, talent, entertainment formats or real-time social environments
We'd love to hear from you if this sounds like the right next step.
What's in it for you?
Aside from a generous annual leave allowance and pension allowances, you will have access to a whole host of other benefits and activities such as:
Life Assurance
Permanent Health Insurance
BUPA
Flexible hybrid-working schedule
Enhanced family friendly policies
Well-being Programme
Employee Assistance Support
Cycle to Work Scheme
Eye Care and Glasses Vouchers
Season Ticket Loans
WPP Discounts
You will also have a clear long-term career development plan and access to our learning and development activities and online learning platforms.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
VML is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, colour, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strive to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.
If you are unable or limited in your ability to access our career site as a result of a disability, we will be happy to assist you. Please contact our People Team at melissa.morton@vml.com to request an alternate accommodation. Please note that only requests for an employment application accommodation will be returned.
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
VML is a WPP agency (NYSE: WPP). For more information, please visit www.vml.com, and follow along on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
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