Creative Strategist Job at Need Pastel in California

We’re looking for a freelance Creative Strategist who can turn cultural insight, social trends, and raw ideas into clear strategic direction and high-impact concepts. You’ll help shape the creative POV of campaigns across music, entertainment, lifestyle, and brand activations – working closely with Adrian, Miguel, and our creative team.

This is a role for someone who lives on the internet, understands communities, and has strong instincts for what resonates right now.

You should be just as comfortable developing brand strategies & campaign concepts as you are researching creator partners, analyzing audience behavior, and writing strategic decks.

This role can start as remote but we want someone who will be willing to work in office in Los Angeles.

What You’ll Do

• Translate cultural trends, audience behaviors, and platform shifts into strategic recommendations
• Develop creative insights, campaign angles, and “the big idea” concepts
• Build clear briefs for creative, design, and social teams
• Identify what makes an idea culturally sticky, shareable, and platform-native

Campaign Development

• Help conceptualize influencer campaigns, social series, brand activations, and creative stunts
• Collaborate with the creative team on ideation sessions (narratives, scripts, formats, storylines)
• Build structures for campaigns (narratives, content pillars, rollout plans)
• Support pitching by shaping decks, messaging, and high-level story arcs

Research & Analysis

• Conduct competitive/industry research across music, entertainment, CPG, and lifestyle sectors
• Analyze audience insights and creator communities
• Identify influencer categories, talent pools, and cultural networks (Latino, Gen Z, music culture, creator economy)
• Track performance of content or campaigns to identify learnings
• Recommend creators for campaigns (TikTok, IG, YouTube) based on tone, aesthetic, audience match
• Help build our growing network of creators across Latino, hip-hop, alternative, and pop culture spaces
• Develop briefs and storytelling angles for creator-led content
• Identify emerging creators early – people who are about to pop

Internal Collaboration

• Work closely with Adrian and Miguel to develop Need Pastel’s creative POV
• Partner with the social/content team to build platform‑specific strategies
• Support Jen and the PM team with clear, actionable briefs
• Add strategic clarity to big ideas so the team knows exactly how they should execute

What You Bring

• Experience working at a creative agency, production company, or brand is a plus
• Deep curiosity about culture, especially music, youth culture, internet culture, and creator communities
• Strong writing and concepting ability (decks, briefs, POV docs)
• Understanding of TikTok/IG trends, creator behavior, and cultural moments
• A POV on what makes things go viral, get shared, or resonate emotionally
• Thrives in fast, scrappy, creative environments
• Comfortable switching between strategy, research, and creative development

Seniority level

Entry level

Employment type

Contract

Job function

Marketing and Sales

Industries

Advertising Services