Role TL;DR

Build and lead Rabitat's brand-and-growth creative engine: turn consumer, category and commercial objectives into integrated campaigns and high-performing, Meta-first creative across paid and owned channels. Set the quality bar, lead the in-house creative pod and use performance signals to decide what to scale, iterate or stop—without reducing the brand to short-term, discount-led communication.

Function: Brand / Marketing

Reports to: CMO / Head of Brand & Marketing

Works closely with: Founder, Category, D2C and Performance Marketing teams, Sales Channels and Agency Partners

About The Organisation

Rabitat is a high-growth consumer brand operating under parent entity Merlin Brands. Founded by Sumit Suneja and co-founder Siddharth, the organization has scaled to nearly 100 Crore ARR within 5 years. Our brand creates safe, functional and thoughtfully designed foodware, drinkware and everyday products for children and families. The brand operates at the intersection of parenting, product design, safety and everyday utility. Its products are built around real family routines - from school lunches and hydration to feeding and training - while making those routines easier for parents and more enjoyable for children.

We are already invested in defining our brand strategy and positioning with the help of a leading external branding agency. The next stage is to translate that strategic foundation into excellent, consistent and high-performing communication across every consumer touchpoint.

We are building the next phase of growth with a stronger brand and marketing foundation, a more deliberate D2C engine and a creative function that can operate with greater ownership, quality and speed.

About The Role

We are looking for a Creative Strategy Lead who can translate brand and business objectives into integrated campaign ideas, channel-specific creative systems and a consistently high quality bar across process and output.

The brand strategy and positioning are already defined. The challenge now is not to create isolated content or a single hero film; it is to build recognisable campaign ideas and adapt them intelligently across Meta, organic social, website, marketplaces, CRM, creators and larger brand films.

This is a brand-side creative leadership role with strong performance fluency. It is not a media-buying role, and it is not a traditional TVC, copy-only or filmmaking role. The marketing/category owner will define the business objective, consumer problem and category opportunity. The Creative Strategy Lead will turn that direction into a strong creative idea, a channel-specific asset system and measurable execution.

You will lead an existing in-house creative pod and determine how it should evolve for the next stage. This includes setting the quality bar, allocating work, coaching talent, identifying capability gaps and recommending any restructuring required.

This is not a writer-only, editor-only, filmmaker-only or production-only role. The strongest candidate will show integrated campaign leadership across concept, copy, design, video, creators and post-production. You should bring deep hands-on craft strength in at least one area and enough judgement across the others to brief specialists, direct execution, review work and protect final quality. Personal camera operation, lighting or editing is not a requirement.

You will not own media buying, campaign operations or the product P&L directly. You will be accountable for creative quality, brand distinctiveness, testing discipline and the creative contribution to growth. You should be able to read creative-level performance data, explain why an asset is winning or failing, and turn that learning into the next brief, hook, format or campaign route.

Responsibilities And Day-to-day

Translate strategy into creative direction

Convert Rabitat's positioning, personality and strategic objectives into clear creative direction.
Define how Rabitat should look, sound and behave across different consumer touchpoints.
Build and maintain practical creative principles, content pillars, messaging frameworks and visual systems.
Translate category and consumer insights into relevant hooks, stories, formats and campaigns.
Ensure that the brand has a recognisable point of view rather than producing disconnected content.
Maintain the balance between creativity, clarity, product truth and commercial relevance.

Lead the in-house creative agency

Lead and organise the existing creative team across design, video and content execution.
Set the creative quality bar and establish a consistent review process.
Evaluate the team's current strengths, gaps, roles and output quality.
Decide what should be handled internally and what should be assigned to agencies, freelancers or production partners.
Coach team members to improve their thinking, craft, speed and understanding of the brand.
Recommend changes to team structure, capability or workflow where necessary.
Build a culture that values strong ideas, high standards, ownership and timely delivery.

Own concepts and content across channels

Develop campaign ideas, content franchises, social formats, product stories and brand-led IPs.
Concept and produce static content, short-form video, long-form video, UGC, creator content, product demonstrations and campaign films.
Write or oversee scripts, hooks, headlines, captions, product copy, landing-page copy and campaign messaging.
Build communication for:

Organic social media
Meta and other paid media
Website and landing pages
Product pages and marketplaces
Email and CRM
Influencer and creator partnerships
Parent communities
Product launches and seasonal campaigns

Create work that is useful for both brand building and performance marketing.
Develop content that gives parents a reason to trust Rabitat and children a reason to enjoy it.

Direct creative development and production

Lead campaign ideas from brief through production, post-production and channel adaptation.
Set treatments, scripts, reference decks, storyboards, shot lists and clear creative criteria for execution teams and partners.
Direct internal teams and production partners across product, lifestyle, creator and campaign shoots.
Guide casting, locations, props, styling, production design and on-set decisions.
Work closely with videographers, photographers, editors, designers, creators and production partners.
Review rough cuts, edits, sound, motion, design, copy and final exports.
Ensure that the work holds attention, communicates the product clearly and delivers on the original idea.
Create platform-specific versions without losing the core creative thought.
Maintain a high standard of craft across both large campaigns and everyday content.

Partner with marketing and performance teams

Work with the marketing/category lead to understand business priorities, consumer needs and category opportunities.
Partner with the D2C and performance teams on creative hypotheses, testing matrices, variants and refresh cycles; media buying and campaign operations remain with the performance team.
Build asset systems across funnel stages, audiences, messages and formats rather than producing disconnected creatives.
Read creative-level Meta dashboards and performance reports directly.
Interpret signals including hook or thumb-stop rate, 3-second view rate, hold rate, watch time, view-through rate, CTR, CPC, conversion rate, CPA, ROAS, frequency and creative fatigue.
Diagnose why a creative is working or failing and translate that diagnosis into the next hook, format, message, edit or campaign route.
Balance short-term conversion learning with long-term brand distinctiveness and avoid defaulting to discount-led communication.
Establish a regular feedback loop between creative output, consumer response, the performance team and future production.

Manage agencies and external partners

Brief and manage creative, production, influencer, social, editing and design partners.
Communicate the quality bar and creative direction clearly.
Review external work and ensure that it is aligned with the brand strategy.
Build a reliable network of specialist partners who can be activated quickly.
Ensure that external partners are used for leverage, not as a substitute for internal ownership.
Coordinate with the Creative Producer / Project Manager on timelines, budgets, deliverables and approvals.

Improve the operating system

Create a clear process for briefs, ideation, reviews, approvals, production and delivery.
Establish a central tracker for all active creative work.
Improve turnaround time without compromising quality.
Create reusable templates, formats and production systems for recurring content.
Build an organised asset library with clear naming, versions, masters and usage rights.
Create a regular creative review and learning rhythm with the marketing and performance teams.

Typical day-to-day

Review the creative pipeline and prioritise work against business objectives.
Develop or review concepts, scripts, copy and creative briefs.
Direct or review shoots and post-production.
Give precise feedback on agency, team and freelancer work.
Work with performance marketing on creative tests and learnings.
Review social, website, product and campaign communication for consistency.
Guide the in-house team and unblock delivery.
Coordinate with the producer on upcoming shoots, deadlines and dependencies.
Identify opportunities to build Rabitat-owned formats, franchises and IPs.
Decide what Rabitat should say, how it should say it and where it should show up next.

30-60-90 day plan

First 30 days: Understand, audit and establish trust

Build a clear understanding of Rabitat's products, consumers, category and growth priorities.
Study the existing brand strategy, positioning, rebrand work and strategic recommendations.
Understand the relationship between the marketing/category lead, D2C team, performance team and creative pod.
Audit current work across social, paid media, website, marketplaces, content and product communication.
Review creative output, existing KPIs, production processes and team capabilities.
Meet the current creative team and key agency or freelancer partners.
Identify immediate quality gaps and high-impact opportunities.
Create a prioritised creative backlog and initial content roadmap.

Expected outcome: A clear diagnosis of the current creative function, its team, its output and the first set of improvements required.

Days 31-60: Set the bar and deliver visible work

Translate the brand strategy into practical creative principles and executional guidance.
Define the creative review, briefing and approval process.
Establish roles, ownership and ways of working within the creative pod.
Deliver quick-win improvements across social, performance content, website and product communication.
Lead at least one integrated campaign or product launch from the central idea through Meta, organic, website or marketplace and creator asset adaptations.
Develop a structured creative testing matrix covering routes, hooks, messages, formats and funnel stages.
Create or improve recurring content formats and brand-led content franchises.
Set up a reliable system for managing agencies, freelancers, budgets, files and timelines.
Begin tracking creative leading indicators consistently.

Expected outcome: Rabitat's work becomes visibly more consistent, distinctive and effective, with a stronger operating system behind it.

Days 61-90: Build the creative engine

Own the next quarter's brand, content and campaign roadmap.
Scale the formats, hooks and content territories that are showing promise.
Build a repeatable in-house production system for both brand and performance content.
Recommend any changes required to the existing team structure, roles or capabilities.
Establish a regular creative and performance review with marketing, category and D2C stakeholders.
Build a pipeline of Rabitat-led IPs, content franchises and high-quality brand films.
Improve production speed, asset reuse and cross-channel adaptation.
Define the long-term partner, agency and talent requirements for the creative function.
Present a clear plan for how Rabitat can operate like a high-quality in-house creative agency.

Expected outcome: Rabitat has a stronger creative identity, a capable internal team and a repeatable system for producing work that builds the brand and supports growth.

Past Experience And Candidate Requirements

Must-haves

Typically 8+ years of experience across integrated creative, digital advertising, brand campaigns, content or D2C marketing, including meaningful team leadership.
Experience leading multidisciplinary creative work from business brief and consumer insight through campaign idea, asset architecture, production and final delivery.
A portfolio with at least three clear case studies: one D2C, ecommerce or performance-led campaign; one integrated brand campaign; and one product launch, seasonal campaign or repeatable BAU creative system.
Ability to explain the business problem, audience insight, central idea, channel plan, personal contribution, results and subsequent learning behind the work.
Strong Meta and paid-social creative literacy, including the ability to interpret creative-level performance data and use it to shape future work.
Experience across several digital formats such as statics, carousels, short-form video, UGC, creator content, product demonstrations, landing pages and marketplace assets.
Deep craft strength in at least one discipline, combined with the judgement to direct writers, designers, editors, creators and production partners across the others.
Strong visual and communication judgement: the ability to create work that is distinctive, easy to understand and commercially relevant.
Ability to evaluate talent, improve output quality and make clear decisions on team structure, workflows and accountability.
Ability to present and defend a creative point of view using consumer logic, brand strategy and performance evidence while remaining open to useful feedback.

Good-to-haves

Experience building or transforming an in-house creative function at a D2C, ecommerce or consumer brand.
Experience partnering closely with performance marketers on meaningful paid-social creative volume and testing.
Category exposure across kids, parenting, home, lifestyle, foodware, FMCG, wellness or products where safety, utility and trust influence purchase.
Experience creating brand-led IPs, recurring content franchises, creator ecosystems or UGC systems.
Experience writing or directing content in Hinglish or Indian languages.
Familiarity with website, landing-page, marketplace, CRM and product-page communication.
Experience creating strong brand work and high-performing digital assets within practical startup budgets and timelines.
Experience managing creative or production budgets and a network of specialist partners.

What To Show Us In Your Portfolio

Please include three case studies rather than only a gallery of final work. For each case, show:

The business or consumer problem
The audience insight and central creative idea
The asset and channel system created
Your personal role and the team you led
How the work was distributed or tested
The metrics, learning and next creative iteration

Non-negotiables

You can show at least one real example where performance data changed a creative decision or the next iteration.
You think across brand and performance, not only copy, design, filmmaking, production or media buying.
You are a hands-on leader who can shape briefs, ideas and feedback without needing to personally execute every specialist craft.
You can discuss Meta creative metrics with specificity and translate them into better hooks, messages, formats and campaigns.
You understand that Rabitat is building a brand, not operating a factory for disconnected creatives.
You can lead an existing team, create structure from ambiguity and make difficult calls about quality, capability and accountability.
You can work productively with founders, marketing leaders, category owners, performance teams, agencies and junior team members.
You care about building something distinctive and commercially effective, not just completing a brief.

Creative Strategy Lead (Brand and Growth) | Rabitat (Merlin Brands)