Job Description

As a Creative Strategist at Provoke, you drive the development of creative strategy across brand platforms, campaigns, experiences, cultural initiatives and research. You are responsible for shaping clear, high-level strategic frameworks and turning them into execution-ready concepts that guide our internal teams, have an impact, and inspire clients. You will be working with accounts such as FIFA, Nike, Alpha Industries, and Snipes and on the internal strategic projects for Provoke and Proxy. 

You combine analytical and strategic thinking with a strong creative instinct. You translate/synthesize research findings, abstract ideas, briefings, and business challenges into compelling narratives and strategic direction. You develop flexible frameworks that align brand positioning, audience insights, and cultural relevance. Whether defining a brand’s long-term vision, sharpening its voice and behavior, or laying the foundation for a campaign or experience, you’re able to zoom out to see the bigger picture and zoom in to bring it to life.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the end-to-end strategic process, from cultural and consumer insight to campaign and experience activation.

• Shape the core of long-term brand platforms while architecting campaign-level strategy that connects to real audiences.

• Define and articulate strategic principles that shape tone, expression, identity, and brand behavior across every touchpoint.

• Embed cultural intelligence and nuances into every strategic recommendation to ensure contextual relevance and lasting impact.

Insight & Research

• Drive qualitative and quantitative research efforts that reveal true consumer needs and behaviors.

• Synthesize diverse information sources, from trend signals to behavioral data, into powerful strategic directions.

• Identify patterns, white spaces, and cultural opportunities that can be activated by the brand.

• Translate research findings into compelling narratives that fuel confident creative, and business decisions.

Strategic Storytelling & Tools

• Craft compelling strategic narratives that inspire and guide research, creative, and production teams.

• Develop and evolve strategic tools, from campaign frameworks to activation roadmaps that turn thinking into action.

• Design and refine strategic systems,  such as campaign structures, messaging hierarchies, and brand voice guidelines, that ensure consistent brand expression across every channel.

• Act as a cultural and strategic ambassador, raising the standard of strategic thinking across Provoke.

Collaboration & Communication

• Partner with creative directors, producers, project managers, and researchers to bring ideas to life.

• Present thinking with clarity, conviction, and energy to both internal teams and external stakeholders.

• Facilitate collaborative workshops and client strategy sessions that unlock collective alignment and excitement.

• Be a cultural and strategic ambassador across the agency — driving strategic excellence with generosity and ambition.

Innovation & Growth

• Support new business development by shaping winning pitch strategy and narratives.

• Contribute to the evolution of the agency’s strategic capabilities through mentorship, tools, and innovation.

• Stay constantly up-to-date to cultural, creative, and technological developments that can inform and elevate our work.

Who are you?

• You have 3 - 7 years of experience in brand, creative, or cultural strategy. Ideally within fast-paced, high-impact creative environments.

• You know how to build things from the ground up: brand positioning platforms, campaign strategies, audience architectures, and frameworks that turn insight into action.

• You think in systems but speak in stories, able to simplify complexity and articulate ideas clearly to both creatives and clients.
  You have a deep understanding of brand, culture, and how real people think, behave, and connect, especially within youth-driven and global cultural spaces.

• You're comfortable leading both long-term brand vision work and fast-moving campaign activations, with an instinct for what’s right for the moment.

• You’re a strong synthesizer, able to connect dots across research, culture, and data to shape direction that’s both inspiring and commercially sharp.

What We Offer

• A senior freelance role with direct impact on creative output

• Close collaboration with Creatives and Creative Directors 

• High-profile global clients and culturally relevant projects

• Ownership and autonomy across concepts and execution

• Competitive freelance rates, depending on scope and experience

• A founder-led, high-trust environment with short lines

• Option to work from our 1,000m² creative space in Amsterdam

Who Are We 

Provoke is a creative research laboratory and production house. We specialize in Research, Production, and Campaign Strategy, partnering with brands like FIFA, Nike, Jordan, Alpha Industries, Amazon Prime, and Snipes to transform creative ideas into reality.

Research is our foundation. For over a decade, we’ve conducted deep cultural research across 20+ European cities to decode youth, sports, fashion, and music culture. This allows us to understand the why: ensuring every strategy is rooted in relevance and cultural truth.

Campaign Strategy is how we create focus and momentum. We translate research into clear strategic direction by defining narratives, audiences and moments that matter, turning brand ambition into work that lands at the right time.

Production is where strategy comes to life. From fast social-first content to large-scale brand campaigns or live experiences, we produce sharp and culturally credible work, built for impact. Our trusted creative and production talents combine strong concepts with flawless execution.

Aside from working with world-class clients, Provoke is building its own media titles, events, and cultural experiences from our 1,000m² creative compound in Amsterdam West. Think music, fashion, sports, and tech colliding in one place.

We value doers over talkers. Execution over promise. Action over fluff. If you care about making ideas real and making them count, you’ll feel right at home at Provoke.

NOTE: an incorrect email address was previously listed in this vacancy.

we kindly ask you to resend your application to recruitment@provoke.nl.