Abstract image of flowing, wispy, semi-transparent light blue and white lines on a black background.
Abstract image of flowing blue and white light trails against a black background.

I’ve spent my career helping brands earn attention, build meaning, and create ideas with gravity that endure beyond the campaign cycle.

A man with short dark hair and a beard wearing a dark blue shirt, sitting in front of a gray backdrop.
Portrait of a man with short dark hair and beard, wearing a dark blue button-up shirt, standing against a gray backdrop.

I’m a Creative Director with over 20 years’ experience building agencies, reviving underperforming brands, and shaping award-winning work across global markets. Over that time, I’ve led creative departments of all sizes, developed brand strategy, written and directed film, and produced campaigns for drinks, travel, financial services, and technology brands.

My approach blends clear strategy with powerful storytelling and AI-augmented craft. I believe brands earn their place not by shouting louder, but by creating ideas with gravity — ideas that attract attention, carry cultural weight, and endure beyond the campaign cycle.

Alongside this, I help teams navigate and integrate AI transformation; finding practical, ethical, and creative ways for technology to empower people rather than replace them. From developing new creative systems to rethinking workflows, I focus on building collaborative processes where human intuition and machine intelligence work in harmony.

I work with ambitious businesses, founders, and teams who want more than noise. Whether inside an agency, embedded in an in-house team, or alongside a challenger brand, I bring senior creative leadership, proven experience, and the ability to push work further with the latest tools and thinking. I’m currently ECD of Hue & Cry and will be available from 15 November 2025.

My approach

Cultural Intelligence

I connect brands to what matters now — ideas that feel timely, relevant, and have the ability to build gravity.

Strategy x Emotion

Every idea begins with clarity of purpose and ends with something that moves people.

Distinctive Systems

Creative platforms designed to endure beyond single campaigns, building memory and long-term value.

Newsworthy Ideas

I design ideas that attract attention, not interrupt it — work that earns its way into people’s lives.

AI-enhanced Craft

I use the latest tools to explore faster, visualise sharper, and push ideas further without losing human intuition.

Ways of working

  • I help brand teams raise their game — delivering work and building capability at the same time.

    • Campaign concepting and creative direction

    • Brand platform development

    • Pitch and initiative leadership

    • Team training and mentoring

    • Integrating AI tools into creative workflow

  • I support agencies with senior creative firepower when they need it most — from pitches to production.

    • Creative leadership across campaigns and platforms

    • Pitch development and presentation coaching

    • Conceptual idea generation at speed

    • Creative reviews, sharpening and crafting work

    • AI-powered ideation and visualisation tools

  • I guide ambitious businesses to define who they are and build the ideas that set them apart.

    • Brand positioning and story development

    • Visual and verbal identity direction

    • Campaign concepting and execution

    • Content and communications strategy

    • Creative workshops for founders and leadership teams

Collaboration with Gen AI and Agentic AI.

I’m part of the first wave of creative directors applying generative AI in real brand work, from concepting and prototyping to production and training. Since 2019 I’ve not just been testing tools, but delivering creative work across campaigns, content, and production. From experimental soundscapes for audiobooks in 2020 to full integration into team workflows in 2025, I’ve built a thoughtful, strategic approach to AI. Always applied with intent, never just for the novelty.

I work with a carefully considered AI stack and I’m also currently enrolled with MIT’s Applied Agentic AI for Organisational Transformation course.

Let’s work together

mike@mikebeukes.com
+44 (0)7709 039 909