A Day in the Life of a Social Media Creative Manager at ESPN
A Creative Manager at ESPN spends the day in meetings, reviewing content, and collaborating with sports leads to prioritize projects; Mitchell describes the role as "putting that big vision into focus," helping to "put our designers in the best position to succeed," and knowing when to offer direction and then "step aside and let them cook."
Project Management, Communication, Teamwork, Problem-Solving, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Mitchell Clements
Creative Manager, Social Media
ESPN
University of California, Santa Barbara (2013)
UCLA Anderson School of Management (2026)
Political Science, American Studies
Arts, Entertainment & Media, Sports & Fitness
Creative
Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. A Creative Manager at ESPN spends a lot of time in meetings and reviewing content created internally or by outsourced teams.
2. They work with sports leads to prioritize projects and ensure the team's creative vision is realized within time and resource constraints.
3. A significant part of the role involves guiding and supporting talented designers, providing direction and allowing them the space to execute their creative ideas effectively.
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a creative manager look like?
I have lots of meetings and content reviews. I go over different pieces of creative that the team makes internally or if we outsource certain projects.
I also work with our different sport leads at the ESPN social team. They come up with big, beautiful ideas, and I help put that vision into focus. For example, they might have 20 big ideas for NBA tip-off.
Due to timing constraints and the amount of work we already have for the NFL and college football, I help balance that with the NBA. I provide guidance on big priorities and what we absolutely need to hit.
From there, I put our designers in the best position to succeed and deliver content to our audience. It's a lot of organizing and people management, along with delivering creative notes.
I've learned over the past two years that I work with very talented people. Sometimes it's best to give them a sense of direction and then step aside and let them create. That's generally what I do day to day.