Job Description

About us:

We are the

brand psychology experts.

Based in Birmingham, but with a global footprint, we are the only UK consultancy to combine expertise in brand, marketing, people and culture with a mastery of psychology.

We work with clients ranging from global corporates (e.g. HSBC, JLL, Cisco, Descartes) to ambitious SMEs.

Role and Responsibilities

:

This role goes far beyond the traditional remit of a digital agency copywriter.

As the brand psychology experts, Cognition is the only consultancy in the UK to combine expertise in branding, marketing, people and culture with a mastery of behavioural science.

Everything we do is powered by psychology and the oversight of our Scientific Board. Our rigorous evidence-based approach is delivering results for organisations of every size in more than 30 countries.

While agencies scramble desperately to differentiate their offerings in the AI era, Cognition has a wholly unique proposition.

Your role will be to bring this proposition to bear in all messaging, creative, and content.

You will be passionate about the untapped potential of psychological innovation. An intellectually curious writer, you will relish the challenge of translating cognitive biases into compelling messaging and creative concepts.

Impeccable writing skills are a given.

You will have opinions on Oxford commas and split infinitives.

But, what will set you apart from other candidates is your

creative and conceptual ability.

You will obsess over finding the perfect brand proposition line and take a meticulous approach to crafting high-level brand messaging, as well as granular substantiations.

You will thrive on briefs where clients with complex products and services want to truly understand the psychological motivations of their ICP. You will take passionate ownership of their brand voice and messaging strategy as you flow it seamlessly through high-level messaging pillars to paid ad copy, email workflows, social profiles and beyond, presenting your work eloquently to clients along the way.

Strong research skills are a must.

Your work will always be driven by psychological evidence. While the core psychology for each project will typically be provided by the Creative Director, Strategy Director or CEO (Dr Peter Hughes), you will be expected to understand these principles, biases and heuristics deeply through your own independent research and continuous learning.

As part of Cognition's research activities ('Data System'), you will be expected to

conduct interviews

with client stakeholders and customers to elicit key insights. Beyond this, you will be comfortable assessing multiple data points (e.g. interviews, client immersion sessions, customer experience mapping, competitor reviews, psychological literature reviews) and applying your analytical skills to identify key insights in the form of Thematic Analysis.

In summary, this is the ideal role for a creative writer who wants to flee the busted bandwagon of content marketing, escape the endless churn of AI slop, and put their mind to something deeper and altogether more rewarding.

The Person

You will need to work under pressure and to tight deadlines while demonstrating a flexible approach to your workload. You will need to possess commercial awareness to ensure that content and creative adds value and achieves specific objectives. This will mean challenging briefs from time to time and working with clients and colleagues to design strategies and appropriate content to deliver results.

You will need to be a highly

versatile copywriter

with the ability to move from crafting high-level brand messaging to producing tactical content and short copy.

You will also relish the challenge of

'context switching'

between different briefs, accounts and industries - often in a single day.

You will be highly organised and comfortable with managing your work schedule, liaising directly with account managers to obtain sufficient briefs and discuss delivery outputs and timings.

You will be curious about advances in AI. While nothing beats human creativity, you will be open to using AI tools where appropriate to support your craft. Equally, you will be well-informed on the biases that can compromise AI output and apply critical thinking to all AI-generated projects. When you do prompt, you will do so carefully and with a meticulous eye on editing the final output.

The role will report to the

Creative Director,

and you will be expected to work closely with our Design lead to establish a tight-knit creative team.

Cognition operates a hybrid working policy to give our people the best of both worlds - in-person collaboration as well as remote work for deep thinking and more intensive tasks.

In line with this policy, you must be able to commute to Cognition's Birmingham city centre office at least two days per week.

The salary for this role is 28,000 - 35,000 depending on experience.

Essential:

At least one year of experience in a marketing, branding, journalistic or relevant creative environment writing copy across multiple channels - including brand messaging, website content, long-form editorial, social media posts, email workflows, video scripts etc. A keen interest in psychology and behavioural economics - while you may not have academic qualifications in these subjects, you will be able to demonstrate your passion for these fields and awareness of the profound impact they have on branding, marketing, people and culture. Exceptional copywriting, editing and research skills. A near-obsession with grammar, punctuation, tone of voice and elements of style. Quality control is essential. Strong presentation skills. The ability to take complex and often technical subjects and distil these topics into compelling messaging and content without compromising credibility and accuracy. Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills.

Preferred:

While not essential, academic qualifications in psychology and behavioural science (and related fields) are encouraged. A commitment to creative pursuits outside of work. We would like to see evidence of a 'restless creative mind' in your choice of interests and hobbies.
To apply for this role, please email your CV and Cover Letter to olly.f@cognitionagency.co.uk and cc hello@cognitionagency.co.uk.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: 28,000.00-35,000.00 per year

Benefits:

Casual dress Company events Company pension Employee mentoring programme Flexitime Sick pay Work from home
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Birmingham B2 5AF