About me
I'm Braden Buckner, a Creative Director who architects the strategies, systems, and teams that make brands scale.
For over 14 years, I've led creative for companies like The Home Depot, Truist, and Waffle House. I've led brand and content strategy for Stan Lee's only non-Disney-owned IP as an NFT. Shaped brand positioning for an AI fintech company. Directed music videos featured on Billboard. Produced a documentary about a man who survived nine rounds with cancer. And most recently, I built a marketing and creative department from the ground up for a leading metal manufacturer, spearheading a full corporate rebrand.
The through-line across all of it: I turn complex ideas into clear, compelling stories, then build the creative systems to deliver them at scale.
How I work
I'm not the kind of creative director who hands off a mood board and walks away. I'm in the room giving real-time feedback inside Premiere Pro, reviewing CAD standards with engineering, building message matrices that drive campaign performance, and standing in front of leadership making the case for why creative matters to the bottom line. I lead from inside the work.
What I care about most is building teams and systems that outlast any single campaign. The kind of creative infrastructure that compounds over time. Strategy that holds up. Operations that scale. Work that people are proud to put their names on.
Whether that's in-house or agency-side, I'm looking for a team that values creative excellence and wants a leader who can own the vision and build the machine that brings it to life.
Beyond the work
Everything I do comes back to storytelling. I love writing, directing, and sometimes acting in music videos, and I'm deep into screenwriting. I’m currently working on scripts that range from A24-style suspense to a major action epic. I study the craft, not just watch movies. My POV as a writer is rooted in stories that build cultural fabric, not just critique it.
I'm a reader in the truest English-major sense. I've sat on architectural juries, write poetry when a moment demands it, and write songs and scores with my producer friend when inspiration strikes. I just love creating things and building worlds.
My wife is my favorite person, and you'll know all about her if we work together. We love traveling to cities with great architecture, museums, and coffee shops, and we both lead at church. Our Fall Saturdays belong to Georgia football. Go Dawgs.