EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
Running an independent agency like
SMART had its challenges, as Ben
explains, “We had grown rapidly
because we had great ambitions for our
clients, and also great ambitions for our
own business, both creatively and also
in terms of growth. It was still evolving,
but there was a whole raft of challenges
ahead of us. We had just under 100
people across Australia and New
Zealand, and to try and grow to a
200-person agency came with a lot
of challenges.”“There are some limitations when you’re
running your own company,
particularly going through the global
financial crisis and a few other hair-
raising moments. After twelve years of
that it was starting to feel a little bit like
Groundhog Day in terms of the usual
aspects of running our own
independent agency.”In 2011, SMART was approached by
McCann with the proposition of a
reverse takeover. McCann would
acquire SMART, but Ben and his
partners John Mescall and Ashley
Farr would take over the national
McCann management and
creatively overhaul and reinvent
McCann Australia.“When we were approached by McCann
we’d all sworn to ourselves that we
never wanted to work at another
multinational agency again — we were
enjoying building our own business in
reaction to a lot of the negatives that
we’d seen with the bigger players. But
the idea of a reverse takeover was very
appealing; the fact that we were coming“My primary focus is to continue to offer our clients the most strategic,
creative and effective solutions for their business and marketing
problems while the world continues to rapidly change around them
and around us.” - Ben Lilley