CB Exclusive: McCann promotes Australia’s John Mescall to global executive director role
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B Exclusive – McCann today announced the promotion of Australia’s John Mescall to the new role of Global Executive Creative Director.
Mescall is currently Executive Creative Director of McCann Australia, a position he has held since October 2011. Mescall will relocate to New York in the coming months and join recently announced Global ECD’s James Dawson-Hollis and Bill Wright as part of McCann Worldgroup Global Creative Chairman Rob Reilly’s initiative to strengthen the agency’s creative leadership.
“John’s all talent and no ego and he has helped lead McCann Australia to become one of the best agencies in the world. John now has the opportunity to magnify what he does on a global stage. I am certain that John’s reputation for delivering stellar work will be a magnet for recruiting the best and brightest to McCann,” said Reilly.
Under Mescall’s leadership, McCann Australia has quickly become one of Australia’s most dynamic and most awarded agencies. Prior to joining McCann, Mescall was Partner and Executive Creative Director of SMART (which was acquired by McCann Worldgroup in 2011), one of the most successful and progressive independent agencies in Australia.
A writer and creative director, Mescall has won more than 30 Cannes Lions, including 5 Grand Prix for Metro Trains “Dumb Ways to Die” and in 2014 1 Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness for V/Line. His other awards include: Black and Yellow Pencils at D&AD, Best of Show at The One Show, and multiple Clio and Webby awards. Mescall’s work has also been featured in TED’s “Ads Worth Spreading” initiative, the only Australian work to ever be selected.
“It’s a seriously exciting time at McCann,” said Mescall. “The opportunity to work closely with Rob was just too big not to take, and we’re very aligned on the kind of work we seek to do. He has a very ambitious agenda for the network and wants creativity to permeate everything we do. The move allows me to leverage my experience, and I look forward to playing a bigger role in our collective future.”
6 Comments
I sense it will end in tears. I don’t know John, but he strikes me as the sort of genuine, naturally talented, unaffected creative guy who will run into a massive brick wall in New York. That he managed to get a great campaign up at in an Australian McCann office is certainly a feat. I worked in one in the 13th century and one was always struggling against the forces of conservatism both within the agency and amongst its clients. I too scored a few hits in my day, but the victories are short-lived. I doubt that the corporate culture has changed too much since then. Key Point: The monolith that is McCanns is a business in which the making of advertising is an annoying nuisance which gets in the way of its true purpose – making money. Resistance to fresh, fun ideas is part of McCann Erikson’s DNA. That is McCanns default position. ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ was a fluke – not in its inception because that’s all credit to John and whoever else thought it up – but that it got through The System. John will find this out at his peril as they try to remake him in their own image. He will be a novelty act, paraded as some sort of Messiah – until it all falls over and he is fired for trying to change what can not be changed. How can I be so confident in making this bold prediction? It happened to me.
What kind of guy takes an opportunity don draper turned down…twice.
Old CD guy’s prediction applies to almost any big business agency.
To make any lasting creative change at the top, you need longevity and a huge and varied body of work. Not multiple wins across multiple categories based on a few pieces of work.
Good luck to anyone offered such a position.
Advice to the wise, don’t blow every cent of your paycheck. Unless you got a golden parachute written into your contract.
It has Tim Sherwood managing Tottenham Hotspurs FC written over it.
Here’s the thing.
I’m sitting here and going through the Cannes winners. There’s some good stuff. And then there’s stuff, like the radio Grand Prix winners, that I’m not even sure I would have entered. It’s just so derivative and ordinary. And it makes me want to drink a Red Bull. Pity it’s not for Red Bull. Maybe that makes me out of touch. Dunno.
But it got me thinking about this career called advertising.
You work really, really hard, against all odds, and mostly against the clients you’re doing the work for, to get something good up. Everything is an uphill battle. Everyone, from client service to client to media (especially media) tries their best to kill or dilute or change your idea. But, just occasionally, you manage to get it up. And you win. And it’s glorious.
And right at the pinnacle, you get something truly astounding up, like Dumb Ways to Die. Universally adored. Just fucking magnificent work.
And you win. Everything.
And your prize is to become the global creative head-man of an advertising conglomerate.
Huge ego boost. Even bigger salary. Worldwide respect. You have arrived.
But what do you really get? Longer hours fighting more difficult battles. Politics and back biting. And a ticket to another country, where you’re essentially alone.
Make no mistake, you’re alone. I’ve done it more than once, and it’s harder than anyone will ever care to admit. You lose your family and identity and the ability to just pop down the road and hang out with your friends. Your partner will hate it, after the initial gloss wears off. And your kids will struggle, even though they’ll put on a brave face, because they’re just kids and it’s hard to fit in and their friends are suddenly all gone.
And that’s the ultimate glittering prize? That’s what you get for winning every award, and proving that you’re a creative god amongst men. A ticket to a life that’s going to be way more stressful and way less fun than the one you have now.
I wish John the very best of luck, and I hope it works out beautifully. But I think the whole system is irrevocably fucked.
Not many get the chance to go work in the biggest and most exciting advertising market in the world, John is right to answer this call. He’ll come back miles ahead of us in other parts of the world.