About me
Ben was named McCann Worldgroup's APAC Creative Leadership Chair after leading the creative resurgence of McCann in Australia. He's now responsible for driving McCann's creative excellence across the APAC region.
Ben joined McCann after the sale of his agency SMART in 2011. Charged with reinventing the agency's integrated creative offering, McCann has since achieved record growth and been named Agency of the Year at D&AD, London International, Spikes Asia, Campaign Asia, Campaign Brief, Mumbrella and AWARD.
In 2013, McCann Australia made history as the world's most awarded agency in the The Gunn Report, Won Report and AdAgeAwards Report, for campaigns including Dumb Ways to Die (DWTD). Named the most awarded campaign in history, DWTD featured in both the AdAge Top 15 Ad Campaigns and Gunn Report 20 Best Commercials of the 21st Century. Since 2013, McCann has also been top ranked Australian agency in the World Advertising Research Centre, APAC Effies, Asian Marketing Effectiveness & Strategy, Australian Creative Effectiveness and Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Awards. Its award-winning work has even included the creation a new English word - "phubbing" - for Macquarie Dictionary.
A Psychology and Economics Major, Ben started as a creative with some of Australia’s most respected agencies, including George Patterson Y&R, McCann and DDB, before launching creative agency SMART in 2000. Described by AdNews as “one of the best known independent advertising success stories in Australia”, SMART was recognised in numerous local and global creative, effectiveness and agency of the year awards, as well as the BRW Fast100 and B&T Employer of the Year awards.
Ben has served on the board of the Advertising Federation of Australia and featured in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, AdNews’ Top Forty Under Forty and CEO of the Year Awards.
