McCann Worldgroup Australia has confirmed the acquisition of creative agency Smart, to create a merged entity called McCann Erickson Australia (MEA).
MEA will be headed up by Smart owner and CEO Ben Lilley (pictured centre) who will step into the post of MEA CEO, replacing outgoing chief executive Chris Mort. Lilley will report into Charles Cadell who is the regional managing director of McCann Worldgroup, and based in Singapore.
Smart executive creative director John Mescall (left) takes reins of creative oversight at MEA and will have McCann ecd Michael Raso reporting into him.
Smart managing partner and planning director Ashley Farr (right) will oversee the Sydney office and lead the planning discipline.
McCann director of business strategy Helen Karabassis and McCann Melbourne MD James Graham will leave the merged agency and be replaced by Smart staff.
CEO Ben Lilley told B&T: “Both McCann Worldgroup and Smart and are strong full service agencies in their own right but by brining the tow of them together we are creating a merged agency where the sum is greater than its parts in terms of both the depth of talent, the entirelt complementary clients on both sides and the strength of the offering in terms of what we can take to market.
“We have had an incredibly busy year on the Smart side of things, and we are hoping to be able make several new announcements over the coming weeks.” he added. “The first priority is to properly ensure a seamless merger of the two entities.”
Outgoing McCann CEO Chris Mort said: “McCann is an organization with a tremendous global heritage. Ben and the outstanding team at SMART are an exceptional complement to our network and this partnership will give McCann Worldgroup locally every opportunity to realize its capabilities.”
http://www.bandt.com.au/news/mccann-worldgroup-confirms-smart-acquisition