Ben Lilley on his return, acquisition strategy and making McCann ‘the best creative agency’ in Australia

In his first interview since returning to McCann as its new owner and creative chairman, Ben Lilley spoke with Mumbrella’s Zoe Wilkinson about coming home, burn out and his new acquisition strategy.

When Ben Lilley walked through the doors of McCann two weeks ago, he felt like he was home.

After departing the agency two years ago as CEO and creative chairman, Lilley felt the need to “re-engage [his] business brain again” so he reached out to McCann Worldgroup global CEO Harris Diamond.

“I literally emailed Harris Diamond out of the blue and said, ‘Hey, I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have left. I left too soon. I miss you. Can I come back? And, also maybe there’s an opportunity to buy my agency back?’” Lilley recounts.

“And so the conversation kind of went from there.”

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