Dynamic Duos: the yin to my yang
In this week's Dynamic Duos, uberbrand's CEO, Dan Ratner, and finance and operations manager, Clinton McMahon, share how they instantly hit it off with one another, can always know what the other one is thinking, and how their partnership is different to typical agency leaders.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two colleagues with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.
Dan Ratner:
When I was looking for someone to help me manage the agency and grow into a bigger role over time, I decided to use a recruitment consultant for the first time, and that’s when they introduced me to Clinton. During our coffee meeting, I instantly knew he was the right person for the job, and much to his surprise, I may have even offered him the job on the spot. Meeting him was definitely a highlight for me.
Clinton stood out for me, not just because of his height, his experience or fit for the role – I just had a really good feeling. Just meeting him was definitely a highlight for me.
Our relationship has evolved over time, much more towards what I call a friendship – someone I can always talk to and use as a sounding board. We support each other in that respect. It’s interesting how we describe our partnership in terms of operational and strategic roles, rather than the typical creative partnership.
This leads me to a bigger point – one of the things that makes uberbrand different is not working to a traditional structure. While I’m running the practical elements of uberbrand as agency CEO, I’m both an executive strategy director and creative director – it can be a bit overwhelming – so knowing Clinton is there looking after the practical elements of the agency is incredibly helpful. Clinton provides the commercial foundation for the agency so it can focus on creativity and great work.
What’s unique in our partnership is that it’s been built on embracing new ideas and experiences so that we have fresh perspectives and ways of looking at things. At uberbrand, we’re not rooted in traditions, and our architecture was built on doing things differently. This unique approach and the harmony between our operational and strategic roles sets us apart from other agencies, and I think it’s contributed to uberbrand’s success. As an essentially strategy-led creative agency, we recognise the need for a solid and structured foundation to support the freedom to think conceptually. Clinton provides that stability taking care of the business side, allowing me to focus on the team, projects, the output and clients.
It’s like having the hard and soft parts working together. It needs both of us.
Clinton McMahon:
When I interviewed with Dan in 2017, I was transitioning from a corporate background to an agency, and his description of the role resonated with what I was looking for. From the start, there was something genuine about him that struck me. His enthusiasm was infectious, and I appreciated the warmth of our interaction.
As our roles evolved, our partnership naturally shifted towards being authentic collaborators. Trust and mutual respect are at the core of our relationship, allowing us to navigate the challenges of the agency together genuinely. The role itself has evolved from what I first started out with. I started by managing internal operations of the agency, and then I grew with different people leaving as I took on more responsibilities. I’ve grown into the finance and operations side of things now. Last year I was shortlisted as a finalist as ‘Most Valuable Finance Team Member’ at the WEEL CFO awards. This summarises what’s involved in running an agency.
Dan and my relationship is built on trust – we trust each other. Our best interests are shared. When new business comes in, people buy into what Dan talks about. They have confidence in him. As a values driven person, this is important to me. I have to like the people I work with, the work they do and be proud of the output of our business. I love that Dan is well-liked, he draws on really unique and interesting experiences that help us solve quite complicated strategic problems. I also like how Dan is very direct with clients; he isn’t afraid to challenge their perspectives to help them achieve better results.
He is also quite humble and loves to see people grow and achieve – there are probably a lot more people out in the industry that have spent time at uberbrand, with fond memories and great foundational learnings doing great things right now. Everyone that knows uberbrand knows that there is a method, and the pathways to a solution happen through the application of guardrails and an open mind – there is no predetermined outcome and that’s how we’ve designed our processes. That lack of predetermination give us the licence to think outside the square.
We don’t create for the sake of creating, and we have guardrails to our processes, as opposed to hard and fast rules, which create conversation and a safe space to explore concepts
Dan on Clinton:
Most memorable moment with Clinton: I have to say it was when I first met him.
The positivity and promise he showed during that meeting have carried on throughout our partnership. He just gave me such a positive feeling. It was a defining moment that set the tone for everything that followed.
Best word to describe him: He is solid, reliable, credible, and a genuinely good person. He embodies all the values we appreciate.
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: The most endearing behaviour Clinton has with me is that he can understand what I am thinking without the need to say anything – and vice-versa.
We can read each other and speak to each other without words. All we need to do is look at each other and just understand what is going on – there’ll be days when we don’t speak to each other at all. Clinton has different objectives than me but we are working towards the same goals.
Clinton on Dan:
Most memorable moment with Dan: We had a team-building event where we went to this place called Cork and Canvas on Oxford St in Darlinghurst. It was a painting class where we all got paired up. Funnily enough, Dan and I ended up being partners.
The objective was for the teacher to guide us in painting a Picasso-style portrait of each other. I’m not a great painter, but as we went along, Dan started doing his own thing and ended up painting a portrait of me. That portrait is now hanging at home.
Best word to describe him: Big thinking. Dan’s creativity, ways of thinking and communication style are both unique and admirable.
In contrast, I focus on ensuring the agency’s stability and handling the business side efficiently. Our partnership isn’t just about working side by side – it’s about genuinely supporting each other to achieve the best outcomes for uberbrand.
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour he has: Intelligence. He’s got all this intelligence behind him from all the years of experience with the agency.
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Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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