My Creative Career: John Mescall, the new creative chair at By The Network
As he departs McCann’s Global Creative Community to join By The Network as creative chair, John Mescall shares the story of his life and career so far.
John Mescall on his career
Born in Australia, Mescall was always the type of kid who loved daydreaming, coming up with stories and reading but in a weird twist found himself studying economics at university instead of pursuing a more creative subject. Initially, he had considered advertising, but his parents didn’t quite believe it was a real job.
The realization soon hit that he just wasn’t good enough at math to be an economist, but there was one piece of information he took away from the course that stuck with him: most purchasing decisions that people make are based on emotion, not logic. Humans can be a little irrational, after all.
“I had this sort of mini-crisis, where it was like, Oh, my God, you know, what am I going to do,” he recalls. “And then I remembered advertising. So I kind of went back to that. I hadn't studied it, I just started to write to agencies trying to get a gig. It's not a great way to do it. I didn't have a book or anything. I came into it sideways and it took me a while to get established.”
Mescall began his career as a writer at a small B2B agency in Melbourne, where he stayed for two years before moving to JWT. He was partnered with an art director and says that back then, junior creatives even had their own offices – which might blow people’s minds nowadays.
“It was fun because the creative process was given a lot of respect. Neither of us really knew what we were doing, but we were learning and we got a lot of mentorships,” Mescall says. “People would listen, and they would actually take my stupid ideas seriously. I’m still sometimes blown away by that.”
He adds that when he first started in advertising there really was only outdoor, film and print media to contend with which meant you could get your teeth into crafting ads.
“You could focus on individual mediums, and we had more time,” he adds, laughing: “I'm describing what sounds very utopian.” He caveats this by saying that the opportunities available today, the multiple lanes you can play in, provide even greater opportunities for creatives.
A pinch-me moment came during those years when Mescall was given the Kraft account. Back then the brand was pretty “middle of the road” and alongside his creative partner, they began coming up with more playful ideas that pushed the brand.
“It was so cool that not only do we get to think up ideas for a living, but we're actually putting work out that regular people can see,” he explains. “There’s this weird sense of not power, but it's influence. It was exciting and fulfilling. Most jobs, you go do them and what you make never lives in the world.”
Mescall believes that creatives love billboards because they are the most public of all mediums and now, often the best way to blow up on social media. “It's going to get a reaction, he explains. “Some people will hate it, someone's going to be offended, someone's going to love it. Assuming it's got an idea.”
Back in the day, Mescall says they would do something called the “taxi driver test”, which meant you knew when you had made a good ad if the driver was talking about it or when they had seen some of your work.
While still living in Australia, the creative started his own independent agency called Smart, which was acquired by McCann in 2011 and became McCann Melbourne. Two years later it was the top-ranked creative agency in the world. It was during this time that Mescall created his favorite piece of work.
“One of the first things we put out the door was called ‘The Impossible Orchestra’,” he remembers. “It was a pitch for a small job from the federal government to do something to help recognize people who care for their loved ones with disabilities.”
It’s a project that was close to Mescall's heart and he understands the 24/7 care needed to look after family members who need it. It was only five years after his own daughter had suffered a disability.
The campaign was about a 24-hour orchestra that dramatized the beauty and the discipline of caring for someone who needs round-the-clock care. The 1,000-seat Hamer Hall in Melbourne hosted the event, which was live-streamed globally. Mescall recalls that they filled every single seat.
“You know, I think it got one bronze Lion in its life, but I don't care,” he says. “That will always be the piece of work that had the biggest impact on me, maybe not on the world or the industry, most people have never heard of it, but I remember how we made it and the people that I made it with.”
Shortly after, in 2014, Rob Reilly joined McCann and asked Mescall to come to New York to take on a global role in the network.
Mescall recalls that those early conversations with Reilly were great as he is someone who doesn’t put people into pigeonholes. One of the first accounts Mescall worked on at that time was Microsoft.
“It was my first exposure to a global client from the inside,” he explains. “It was a really interesting learning experience that was fun but it was also pretty challenging, I was adapting to US culture. I thought I knew because it exports itself but the devils in the detail and all the nuances; it just took me a while.”
For the past 12 years, he’s been at the agency, eventually holding the prestigious title of both president of the global creative council and global executive creative director. He's won pretty much every award going for ads such as 'Dumb Ways to Die' for Metro Trains, Mastercard's 'Where to Settle' and 'ThisAbles' for Ikea.
Toward the end of last year, he revealed he would be moving on. Exclusively today, The Drum can reveal that Mescall will be joining By The Network as creative chair. On the move, he said: "Often life is as simple as following the truth to wherever it takes you. What’s true about advertising is that the best agencies are run by creative people. And the best work happens when great talent gets to work directly with ambitious clients.
"This is exactly what excites and inspires me about By The Network. Every agency is owned and led by creative people. Every client gets to work with those people. And the only thing any of us care about is creativity that’s as potent and powerful as we can make it. Why else are we here?"
You get the sense that Mescall finds so much happiness working in advertising. “I love advertising when it's done the right way,” he concludes. “There are certain behaviors I believe that lead to great work, but also lead to people growing and also lead to the job being as enjoyable as it can be.”