CB Hot Suit Takes: Ben Lilley, Creative Chairman, HERO and McCann Australia
CB Hot Suit Takes is our new Q&A series for extremely busy CEOs and senior leaders across the industry ~ covering careers, creativity, challenges and the song that sums it all up. Next in the hot seat is Ben Lilley (above right), Creative Chairman, HERO and McCann Australia.
1. What made you get into advertising?
One word: G-O-G-G-O. As a kid, I usually liked TV ads more than the shows. Classics like Yellow Pages, Eat le Wagon Wheel, Is Don Is Good. I’d draw up and script my own ideas, then act them out with my sister Jess (who I then went on to work with and now also has her own agency, The Open Arms). Now as a ‘grown up’, being in a creative agency still feels a lot like being a kid.
2. Which piece of work are you most proud of, and why?
It would be easy to say Dumb Ways to Die. But I’m going to say Maybelline Through Their Eyes, targeting online harassment. This was a campaign with an important message (especially as a dad of three girls). It was also a campaign that really put HERO on the map, the first Lion I got to collect with Shane Geffen (above left) after he joined us as ECD and the first Lion Maybelline had ever won
3. What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role right now?
Staying out of the way! I love our business and the craft and at times can still get a little too ‘invested’. I’m not a hands-on creative anymore though, so when I try to help build on the work where I can, I should probably just STFU…
4. What’s the most recent thing you’ve learned – professionally or personally?
That AI is not taking our jobs. Don’t get me wrong, I use it daily and it’s a great business tool. But the more LinkedIn posts I see of ‘I created this in 5 minutes with just one prompt and a banana, bye bye agency’, the more it proves how vital human genius and creativity is for truly innovative and fresh thinking. AI ain’t that.
5. What song best sums up your career so far?
Messy by Lola Young
Read Lisa Sutton Gardner’s Hot Suit Takes here