A senior Executive Creative Director at We Are Social departed to join Smarts, the consulting division inside MSQ Partners, marking another instance of strategy-first firms recruiting creative leadership directly from agency ranks. The executive's LinkedIn announcement surfaced this week without fanfare, noting the transition occurred after tenure at the social-first network.
Smarts operates as MSQ's strategic consultancy arm, positioned alongside the group's 14 operating brands spanning creative, media, and insight practices. The division advises on brand architecture, portfolio strategy, and organizational design—work historically separate from executional creative. We Are Social, a 650-person social and content network owned by You & Mr Jones since 2021, has maintained its London headquarters as a creative hub for platform-native campaigns. The departure removes one layer of creative oversight at a moment when social platforms continue fragmenting attention.
The hire reflects two concurrent shifts. First, consultancies continue staffing creative capabilities after a decade of buying agencies outright. Accenture acquired Droga5 in 2019 for an undisclosed sum. Deloitte operates Deloitte Digital. PwC runs its Experience Center practice. These firms initially hired strategists and technologists, then art directors and copywriters. Now they recruit ECDs—the layer responsible for conceptual vision and team culture. Second, senior creatives increasingly view consulting paths as preferable to holding-company politics. MSQ, a mid-tier independent with 3,200 staff and £456 million in 2023 revenue, offers equity participation unavailable at subsidiary networks. An ECD joining Smarts gains exposure to C-suite client conversations typically mediated by account directors at traditional agencies.
For allocators, the personnel move signals margin pressure inside social-specialist networks. We Are Social built its model on platform expertise—TikTok virality, Instagram creator partnerships, YouTube content studios. But platforms now offer in-house creative services. Meta's Creative Shop employs former agency talent to advise brands directly. TikTok's Creative Lab does the same. When social networks disintermediate the agency layer, mid-level creative leadership becomes a cost center rather than a revenue driver. MSQ's consulting arm, by contrast, bills strategy work at higher multiples with leaner staffing models.
Operators should watch three follow-on events. First, whether MSQ announces a formal creative practice inside Smarts within six months, signaling intention to compete with Accenture Interactive or Deloitte Digital at the pitch level. Second, if additional ECDs exit social-specialist networks—Monks, VaynerMedia, or smaller independents—toward consultancy roles before year-end, confirming a talent-migration pattern. Third, how You & Mr Jones repositions We Are Social's creative offering in new-business materials after the departure, potentially emphasizing production scale over conceptual authorship.
The hire is small in isolation. MSQ gains one creative leader. We Are Social loses one overhead line. But the direction is clear: consultancies now recruit the creative judgment agencies once protected, and senior creatives accept the trade—less cultural mythology, more commercial proximity.
The takeaway
Strategic consultancies recruiting agency ECDs signals creative leadership now values commercial proximity over cultural authorship.
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