Bec McCall left her group creative director position at Australian agency HERO to establish We Were Here, an independent creative studio with no disclosed outside capital or holding-company backing. The departure follows a pattern of senior creative talent exiting mid-sized agencies to build standalone shops, a structural shift that matters for allocators watching creative-service M&A multiples and heritage brands evaluating agency-roster consolidation.
McCall spent multiple years at HERO, contributing to work that collected regional awards and helped the agency maintain tier-two positioning in the Australian market. HERO operates without the scale of WPP or Omnicom subsidiaries but holds accounts across consumer packaged goods, retail, and financial services. McCall's departure removes a named creative leader from a shop that depends on individual reputations to compete against holding-company resources. The studio launched without announced clients, staff count, or revenue targets, suggesting a consultancy model rather than a traditional agency build.
The independent-studio structure appeals to luxury and heritage clients seeking creative continuity without the account-conflict limitations of large agency networks. Single-family offices backing consumer brands have quietly acquired minority stakes in similar creative shops over the past 18 months, viewing them as IP-generating assets with licensing potential beyond advertising deliverables. We Were Here enters a market where Australian independents like The Monkeys and Thinkerbell have demonstrated exit multiples between 4x and 6x EBITDA when acquired by holding companies or private equity, compared to 8x to 12x for specialized luxury-creative consultancies serving ultra-high-net-worth principals directly.
McCall's move also signals ongoing creative-talent migration away from mid-tier agencies that cannot match holding-company compensation or offer the equity upside of true independence. HERO now faces the recruitment cost of replacing a group-level creative director in a market where senior talent increasingly weighs ownership structures against salary. For heritage brands and luxury hospitality groups, the proliferation of senior-led independents creates optionality: direct engagement with named talent on project terms, bypassing retainer economics and conflict matrices that complicate holding-company relationships.
Watch for We Were Here's first disclosed client within 90 days, which will clarify whether McCall is targeting legacy Australian accounts or positioning for international luxury and travel work where independent studios command premium day rates. HERO's client roster and creative-award submissions over the next six months will show whether the agency replaces McCall's role with internal promotion or external hire, a signal of structural stability. Australian independent-agency M&A activity typically accelerates in Q3 and Q4, making late 2025 a logical window for We Were Here to either announce backing or demonstrate organic revenue sufficient to avoid it.
The Australian creative-services market has seen eleven independent studio launches since January 2024, but only three have disclosed clients paying retainers above AUD 500,000 annually, the threshold at which studios typically hire beyond founders and freelancers.