Bec McCall departed HERO's group creative director role this month to launch We Were Here, an independent creative studio structured outside the traditional agency-holding apparatus. McCall spent the prior years at HERO and earlier at agencies including Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi, accumulating Lions, D&AD Pencils, and local metal across automotive, spirits, and retail categories.

The move follows a pattern visible across Sydney and Melbourne markets since mid-2023: senior creatives with 12-plus years inside network agencies departing for independent setups that bypass procurement frameworks and pitch theatrics. We Were Here positions itself as a direct-to-client studio, not a traditional agency. McCall has not disclosed initial client roster, staff count, or revenue targets. The studio's registered address lists a Surry Hills location, consistent with the postcode preference of Australia's recent wave of independent creative shops.

What matters for luxury hospitality and heritage-house CMOs: the Australian creative talent pool is restructuring away from holding-company creative departments and toward modular, project-based partnerships. McCall's client work at HERO included executions for premium automotive and lifestyle brands, categories where creative continuity and brand-world fluency determine whether a campaign lands as considered or simply expensive. Independent studios can offer that continuity without the account-service layers and timekeeping architectures that inflate cost and slow iteration. For family-office-backed hospitality developments or prestige consumer brands operating in APAC, this talent migration creates an opportunity to access group-CD-level strategic thinking at fractional engagement models, but only if procurement teams adjust RFP structures to accommodate non-agency entities.

The risk: independent studios often lack the media-buying leverage, production infrastructure, and geographic reach that network agencies provide. McCall's studio will need to either build those capabilities, partner with specialist vendors, or limit itself to creative strategy and concepting—a viable model if the client base consists of brands with in-house production teams or established agency-of-record relationships for media and activation. The tell will be We Were Here's first three client announcements and whether they skew toward project-based creative consulting or full-scope creative partnerships.

Operators should watch for McCall's initial hires over the next 60 days, which will signal whether We Were Here is structured as a solo consultancy with freelance support or a multi-discipline studio with permanent staff. Also worth tracking: whether HERO backfills McCall's group CD role internally or recruits externally, which would indicate whether the departure was planned succession or unexpected exit. Independent studio launches in Australia typically announce founding clients within 90 days of launch; silence past that window often means the founder is still operating on savings and network referrals.

McCall's LinkedIn profile updated February 2025 with the We Were Here title. The studio's website remains unindexed as of this writing.