by The Network Hires Jack Smail as Head of Brand Partnerships

by The Network has hired a new head of brand partnerships in Jack Smail. Jack will act as the go-to contact for the network's new business conversations, acting as a lynchpin between the current 28 Independent creative agencies on their roster. 

The network was founded by creative leader Per Pedersen who has 500 major awards to his name, including the recently multi Grand Prix winning Swedish Number. He recently worked at Grey Group serving as global creative chairman at Grey Worldwide.  

Per and Jack met while working closely together at WPP working on the Global P&G account. In particular, they pioneered the Grey Creative Council model into a broader group of creative leaders from a network of WPP agencies including Mediacom, Landor, Hill + Knowlton, POSSIBLE, and Kantar. This was the first of its kind meeting of organic agency creative collaboration within WPP and helped deliver award-winning work such as Gillette’s Handle With Care.

‘Having had a hand in managing a network of agencies before I never thought I would take on the task again. by The Network is different though. I actually believe we have come up with a fantastic model here that only cares about one thing: creative thinking. I’m already blown away by the agencies I have met so far and I’m honoured to serve such a fantastic bunch of people.’ - Jack Smail, head of brand partnerships, by The Network. 

by The Network currently has 28 agencies in over 30 key markets with over 750 highly awarded creatives working at them. Most of the agencies are outstanding creative hot shops in their geographic market. Media agnostic idea agencies rooted in local culture. The rest are like ninjas. Highly skilled specialists at a global scale within a defined discipline beyond advertising. The combination of hot shops and ninjas makes for a uniquely localised and highly bespoke offering that other networks will struggle to emulate.

Since its formation earlier this year, by The Network has been working with some of the world’s most ambitious brands on a global level, including Snap, Carlsberg, and Georg Jensen, not to mention the ever-growing list of regional/local partners. The network also won 10 Cannes Lions for its first year, placing it as the most creative independent network of the year.