Brent Smart turns CMO experience into new advisory business

Former Telstra and NRMA Insurance chief marketing officer Brent Smart has launched his own advisory business, offering brand strategy, creative effectiveness, mentoring and pitch advice to marketers and agencies.

The new venture, Brent Smart Advisory, was announced via LinkedIn, with Smart saying he wanted to provide “the sort of advice I wish I had as a CMO”.

The advisory will focus on brand strategy and creative effectiveness for the C-suite, creative sprints, mentoring for first-time CMOs and aspiring marketing leaders, keynote presentations and pitch advice for agencies.

“Not decks, but hands on advice, from a proven CMO who has transformed legacy, complex brands and made them Grand Prix and Grand Effie winning,” Smart wrote, pointing to his work across Telstra and NRMA Insurance.

Smart’s launch follows a high-profile period in Australian marketing, during which he helped steer major brand platforms and creative effectiveness work at two of the country’s largest legacy brands.

He is also currently listed as a juror for creative effectiveness at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The move sees Smart join a growing cohort of senior marketers turning their experience inside large organisations into advisory, mentoring and consulting businesses, as CMOs face rising pressure to prove brand impact, improve creative quality and better connect marketing with business growth.