Such a person is Rob McLennan, executive creative director of Net#work BBDO – and arguably South Africa’s most decorated advertising “creative”.

McLennan brings to his job – although it’s clearly not work to him – a background in fine art and graphic design, as well as in music, as the frontman of pioneering alternative-rock band No Friends of Harry.

But perhaps more important than these aptitudes for visual and sonic creativity is the fact that McLennan is a rebel – and proudly so. In his 25 years in the industry, he has shown that he is not afraid to break new ground, explore new territory and boldly go where no adman has gone before.

And clients – not to mention awards bodies – can’t get enough of him. At the end of 2010, McLennan was recognised by his industry peers as the leading creative director in the country for the second year running. This is an honour not only for McLennan, but for Net#work itself – considering that agency co-founder and group creative officer Mike Schalit had held that same distinction for the previous 11 years.

Having been built into an adventurous, creative force to be reckoned with, Net#work continues to break new ground – such as pioneering “goodvertising” with its awardwinning solar-powered and recycled plasticbag billboards for Nedbank – punch above its weight and rake in the trophies and, more importantly, the results for its clients.

McLennan remains hands-on with each and every client – and this is perhaps why he is South Africa’s top Cannes winner, with 28 Lions as well as the distinction of winning the country’s first Cannes Lion Grand Prix for radio, not to mention a clutch of Loeries and other local and international awards.

Quite a distinction for a lad who had no particular aptitude or direction at school, “apart from knowing I didn’t want to go to the army”. He did end up doing military service, and held odd jobs as a house painter and bank teller in between studying fine arts at the University of the Witwatersrand and graphic design at the then-Wits Technikon.

He started working at an advertising agency around the same time his garage band, which developed into NFOH, started winning a following from a “disconnected generation stuck in white suburbia” during the dying years of apartheid.

“Being in a band while working at an agency allowed me to express the duality of both forms of creativity,” reflects McLennan, who now fronts a new band called Doris. “My approach to advertising was no different to that of music – advertising, for me, is also a creative outlet. And like in music, the ad agencies that come up with fresh, original stuff have better results, as opposed to emulating a formula. Advertising is a vehicle to be as creative as possible within a specific brief and give people something they want to watch or hear that amuses, tickles, discomforts or surprises them in some way.”

Since those early days, all the agencies McLennan has worked at have refreshed and reinvigorated the industry with new ideas. His breakthrough came with the seminal Dulux “Any colour you can think of” campaign while at Lowe Bull and in his three years at Net#work, he has spearheaded successful and multi-awarding-winning campaigns for the likes of Virgin Atlantic and Chicken Licken, while judging local and global awards such as D & AD, Cannes, as well as chairing the Creative Circle and Clio awards.

“We’re not a big agency and have only been around for 16 years, but are usuallylumped with the majors because of our consistency and name,” he says. “But our spirit is definitely that of a new agency – and we have the best talent here, without a doubt. I love being able to see every piece of work and be involved in every brand. It still thrills me to make something better, try new things and constantly experiment.”

He is proud that campaigns for all of the agency’s mainstream clients fared well at the 2010 Loerie Awards, proving that Net#work’s entire portfolio across all disciplines – instead of work for only one or two clients – has been recognised as outstanding.

When it comes to the creative process, he believes that one has to have trust and faith: “Often, the ideas that are hardest to accept are those that have never been seen before.” It’s no accident that on his office wall hangs a caricature of McLennan drawn in the style of iconic portraits of Che Guevara – another revolutionary thinker and doer.