We exist to put brands, organisations and people in a position of strength.
What makes us stronger? As a person, organisation or brand, the answer is a more holistic kind of strength.
As a person
A person doesn’t become stronger simply through bigger muscles, but by developing their mindset, their range of talents, their network.
As an organisation
An organisation doesn’t become stronger by investing in one vertical, but by thinking of ALL the ways it can grow from new talent to new product development.
As a brand
And brands are no different. They grow by building a stronger world of positive associations, across all touchpoints.
About
To become stronger, you need a strong world.
All brands have a world
constructed out of all the interactions people have with them.
The good brands
are the ones who realise this, join the dots better,and build a stronger world.
We build stronger worlds.
Our Model
We bring advertising, design, social, communications, experience, media, digital and behaviour change together. We operate as one team, built through coherence, emotion and asymmetry in action.
Our difference is not just in the breadth of expertise, but the depth in each capability and our operating model, enabling us to work as seamlessly interconnected specialisms.
A true one stop shop.
Our Expertise
When you partner with Bastion, you access the expertise of the global Bastion Network.
Insights
Qual & Quant Research, Panel
Media
Media Planning & Buying
Experience
Partnership strategy, Rights Negotiation & Partnership Management, Experiential Activations, Events & Fan Engagement
Digital
Advisory, Analytics, Automation, Activation
Cultural Advisory
Te Ao Māori Design, Creative Consultancy
Communications
Social, Influencer, Earned, Crisis and Corporate Communications/PR, Consumer PR
Design
Brand Identity, Brand Experience, Packaging, Digital and UX/UI
Advertising
Strategy (brand & comms), Creative, Omnichannel Production
Our People
Toby Sellers
Chief Executive Officer, NZ
Toby Sellers Chief Executive Officer, NZ
Toby is a senior agency leader with 25 years of experience working in New Zealand and London with leading global companies. His career began at DDB Aotearoa before moving to DDB London, while in London he also spent time with Havas and McCann. Returning to New Zealand in 2011, Toby joined FCB where he spent 11 years in senior roles and was promoted to Managing Director in 2019. Toby joined Bastion in 2023 as Managing Director of the Creative Business.
During his career, Toby has worked with a diverse range of leading global and local NZ brands including, Air New Zealand, McDonald’s, Nestle, Kraft Heinz, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Budweiser, Samsung, Mitre 10, SKY TV, Foodstuffs and Genesis. Toby’s passion is building high-performing work cultures and long-term client partnerships that deliver sustained business success. He’s also an advocate for the power that creativity can bring to business when a transformational idea is adopted into the heart of an organisation.
Much of Toby’s career has been spent in integrated marketing agency groups, so he is a champion of creating high-functioning, multi-disciplinary teams that can positively influence all areas of a business and brand through communications and customer-led experiences and solutions.
Annabelle Pitkin
Chief Client Officer
Annabelle Pitkin Chief Client Officer
Annabelle is passionate about working with companies and brands who can truly help those we engage with. She loves what creativity and strategy can deliver for business results. She’s energised by the changing environment in which we work and what the future of technology holds. And keen to create diverse and inclusive companies, especially for those coming into the industry.
She has extensive experience across financial services, telecommunications, digital services, sports marketing, healthcare, retail, broadcasting, FMCG, both locally and internationally.
As a big believer in collaboration, she’s consistently led and worked with highly effective teams to deliver creative marketing and business solutions, and formulate and implement successful projects in market.
Owen Dowling
Chief Strategy Officer, NZ
Owen Dowling Chief Strategy Officer, NZ
A globally experienced creative strategist, Owen led strategy teams in agencies and client organisations across London, Amsterdam, Singapore and beyond. Now settled into a new home at Bastion Shine with a team of sharp, energising people, they bring a breadth of international insight and a passion for great thinking.
Most recently, Owen led strategy at 180 Amsterdam, shaping McDonald’s fan truths, Gatorade’s global brand direction, Popcorners’ US positioning, PepsiCo’s experiential innovation work, Crocs’ TikTok launch, and winning the global Walls business with a social-first approach.
Before that, he worked client-side at AB InBev, helping drive the company to back-to-back Cannes Marketer of the Year titles. They collaborated with brand teams across football, food, gaming and music, contributing at every stage of brand development. Above all, Owen values working with good people who care about creating exceptional outcomes.
Melissa Hill
Chief Operations & Financial Officer
Melissa Hill Chief Operations & Financial Officer
Melissa has over twenty years working in the advertising industry, and has worked for all the global networks. At Bastion Shine we are mindful of the careful balance between creativity and return on investment which is why we strive for innovative remuneration models that incentivise behaviours and interactions as business partners, rather than the traditional agency/client relationships.
Oliver Green
Chief Creative Officer
Oliver Green Chief Creative Officer
With over 20 years in brand storytelling, Oliver has worked across every major market and category. From airlines to mobile phones, to baked beans and everything in between.
He’s held senior creative roles at agencies like Colenso BBDO, BMF, FCB and Naked London, delivering work for Cadbury, Virgin, Stella Artois, Nokia, Air New Zealand and more. He’s directed commercials for production company Flying Fish where he produced awarded work for Hyundai, Vogels, TD Ameritrade and Frucor.
Forever restless, he left the world of production behind, joining Shine and returned to his first love - writing - creating standout ideas for top clients. He is also a published author and zinester, with books out through Penguin and Upstart Press.
Fleur Head
Managing Director, Wellington
Fleur Head Managing Director, Wellington
Fleur brings 30 years of Integrated agency experience across brand, data, media, direct marketing and behaviour change, including almost 20 years in leadership roles. She began her career in account service and was known for leading integrated accounts across multiple disciplines as well as driving innovation and creativity at Publicis Mojo, Saatchi &; Saatchi & FCB, leading to agency of the year titles at each agency as well as a plethora of Effie and Creative Awards.
Fleur spent 11 years in the Executive Leadership team at FCB Aotearoa, helping to grow the agency from 40 people to 240 staff during her tenure. Launching the marketing automation, direct and data offerings and leading integrated accounts (after successfully winning competitive pitches) including ANZ Bank, Mitre 10, Vodafone, BMW & MINI, Mercury Energy and Prime TV.
While Managing Director at FCB, Fleur was selected for a secondment at R/GA London and served on the Global FCB Account Leaders Board.
Eight years ago, Fleur moved back to her hometown of Wellington where she joined the Y&R team and began building the business (now known as VML) to become the largest agency in Wellington. The business was built with a focus on the Government Sector and Behaviour Change work which has led to recognition in being selected to present and speak at the World Social Marketing Conference four times, as well as being Wellington's most awarded creative, media and Effies agency.
Fleur's role at Bastion is to build our Wellington business as well as our Behaviour Change capability. Fleur is very values-driven, passionate about building a stronger Aotearoa and making a meaningful difference to society with the work she does.
Luke Farmer
Managing Director, Creative
Luke Farmer Managing Director, Creative
Luke is an accomplished agency leader with over 20+ years of experience in the advertising industry, working with both local and international clients. He has built enduring brands through strategic, creative solutions across diverse sectors—including banking, alcohol, insurance, FMCG, airlines, and automotive—developing standout campaigns such as New Zealand’s most successful bank advertising for ASB Bank and a multiple Cannes Lion-winning initiative for Speight’s Gold Medal Ale.
As Managing Partner at BC&F Dentsu, Luke played a key role in establishing the agency as a champion of effectiveness, evidenced by multiple Effie Awards and the agency’s lofty rankings of #1 in APAC and #5 globally in the Effie Index. Known for his entrepreneurial mindset and commitment to creating enjoyable, high-performing work environments, he leads teams with unbridled enthusiasm for success.
When he’s not driving creativity & culture, Luke enjoys spending weekends with his family and indulging his passion for fishing and all things on the ocean.
Joanna James
Managing Director, Communications and Experience
Joanna James Managing Director, Communications and Experience
Joanna heads Amplify New Zealand, Bastion Shine’s integrated communications team, specialising in communications strategy, PR, media relations, influencer marketing, content and social media. A results-driven senior consultant, Jo ensures business and PR strategies are closely aligned and executed through creative tactical implementation. Jo has delivered award-winning integrated campaigns for some of Aotearoa’s most loved brands, as well as guiding organisations facing complex reputation challenges. She has extensive agency-leadership experience in corporate and consumer communications across the technology, financial, travel, education, health and energy sectors.
Richard Brown
Managing Partner, Digital Brand Experience
Richard Brown Managing Partner, Digital Brand Experience
Richard delivers innovation and growth by helping organisations to deliver truly great omni-channel experiences, in a real and tangible way. He does so by bringing over twenty years of experience in the strategy and delivery of digital content, commerce and marketing technology across the UK, Australia and back home in New Zealand.
Richard has successfully established multiple Digital and Experience Design Practices for ANZ Consultancies and global Agencies, while working for a leading Gartner and Forrester, Digital Experience Platform.
He loves to discover opportunities to solve for both short and long-term outcomes, delivered results for organisations such as Toyota New Zealand, Tataki Auckland Unlimited, Waste Management, and Air New Zealand, while he has played instrumental roles in significant change for brands such as JB HiFi, Virgin, and Southern Cross Austero in Australia.
Holly Dean
General Manager, Social
Holly Dean General Manager, Social
Holly leads the social content offering at Bastion Aotearoa, driving social and influencer creative excellence across the business.
With over 18 years’ experience, she’s led social strategy and content at agencies including DDB, FCB and Colenso BBDO. She’s worked on a wide range of clients from global bands like McDonald’s, Samsung, Nestle, Amex and Audi, to the homegrown including Te Whatu Ora, Tourism NZ, Foodstuffs, Fonterra, Mitre 10, L&P, Lion breweries, blending creative ambition with cultural insight to deliver effective campaigns.
Holly is known for building social-first teams, setting strong social vision, and elevating the role of content within integrated marketing. Her passion for purpose-driven work is reflected in some of her strongest work across mental wellbeing, alcohol moderation, female health and water safety. Holly’s work has been recognised at Cannes Lions, D&AD, Effie, One Show, Clios, and the London International Awards.
Danny Carlsen
Head of Design
Danny Carlsen Head of Design
Danny’s passionate about blending creativity with clever thinking to transform the way people experience brands. His belief is that design is an integrated, strategic, and vital component to propel businesses to be more relevant and disruptive. Over the last 17 years he’s had the privilege to build solid relationships with brave clients, to deliver memorable experiences for some of the world’s largest brands. As well as winning local and international awards for packaging, art direction, interior design and branding Danny's work has been featured across international design blogs, websites, magazines and design books.
Cheuk Chiang
Group Chief Executive Officer
Cheuk Chiang Group Chief Executive Officer
Cheuk Chiang, Group CEO of Bastion, leads the agency’s teams across Australia, New Zealand and the USA, spearheading one of the largest integrated marketing and communication networks in Australasia and North America. With a career deeply rooted in innovation and leadership across creative, media, data and technology, Cheuk continues to push boundaries and drive exceptional outcomes putting brands, clients and organisations in a position of strength.
Before taking on the Group CEO role, Cheuk served as CEO of Bastion ANZ, where he played a pivotal role in strengthening the agency’s footprint and client impact. His extensive leadership experience includes serving as CEO, Asia Pacific for Dentsu Creative and CEO, Greater North APAC for Dentsu. His journey into data and technology began with chairing Mutiny, where he helped pioneer the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance marketing performance.
Earlier in his career, Cheuk held senior roles at Omnicom, serving as CEO, APAC for both Omnicom Media Group and PHD. At PHD, he led expansive growth from 3 to 21 offices and helped earn over 130 local and regional Agency of the Year awards for both OMD and PHD across the Asia Pacific region. His tenure at Cummins & Partners was marked by award-winning campaigns and notable success that led to the agency’s acquisition by Sapient Nitro.
Prior to Cummins, Cheuk contributed significantly at Leo Burnett Singapore as Regional Account Director, where he helped scale the Asia Pacific Breweries account into one of the agency’s largest regional clients.
With a career spanning three decades, Cheuk has worked with a wide range of iconic brands including Apple, ANZ Bank, Coca-Cola, GSK, Heineken, Kmart, Mars, Myer, Nestlé, Unilever and VW. His accolades include Media Magazine’s Suit of the Year in 2002 and The Internationalist Magazine’s Agency Innovator of the Year in 2010.
Fergus Watts
Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
Fergus Watts Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
Thanks to his knack for understanding business quickly and creating growth opportunities, Fergus Watts has assisted some of Australia’s most dynamic companies in charting the future of their marketing and communications. First and foremost, Fergus believes that a company is nothing without quality people growing within it. He has even fostered his own education program, the Bastion Degree, to help turn visionary young workers into well rounded self-starters.
Jack Watts
Executive Director
Jack Watts Executive Director
Since 2009, Jack has led Bastion’s evolution into the largest independent agency in Australasia with a growing presence in the USA. As Founder/Executive Director, Jack drives the growth of Bastion across key clients, services and markets to put our clients and people in a position of strength.
Jack is passionate about ensuring Bastion is always client centric and the work that goes out of Bastion’s yellow doors around the world is created fearlessly.
