Last year, it announced it had poached six high-flying agency staff from WPP-owned VML’s Wellington office; they have launched Bastion’s new offering in the Capital.
Greville launched and led Spark Foundry over the past five years, overseeing some of the country’s biggest media accounts including Toyota and – until recently – Westpac.
The rise of independent New Zealand advertising agencies such as Bastion, Special, Together and Motion Sickness is becoming more pronounced, especially as they start attracting major accounts.
A recent high-profile example was The Warehouse’s move to Together, from Omnicom-owned OMD.
Greville and Bastion Aotearoa chief executive Toby Sellers sat down with Media Insider this week to talk about her new role.
Sellers made no secret of the fact independent agencies were seizing the moment, as global agencies reconfigured their business models – we’ve seen big restructuring, mergers and lay-offs in the global businesses, affecting their operations in New Zealand.
Sellers believed there was a “level of dissatisfaction with the current status quo” among global agency clients and that many would be reassessing their relationships.
“The holding companies are trying to reconfigure their business models to make themselves relevant in the current environment, and that’s not about clients, that’s about getting their business structured in the way that they needed to,” Sellers said.
“A lot of that is consolidation – you’re seeing that it’s getting rid of brands. It’s pushing businesses together, and that’s not done client-first.”
He also highlighted the situation where three of New Zealand’s biggest banks were with agencies under the same umbrella global brand, and a similar scenario with telco companies.
Companies finding themselves in those situations would naturally be wondering if they were getting the best talent, especially with all the changes unfolding.
“That is about reconfiguring a model to suit a holding company, figuring out what’s next rather than what I need to deliver for our clients,” said Sellers.
“I think clients are starting to go, well, I’m not feeling like I’m being placed position first here.”
Bastion Aotearoa chief executive Toby Sellers led a daring poaching move on VML Wellington’s leadership team last year, including the recruitment of managing director Fleur Head. Photos / NZPA, supplied
Talented workers within the agencies were also feeling unable to perform at their best, and eyeing independent agencies as places where they could thrive.
Sellers and Greville spoke about independent agencies’ ability to strike stronger professional and creative relationships with clients.
“The indies are providing more access to senior people,” says Greville.
“There are more strategic discussions, and therefore, more innovation and more interesting direct partnership discussions with our local media industry.
“All those things combined, you’re getting a way higher value relationship, with way fewer layers.”
Greville said New Zealand media companies had also embraced the independent agencies.
“What we’ve seen, especially in the last three to five years, is this boom of innovation, partnership and deep-level creativity.”
With the “hyperdrive” level of change in media, she also viewed an agency as a navigator for clients.
Sellers: “We talk about us being the agency for the modern marketer. The modern marketer now has so many challenges that they didn’t have two or three years ago.
“The pace of change, the advancement of technology, the fragmentation of channels – there is just so much coming at them. They need a strong strategic partner to solve problems for them.”
A key question, then, is just which clients Greville might be eyeing for Bastion’s roster.
“That would be giving way my pipeline!” she says. “We are ambitious, of course, but not unrealistic. There are so many fantastic categories that are not getting the access and high-level strategic discussions that they need.
“That’s applicable across multiple categories, all different sizes. I’m not going to say anything more, otherwise I’ll give it all away. Come see me in six months.”
Sellers said Greville’s appointment marked a “defining moment” for the agency, which would now span advertising, brand strategy, consumer and corporate communications, design, social, digital, experiential, and media.
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It was also a statement of confidence in the New Zealand market.
“Nicky’s appointment is the clearest signal yet of how serious we are about building something strong and enduring here in Aotearoa,” said Sellers.
“She is a leader who … understands this market in depth, and who genuinely understands integration.”
Greville said the opportunity to help shape a new kind of agency model in New Zealand was the defining factor in her decision.
“What Bastion Aotearoa is building is genuinely differentiated. Bringing media into the same conversation as strategy, creative and communications from the start, not as an afterthought, changes what’s possible for clients.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.