{"id":461256,"date":"2026-06-04T21:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/461256\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:47:09","slug":"media-insider-rise-of-the-independent-ad-agencies-bastion-aotearoa-hires-big-name-after-her-departure-from-global-owned-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/461256\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Insider: Rise of the independent ad agencies – Bastion Aotearoa hires big name after her departure from global-owned agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, it announced it had poached six high-flying agency staff<\/a> from WPP-owned VML\u2019s Wellington office; they have launched Bastion\u2019s new offering in the Capital.<\/p>\n

Greville launched and led Spark Foundry over the past five years, overseeing some of the country\u2019s biggest media accounts including Toyota and – until recently – Westpac.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A recent high-profile example was The Warehouse\u2019s move to Together, from Omnicom-owned OMD.<\/a><\/p>\n

Greville and Bastion Aotearoa chief executive Toby Sellers sat down with Media Insider this week to talk about her new role.<\/p>\n

Sellers made no secret of the fact independent agencies were seizing the moment, as global agencies reconfigured their business models – we\u2019ve seen big restructuring, mergers and lay-offs in the global businesses, affecting their operations in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

Sellers believed there was a \u201clevel of dissatisfaction with the current status quo\u201d among global agency clients and that many would be reassessing their relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe holding companies are trying to reconfigure their business models to make themselves relevant in the current environment, and that\u2019s not about clients, that\u2019s about getting their business structured in the way that they needed to,\u201d Sellers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of that is consolidation – you\u2019re seeing that it\u2019s getting rid of brands. It\u2019s pushing businesses together, and that\u2019s not done client-first.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also highlighted the situation where three of New Zealand\u2019s biggest banks were with agencies under the same umbrella global brand, and a similar scenario with telco companies.<\/p>\n

Companies finding themselves in those situations would naturally be wondering if they were getting the best talent, especially with all the changes unfolding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is about reconfiguring a model to suit a holding company, figuring out what\u2019s next rather than what I need to deliver for our clients,\u201d said Sellers. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think clients are starting to go, well, I\u2019m not feeling like I\u2019m being placed position first here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BastionBastion 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<\/p>\n

Talented workers within the agencies were also feeling unable to perform at their best, and eyeing independent agencies as places where they could thrive.<\/p>\n

Sellers and Greville spoke about independent agencies\u2019 ability to strike stronger professional and creative relationships with clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe indies are providing more access to senior people,\u201d says Greville.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more strategic discussions, and therefore, more innovation and more interesting direct partnership discussions with our local media industry. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll those things combined, you\u2019re getting a way higher value relationship, with way fewer layers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greville said New Zealand media companies had also embraced the independent agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen, especially in the last three to five years, is this boom of innovation, partnership and deep-level creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the \u201chyperdrive\u201d level of change in media, she also viewed an agency as a navigator for clients.<\/p>\n

Sellers: \u201cWe talk about us being the agency for the modern marketer. The modern marketer now has so many challenges that they didn\u2019t have two or three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

A key question, then, is just which clients Greville might be eyeing for Bastion\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be giving way my pipeline!\u201d she says. \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s applicable across multiple categories, all different sizes. I\u2019m not going to say anything more, otherwise I\u2019ll give it all away. Come see me in six months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sellers said Greville\u2019s appointment marked a \u201cdefining moment\u201d for the agency, which would now span advertising, brand strategy, consumer and corporate communications, design, social, digital, experiential, and media.<\/p>\n

READ TODAY\u2019S FULL MEDIA INSIDER COLUMN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

It was also a statement of confidence in the New Zealand market. <\/p>\n

\u201cNicky\u2019s appointment is the clearest signal yet of how serious we are about building something strong and enduring here in Aotearoa,\u201d said Sellers.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u202fis a leader who … understands this market in depth, and who genuinely understands integration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greville said the opportunity to help shape a new kind of agency model in New Zealand was the defining factor in her decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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\u2019s possible for clients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, it announced it had poached six high-flying agency staff from WPP-owned VML\u2019s Wellington office; they have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1740,74,26696,3041,12889,67234,8834,138,49088,2842,71,13313,1437,233895,1364,188128,21556,2936,17095,26477,1073,3025,13617,111,139,69,1118,44549,1436,17093,223,2963],"class_list":["post-461256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ad","tag-after","tag-agencies","tag-agency","tag-aotearoa","tag-bastion","tag-big","tag-business","tag-departure","tag-experienced","tag-from","tag-giant","tag-global","tag-globalowned","tag-her","tag-hires","tag-independent","tag-insider","tag-jumped","tag-leaders","tag-media","tag-most","tag-name","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-respected","tag-rise","tag-ship","tag-the","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}