Bastion Shine NZ chief executive Toby Sellers has led a daring poaching move on VML Wellington's leadership team, including the recruitment of managing director Fleur Head. Photos / NZPA, supplied
The daring recruitment of six experienced and talented creative agency staff comes ahead of the tenders for some major Government advertising contracts.
One of New Zealand’s biggest independent marketing agencies has pulled off an audacious poaching mission, recruiting six of the Wellington-based leadership team of a renowned international creative advertising agency.
Bastion Shine’s daring plunder of the VML Wellington team comes ahead of several major Government contracts coming up for tender next year. It is likely to place Bastion Shine in a strong position to compete for contracts from the likes of NZTA, Health NZ and ACC.
It is also one of the biggest illustrations yet of the massive disruption unfolding within global advertising agencies, where tight cost pressures are leading to major consolidation.
Bastion Shine has recruited, from VML Wellington, managing director Fleur Head, head of planning Anna Gunnell, creative director Damian Galvin, head of media Alicia Tutty, strategy director Matt Saunders, and head of client services Kate Miller. Collectively, they have almost 50 years of experience at the agency.
VML - owned by global golding company WPP and formed from the merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R - holds a number of important and influential Government contracts.
Just last month, the agency was awarded Campaign Brief’s New Zealand agency of the year title in the industry website’s ‘The Work 2025′ awards.
Campaign Brief said VML’s notable work included a Health NZ campaign, ‘Breakfree to Smokefree’, the Natural Hazards Commission’s ‘After Quake’; a Take the Jump campaign, ‘Hotter than Climate Change’, and Campari’s ‘Aperitivo Hour’.
VML was also behind the ‘Stick it to Hep C’ campaign in 2022. Part of the campaign - people pulling the finger - was pulled just weeks after its launch, the content proving too offensive. A NZ Herald poll at the time revealed the vast majority of people were fine with it.
Bastion Shine NZ chief executive Toby Sellers told Media Insider that he approached each of the six individually, but he imagined they had started talking to each other pretty quickly.
“Wellington’s been a strategic focus for Bastion Shine for some time, and to really scale and be effective in Wellington, you need strong specialists, with good local connections and a reputation on the ground.
“We knew that to be successful in Wellington - and government is such a big category - we had to have the right people. The VMLY&R team agency is the most successful government agency in Wellington.
“They’re the best. They’ve got the best track record, they’ve got great clients. So we basically wanted to go out and get the best talent possible to strengthen our office.”
The six would start at Bastion Shine early in 2026.
Sellers believed there were several factors at play in the move.
“They all saw the benefits of what an independent agency can provide them. They’ve got a really strong vision in terms of the positive impact that they can make [with] great work for government - the social change, the strong behaviour change that strong government work brings about to the country.
“They’re all very motivated by that.”
There is also major disruption and uncertainty unfolding within agencies owned by global holding companies. Two of the biggest, Omnicom Group (OMG) and Interpublic (IPG), are merging, with costs and staffing likely to be a major focus.
“You’re seeing this massive kind of consolidation going on in these global holding companies as they’re trying to grapple with the technological change that’s coming, and constant expectations from large institutional investors to deliver ongoing quarterly earnings and driving share prices,” said Sellers.
“They’re all constantly looking at ways of driving efficiencies and controlling costs.
“I think that makes it really hard to hang on to great talent when you’re trying to operate in that sort of environment. What we’re seeing is a real movement of talent from global agencies into independent agencies like ourselves.”
Bastion Shine describes itself as Australasia’s largest independent, full-service marketing and communications agency.
The recruitment of the six VML staff will take Bastion Shine’s numbers in New Zealand to about 80 - 60 in Auckland and 20 in Wellington.
Overall, it has more than 350 staff in Australasia and the US and a client list that includes the likes of Air New Zealand, NordEast, Spark, ASB, Genesis, Microsoft, L’Oréal, Unilever, Kellanova, Ferrari, Cancer Institute NSW and Whittaker’s.
Bastion Shine said the recruitment of the six VML staff reinforced the agency’s commitment to “delivering world-class strategy, advertising, communications, social and design, digital, media and client service in the Capital”.
Head will lead the Wellington team.
“Welcoming such a talented and diverse leadership group reflects our commitment to delivering world-class creativity and strategy in the Capital,” said Sellers.
“The unique mix of public purpose and commercial creativity makes Wellington a perfect fit for our next phase of growth.”
As part of the moves, Bastion Shine Wellington managing director Sally Hooper would move into the role of chief commercial officer. “My focus will be to connect Bastion’s expertise nationwide, especially our growing digital practice,” she said.
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.