Welcome to Bastion.
Bastion is an integrated, full-service marketing and communications agency founded in 2009. We are Australasia’s largest independent agency, with an ambition to achieve the same feat in the USA. Our 300+ staff work across our offices located in Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, New York City and Auckland. We also hold agency partnerships in 10 Asian markets.
We offer a breadth of specialist capabilities across the communications spectrum including market research, brand and creative, advertising, corporate and change communications, PR and social media, digital and customer experience (CX), sponsorship and experiential, film and content production, merchandise, Asia marketing and communications, data analytics and panel management.
Our Model
We have built Bastion over more than a decade by bringing together world class independent agencies and experts, with complementary skillsets, to deliver a truly integrated communications service offering to our clients.
We are a business that thinks wide across the breadth of communications disciplines, with deep expertise in each service offering we deliver. Each of our specialty services are delivered by an industry renowned CEO with a team of experts in their field.
Our clients can choose to work with us in one of our disciplines, or, when the time is right, access our range of communications services to deliver truly integrated campaigns.
Our business is built to deliver clients independent expertise and agility, with true scale and breadth.
Our business is built to think wide.
Our Methodology
We live in a world where the networks and technology that underpin our commerce and society, give rise to crises and opportunities for brands on a near daily basis.
We live in a world where narrative is king.
Where brands are remembered for their emotionally compelling, engaging stories.
In this world, if you can’t excel at both, you’ll fail.
You’ll fail to find the right solutions.
So, you need people with divergent yet complimentary mindsets.
Experts that think data, that think creative, code, research, relationships, reputation, experiences and more.
That think wide.
Making Each Other’s
Lives Better
Our People
Over the past 10 years, Jack and his team have grown Bastion into the largest independent marketing and communications agency in Australia. Day-to-day, he works with Bastion’s wide range of clients to ensure that anyone who walks through the doors leaves satisfied. As CEO, Jack prefers to anticipate Bastion’s next big opportunity rather than relish in its success – he is always looking ahead to see what can be achieved in the near future.
Ali’s passion ignited as an end user then practitioner of market research after a start in management and marketing consultancy. 20+ years working locally and globally (Asia, US, UK) across private and public spheres, has enabled Ali’s curiosity for the human condition to traverse many paths. Connecting the dots between the big and little picture, utilizing all disciplines that underpin market research, and being at the forefront of progressive methods and tech enablement drive Ali’s passion forward. A strong team and client centric culture are Ali’s leadership focus.
With deep roots in research, marketing and strategy, Peter has been pioneering customer intelligence on the Agency side since 2000, guiding and growing organisations such as Potentiate (Globally), Vision Critical Asia Pacific and Colmar Brunton and supporting hundreds of customer-led brands, globally including Telstra, Adobe and Cathay Pacific. Peter has championed the future of research and technology across his leadership roles at prominent Aussie and Global trade organisations, including TRS, APRC and GRBN. Peter is a Fellow of both the Australia Marketing Institute and The Research Society.
Dianne is a passionate researcher and business woman who nurtures a talented team to strive for answers – no matter what the brief. A detective at heart, Dianne pieces clues together to uncover who, what and why, before shining a light on the path forward. Whether it is through listening, observing or questioning, Dianne’s curiosity and desire to improve the status quo drives everything she does. With over 20 years’ experience researching all manner of brands, products, and communications, Dianne continues to help shape the world of research.
Mike is one of Australia’s leading agency professionals. Mike has helped clients such as McDonald’s and Coles successfully navigate their way through brand and business transformations. He led the McDonald’s business in New Zealand when the client won Client of the Year at the annual Effectiveness Awards. He helped turnaround the fortunes of DDB Sydney as GM, seeing it win B&T’s State and National Agency of the year as well as Employer of the year during his tenure. After running and building the Melbourne office of multinational agency Wunderman Thompson (JWT) from an office of 30 people to 120, over ten years, Mike joined Bastion to lead its Creative team.
Clare has more than a decade of experience working in government, public affairs and corporate communications roles in Australia and overseas. Clare was previously the Director of Corporate for the Melbourne office of Edelman and started her communications career with the Victorian Government. She has also worked in the UK with Shell and the UK Government.
Ben has over 22 years of experience in the industry, following receiving a First Class Honours in Bachelor of Business. He is a multi-disciplinary strategist and researcher with client, media and creative experience. With over a decade in the advertising industry as Planning Director at Singleton Ogilvy & Mather, Carat Media and The Campaign Palace, Ben has worked with clients in almost every industry.
Jacqueline Archer is an awarded, multi-disciplinary, integrated production leader who delivers 360 campaigns across multi discipline platforms. She specialises in managing and leading creative teams to achieve maximum creative and strategic production outcomes for her clients. With over 25 years experience, Jacqueline has a proven track record creating successful campaigns and great relationships with Fortune 500 Companies – including Nestle, BIS, Subway, Kelloggs, Vodafone, BWS, Westfield & HSBC.
A creative communications practitioner with industry experience amassed over 20 years, Richard is a multi-channel expert who believes in the power of storytelling. He co-founded PR and experiential agency Spark Impact, going on to join one of the top global media and communications agency networks where he spent a decade creating memorable experiences that connected brands with consumers.
Katie Ferro joined the data team as General Manager in October 2019, overseeing our operations and client management, and was promoted to CEO in 2020. Prior to this Katie came to us with a strong history in data research, having spent the last 8 years at IRI in senior management roles and had built up a broad knowledge base across various industries and roles.
Originally starting off in the mail room at McCann Erickson as a youngster, Matt went on to be one of the youngest B&T 30-Under-30 winners. Before joining Bastion, Matt had a four year stint as Global Chief Operating Officer at a brand consulting agency. And before that he held the role of General Manager – Media and Sponsorship at Telstra from 2012 to 2015 managing a massive portfolio across 325 markets nationally.
With a career spanning over 20 years, Edwina has worked in media and advertising for businesses such as George Patts, Mojo, ACP, and Conde Naste. Having worked corporate and agency side, Edwina knows the importance of a great work culture. Since joining Bastion, her focus has been building Bastion’s Staff Engagement and Learning and Development program to position the business as one of the world’s most progressive and innovative employers.
Jeremy has more than 30 years financial and commercial experience in the marketing and communications industry. More recently he has spent the last 13 years as the CFO for JWT and Wunderman Thompson across Australia and New Zealand. During this time he also served as Chair of the WPP Australia Finance Group and more recently as a member of the WPPAUNZ Finance Executive Committee.
Neva has 25 years of experience managing market research on both the client and supplier sides. She has a real appetite for telling stories and unearthing insights to help brands tackle their business issues, with expertise spanning tech, retail, finance, energy, automotive, and QSR. In her spare time you can find Neva traveling the globe (30 countries so far!) and sipping on a nice bold cabernet.
Chris has 30+ yrs of experience in consumer insights with particular expertise in new product development, brand strategy, brand communications, and customer experience.
Georgia has over 30 years industry experience and has been highly awarded both here and internationally. She was a founding creative Partner in Banjo in 2009.
She brings great insight and passion to all projects she’s involved in. Georgia was the creative director at The Campaign Palace and has also worked at Mojo and The Special Group in Australia and Fallon’s and Saatchi’s in the US. From fashion to fast food, Georgia has worked with brands across almost every industry.
She brings great insight and passion to all projects she’s involved in. Georgia was the creative director at The Campaign Palace and has also worked at Mojo and The Special Group in Australia and Fallon’s and Saatchi’s in the US. From fashion to fast food, Georgia has worked with brands across almost every industry.
Solving organisational challenges as an officer/F-16 fighter pilot to serving another decade in C-Level sales and marketing roles, Dax embraces people empowerment and process. Responsible for U.S. growth, Dax believes Bastion’s solution to a fragmented marketing industry is to provide detailed service expected of the smaller owner-operated agencies while also delivering an integrated offering across a number core disciplines by aggregating expert agencies under one roof.
Shana’s expertise lies in the “getting it done” category and she works with her team to implement strategies and initiatives centered around exposure for growth.
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.
Armed with an MBA and specialization in business services industries, Tracy has worked with companies across America to achieve financial and operational success.