Bastion Aotearoa appoints Nicky Greville as managing partner, media

Bastion Aotearoa has appointed Nicky Greville as managing partner, media, effective July 1.

Greville joins with more than two decades of senior leadership experience in New Zealand, having held leadership roles at Spark Foundry, MBM, Y&R and PHD.

Throughout her career, she has connected strategy, data and creativity to drive commercial outcomes while building high-performing agency cultures that attract and retain exceptional talent.

Defining moment

The appointment marks a defining moment in Bastion Aotearoa’s growth. Media has been the final discipline to add to the agency’s integrated offering.

With Greville’s arrival, the agency now spans advertising, brand strategy, consumer and corporate communications, design, social, digital, experiential and media.

The announcement follows the recent appointment of Alicia Tutty as media partner in Wellington, where she has been establishing Bastion’s media presence with a particular focus on government and behaviour change clients. Tutty brings more than 20 years of Wellington-specific experience and deep relationships across the market.

A strong statement

Toby Sellers, CEO of Bastion Aotearoa, says Greville’s appointment represents both a strategic milestone and 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.

“She is a leader who will complete our integrated offering, someone who understands this market in depth and who genuinely understands integration. She will help our clients access connected strategy, creative and media thinking through a single, unified team, putting them in a position of strength to make better decisions and deliver stronger commercial outcomes.

“Alongside Alicia in Wellington, we now can build something that hasn’t existed in New Zealand before – a fully integrated, independent local agency supported by the scale and expertise of a regional network,” Sellers adds.

Change what’s possible for clients

Greville says 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.

“I’ve spent my career believing that the best outcomes come from integrated thinking and this is an agency that has built its entire model around that belief. The opportunity to do that here, for New Zealand clients, with a local team, was too compelling to pass up.”

The right leader

Greville will work closely with managing director of media ANZ Anna Cherry.

Cherry says Greville is the right leader to take Bastion’s New Zealand media ambitions forward.

“Nicky brings exactly what this market needs: sharp strategic thinking, genuine commercial instincts and a leadership style that gets the best out of people and partnerships.”

The wider leadership group also includes group CEO Cheuk Chiang and executive media director Joanna Barnes.