Special has appointed Melissa Venter as the Director of Operations for its New Zealand offices, to oversee the integration of the creative company’s range of capabilities.
This includes helping optimise and operationalise the integrated work between its communication, design, digital and PR departments and its diverse range of clients across the Auckland and Wellington offices.
Venter brings 16 years of agency experience, locally and from London, in various roles across Project Management, Production and Operations at globally recognised agencies.
She joins from Colenso BBDO, where she was initially Delivery Director for Spark NZ before moving into a Creative Operations Manager role in 2020. Here, she spearheaded the systems and ways of working for the creative and design department, from a commercial, workflow and well-being perspective.
Special Founder Tony Bradbourne says, “We are always looking for ways big and small to improve. Mel’s experience and insights will undoubtedly help us be even better at that as we continue to grow across our two New Zealand offices, Auckland and Wellington, with our global team of 260.”
Venter says, “Special is 100% true to its name, and I’m excited to get under the hood to help evolve the agency’s offering to support the needs of our clients, match the unyielding creative ambition, and support this talented bunch of people.”
Venter’s appointment follows a year of huge success for Special, which was recently named Global Creative Agency of the Year for the second consecutively by Campaign UK and named as New Zealand’s Most Effective Agency at the NZ Effies Awards as well as being ranked Most Effective Independent Agency in the World by the Effie Global Rankings.