Colenso Digital, driven by experience

The recent release of five digital properties; Kupu (Spark), Convert-it (BNZ), SelfieSTIX Filters (Pedigree), My Moni (BNZ) and Penny the Penguin (BNZ) marks the end of the long rebuild for the digital offering at Colenso BBDO, and the beginning of some very exciting opportunities for the team.

With the merger of Touchcast Auckland over 18 months ago, the departure of key people to Wellington and ASB and a multitude of digital startups, it was time to rebuild the offering.

Colenso BBDO never has a shortage of challenging problems, great ideas and amazing clients; getting this team on track was a priority for the company’s leadership team and crucial to their future success.

With the promotion of some of the company’s digital stars to lead roles, the addition of new producers, one incredible Russian lead developer and a creative technologist who plays a mean guitar solo, it had its core team back.

Matt Barnes (left) arrived as head of digital, giving Colenso the natural leader it needed and completing the digital puzzle.

Matt’s the perfect partner for Levi Slavin, CCO, and Paul Courtney, COO, to lead the company wide digital offering, spanning across both creative and studios capabilities.

Says Levi: “We welcome Matt into the Colenso family and have loved getting him deep into our clients’ problems and solutions. Having the creative, tech and production brain in one has its obvious benefits.”

Barnes has a rich history in experience design, production and creativity, making him the perfect mix for a role as varied as any within the company today.

Barnes will own the company’s relationships with partners such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, working with them to strategise and execute more incredible digital branded experiences.

Leading the 20 strong digital specialists will not be new to Barnes, as his recent time at FCB showed. FCB’s ‘Oat the Goat’ work was heavily awarded at the recent BEST awards.

Says Barnes: “What excites me about Colenso is not only being surrounded by incredibly smart people, but the massive opportunity to use technology to change people’s lives in a very tangible way.”

Colenso, informed by data, is using those insights to drive meaningful brand experiences for their clients and their clients’ customers.

Says Barnes: “Clearly Colenso are already smashing it in this space, and I’m relishing the chance to help take it to the next level in New Zealand and on the international stage.”