Brisbane’s BFJ Digital promotes Fabian Valado to general manager and adds trio of new talent

BFJ Digital, one of Brisbane’s fastest-growing digital agencies, has announced several key appointments including the promotion of Fabian Valado to General Manager. The agency has also welcomed Nivedita Pillai as Head of Digital Solutions, Jayden Osborne as Creative Director and Dana Cano as CRM Manager.

BFJ Digital Owner and Founder Ben Henzell attributes the agency’s growth to the increasing pressure on marketing managers and the growing demand for measurable results: “Budgets are tighter than ever, and many clients now see us as an extension of their team. We have been asked regularly for wider services such as media buying, CRM, automation, and creative so we have simply responded to the demand.”

BFJ Digital continues to work with Herron Todd White, Harley Davidson, Hyundai, Griffith University, Sealy, Ainslie Bullion, Swyftx, Covermore Group, Smart Clinics, Better Medical, Lutheran Services, Asthma Australia and Lady Gowrie.

Henzell started the business in 2009 and has been growing solidly since then with a team of now 18.

Says Henzell: “Fabian has been with us for five years and turbo charged our ability to unite data to drive efficiencies, not just in marketing, but across our clients’ businesses.

“Clients often don’t know the gold nuggets they were sitting on in terms of data, often out of a variety of systems and where to look for them. We ask a heap of questions compared to other classic ‘package deal’ digital agencies.

“We really ‘get under the hood’ to see where all the connections are – both online and offline – and working with them to get every front of the business working well together.

“Clients have been impressed at how we help them use their CRMs as our SSOT on all reporting, instead of fluffy metrics like impressions, clicks and conversions. We go deeper and report on real marketing leads, sales and revenue.”

Prior to BFJ Digital, Valado was at Mindhive and was an SEO Specialist that focused on a portfolio of small to medium businesses Fabian has also worked for Screen Queensland as a Sound Recordist and Designer so loves music composition for commercial, audio and film sound design.

Says Valado: “When you work with lots of SME clients, you know where to look and how to help quickly, as many of these clients simply don’t have budget to burn – nor should they if they are helped quickly and efficiently.”

Even though BFJ Digital has been working with Jayden Osborne through his creative agency Borne, for over seven years, bringing creative in house is a big move for BFJ Digital.

Osborne sees this as a natural next step for the already successful approach between BFJ Digital and Borne.

Says Osborne: “The chance to be part of this growing team was a cracking opportunity and being able to formalise the how data driven design is a core part of the BFJ Digital offer was too good to pass up.”

Osborne has been trusted by global brands and local heroes such as Qld Resources Council, Brisbane Economic Development Agency, Built, Cover More, the Brisbane Broncos and Safety Docs and Burleigh Brewing.

Prior to BFJ Digital, Pillai was Programmatic Director at Dentsu, Digital Campaign Manager at Pivotus and Yahoo across Europe, India and Singapore for 7 years before moving to Australia. Her expertise includes SEM, SEO, social, programmatic advertising and digital analytics.

Says Pillai: “I love that I get to really drive the BFJ Digital team to deliver what all clients are asking for – seamless executions of complex projects that get results.”

Boston’s loss is BFJ Digital’s gain in new CRM Manager Dana Cano. She was a Hubspot Certified Trainer and Digital Marketing Strategist for nearly 10 years, helping clients from the US, Europe and Latin America scale their business growth goals with automation tools and technology.

Says Cano: “I enjoy helping sales and marketing teams generate more revenue by reducing friction caused by poor alignment and redundant work that can be automated, allowing them to focus on more meaningful work.”

Pictured L-R: Ben Henzell, Dana Cano, Jayden Osborne, Nivedita Pillai, Fabian Valado