Dentsu Creative APAC CEO Cheuk Chiang departs for CEO role at Bastion Australia + New Zealand

Leading integrated marketing and communications agency Bastion has appointed one of the industry’s most respected and experienced leaders Cheuk Chiang as CEO for Australia and New Zealand to deliver against the agency’s plans for significant growth.

Chiang (above right), whose career has been deeply rooted in innovation and leadership across creative, media, data and technology, where he has consistently pushed boundaries and driven industry success, will be responsible for driving business expansion and have operational and P&L responsibility across Bastion’s ANZ business.

Bastion Group CEO Jack Watts (above left) says the appointment represents the latest major step in agency growth and continued success within Bastion: “We’ve been in business almost 15 years and it’s a thrill to bring in someone of Cheuk’s calibre to lead our business across ANZ. It’s a testament to the quality of our people, the trust our clients’ place in our abilities and the fearless approach we have taken to building this agency over the years We’ve got 300+ people across 7 offices in ANZ and it’s critical now that we have someone leading the business working day in day out to solve our clients biggest problems.

“Cheuk’s appointment represents a major investment in our next phase of growth. We’re the biggest independent, but we want to be the best Agency in the region, period. We’ve continually reinvested in our business, our people and our clients over the years and this is the next step on that journey. Some people ask me ‘when are you guys going to slow down’, but personally, I don’t think we’re going fast enough.

“The world is changing, and our clients need a partner who can put them in a position of strength to meet these changes head on. We need to constantly evolve and be a better business every day for our people and clients, and in some way the industry.

“We operate in a brilliant industry. We exist at the intersection between our clients and growth. That’s a seriously good place to be and we need to celebrate and revere that. That’s what we loved about Cheuk through what was an extensive process to appoint this role. He’s an evangelist for this industry and our transformative role in the world. We grow businesses, and I’ve never met a CEO or CMO who didn’t think that was a good idea.”

Prior to his new position, Chiang held pivotal roles, including CEO – Asia Pacific for Dentsu Creative, CEO – Greater North APAC for Dentsu, chairman at AI start-up Mutiny, CEO – APAC at Omnicom Media Group and CEO – APAC for PHD and MD at cummins&partners.

Chiang’s impactful career trajectory includes significant milestones such as leading OMD and PHD to over 130 local and regional agency of the year awards across the Asia Pacific region, while expanding PHD from three offices to 21. His tenure at Cummins & Partners witnessed an era of unprecedented success, marked by numerous agency of the year awards and groundbreaking campaigns, with the agency later acquired by Sapient Nitro.

Chiang’s commitment to innovation and creativity is further evidenced by his role as a judge at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and his chairmanship and presidency of esteemed industry awards such as the APAC Effie Awards and Spikes Asia Media jury.

In 2015, Campaign Asia honoured Cheuk as the Asia Pacific Agency Head of the Year, a testament to his ongoing impact and leadership. His influence continued to flourish in subsequent years, with appointments as Chairman of the APAC Effie Committee in 2017 and President of the Dubai Lynx Media jury in 2018.

Says Chiang: “After spending time with Bastion’s key leaders, talent, and clients, I was super impressed with the strength and depth of Bastion’s capabilities. In a world where clients are struggling to survive and thrive against challenging market forces, they need help to not only better compete but also gain competitive advantage.

“Few agency groups can help them do this with the strength of integrated capabilities that Bastion has. Leveraging Bastion’s well stitched together offering and “one stop shop” to help put clients in a position of strength as well as the ability to deliver industry leading innovation got me very excited.”

Bastion delivers wide thinking across the breadth of marketing and advisory disciplines, including market research and insights, brand, design and creative, corporate and change communications, PR and social media, digital transformation and customer experience, sponsorship and experiential, film and content production, data analytics and panel management. Major ANZ clients include Air New Zealand, Microsoft, Xbox, Kellogg’s, Spark, Unilever, L’Oreal, Crown Resorts and AIA

Bastion’s growth journey has been unparalleled in the industry over the past decade. Founded by brothers Fergus and Jack Watts, Bastion has been able to scale across clients and capabilities to become the largest independent agency in the region with over 350 staff across three countries and eight cities.

Extensive further growth is planned at Bastion in areas such as media, AI, digital consulting and customer experience, ecommerce as well as expansion into the Asia Pacific region. · The appointment comes off the back of Bastion’s acquisition of AnalogFolk one of Australia’s premier digital creative agencies.