Kirsty Robinson joins VMLY&R Brisbane from Deloitte Australia in head of experience role

As part of a broader global focus on providing world-class Customer Experience (CX) capabilities, VMLY&R has appointed renowned design and experience strategist Kirsty Robinson as its first ever Brisbane-based head of experience.

Robinson (left) brings more than 20 years’ working in the space to the newly created role, with a key focus on designing experience-led strategies across digital and physical platforms, for both customers and employees. She joins VMLY&R from Deloitte Australia, where she worked in Sydney as national digital HR and employee experience lead.

The creation of the role in Brisbane and Robinson’s hire is part of a global push to further integrate CX and UX across VMLY&R’s key client offerings, as it consolidates its market position and bolsters its strategic credentials.

CEO Jon Bird said it was also one of a number of senior roles to be announced in the coming months, in line with the regional leadership team’s vision of where the business is heading.

Says Bird: “VMLY&R focuses on creating connected brands, and so our work extends across the full customer journey, wherever and whenever opportunities exist for brands to connect with their customers and influence their behaviour. This role and approach are critical to the way we think about building brands and businesses.”

With 20 years working in digital, harnessing its power to drive customer and user experience through to employee experience, Robinson has covered the entire breadth of the digital industry, from leading the pan-European Toyota Digital Marketing Account across 28 countries, through to designing the digital customer experience for Sydney’s Opal Card rollout.

A human centred designer working to help organisations navigate how digital will impact their customer experience, their employee experience, and the workplace itself, Robinson’s core capability is as a design and experience strategist; a problem solver who uses the service design and experience design toolkit to work with her teams to solve clients’ problems.

Says Adam Kennedy (right), managing director, VMLY&R Brisbane: “Kirsty just gets it. She is a rare breed of strategic thinker. Her experience and service design nous are complemented by a deep understanding of brand and creativity. We’re pleased as punch to have her join our line-up of talented, senior strategists.”

Says Robinson: “Where once brand and customer experience were treated as two separate entities or strategies, we knit both together under one roof and under one brief. I am leading CX whilst working side by side with our brand and communications strategists to achieve true integration. I’m stoked to be part of the team.”

Robinson’s appointment is effective immediately.

VMLY&R is part of WPP AUNZ, Australasia’s leading creative transformation company.