Unbnd celebrates growth and increased momentum with several new appointments

(Pictured L-R: David Loughnan, Lachlan Jones, Mikey Ford, Amy Wardrop and Erik Bernacchi)

One of Australia’s leading creative technology companies Unbnd has today announced it has welcomed several new hires across all areas of its business, doubling the size of its team in the past 12 months.

This growth of the business comes as a result of the substantial increased demand for its interactive mobile entertainment technology Aura both locally and in overseas markets, as well as increased momentum on the agency side of the business working with brands across retail, music, sports and fintech.

Says Antony Arena, CEO, Unbnd: “2020 has been a transformative year for Unbnd. We not only launched Aura as a solution for organisations to innovate in how customers engage with their content, but have also grown our agency business by working with brands across a broad spectrum of verticals to turn their ideas into unique creative experiences.

“Like many businesses, we were forced to adapt to the challenges 2020 has brought, particularly when it came to helping our clients navigate closing the door on physical, event-based projects and instead think of innovative ways to engage customers digitally through webAR and other applications. I’m incredibly proud of the team’s dedication this year and am excited to bring on additional talented, creative minds as we enter the new year.”

The new hires come off the back of David Loughnan being promoted to managing partner following a successful 18 months in the business, building a niche proposition leveraging webAR technology and leading Unbnd to deliver some of the most cutting-edge webAR work currently seen around the world.

Key appointments include industry experts Lachlan Jones, Mikey Ford, Amy Wardrop and Erik Bernacchi as well as other new starters that specialise in UX, DevOps, Engineering and real-time 3D.

Lachlan Jones has joined as chief commercial officer, responsible for driving opportunities for Aura both locally and globally as well as managing existing key commercial partnerships in the US and UK. He joins following a 14-year tenure at Omnicom – six of which were spent as the Managing Director of media agency Foundation.

Jones will work closely with Mikey Ford, who joins as creative technologist, focusing on the research and development of Aura to uncover new creative applications that change the way businesses create engaging and immersive content.

The agency business has also hired Erik Bernacchi, who has more than a decade of global experience as design director of immersive technologies. Bernacchi will lead the art, animation, UX, and product design output of immersive and creative technology projects including WebGL, WebAR, augmented and virtual reality.

Most recently, Amy Wardrop has joined as senior technology project manager. Wardrop’s expertise across technology leadership, business analysis and agile project management, as well as her experience developing award-winning virtual initiatives will be integral to Unbnd as it embarks on several new and exciting client wins in 2021.