Australian Comms Group Bastion Collective Expands In US, Wins Clients KFC And Unispace

Australian Comms Group Bastion Collective Expands In US, Wins Clients KFC And Unispace

Bastion Collective, the largest independent communications group in Australia, continues its significant year-on-year growth since its expansion in the United States.

The independent agency group acquired market research agency Bastion db5 based in Los Angeles and New York in November of 2019, and more recently added website, mobile application development and digital marketing services to its PR and social media firm, Bastion Elevate with the acquisitions of Digital Brand Group and Cyndica Labs.

In the United States, Bastion Collective has recently won a slew of major new clients including KFC, OREMORE Automotive Group’s Ontario Auto Centre, Unispace and Phillips 66.

These significant client wins have driven the group to expand with four new senior hires over the past month. Of note, with over 18 years large agency experience and an emphasis in the automotive industry, Bastion welcomes James Wharton in his new role as General Manager of Bastion Elevate.

Wharton has previously held senior agency roles leading major integrated accounts across clients such as Porsche, Mazda, The North Face and Mattel.

Also joining the Bastion team in the US are new recruits including Danial Aparicio, Bastion db5 analyst; Olivia Riley, Bastion Elevate PR account manager; and Jessie Write, Bastion Elevate social media and client success manager.

Bastion Collective is led in America by former US Air Force Major, Dax Cornelius. Having flown in active combat and served as CEO of the US Air Forces premier west coast F-16 demonstration team, Cornelius ultimately led US Air Force branding initiatives, one of the highest-profile marketing, recruitment and retention programs in the country.

Bastion’s CEO in the United States, Dax Cornelius, commented, “we are thrilled to welcome James to the team as Bastion Collective’s client portfolio in the United States continues to grow.  James brings a variety of strategic relationships to our PR, digital and social media offerings and will elevate Bastion’s capabilities and digital product sets for our clients.”

Global CEO, Jack Watts (pictured), added that there are opportunities for independents to expand outside of the Australian marketplace.

Watts said, “our vision is to create the new world agency model and build the largest independent agency in every market we operate in.”

“Having achieved that in Australia a couple of years ago, we have been rapidly expanding the business in the United States with the deliberate goal of building the largest independent agency on the West Coast of America. At the rate we’re going, we believe we will have achieved that by late 2022.”

Bastion Collective is currently in market in the USA with a number of live major agency acquisition opportunities to continue its significant North American growth.




Please login with linkedin to comment

bastion

Latest News

Sydney Comedy Festival: Taking The City & Social Media By Storm
  • Media

Sydney Comedy Festival: Taking The City & Social Media By Storm

Sydney Comedy Festival 2024 is live and ready to rumble, showing the best of international and homegrown talent at a host of venues around town. As usual, it’s hot on the heels of its big sister, the giant that is the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, picking up some acts as they continue on their own […]

Global Marketers Descend For AANA’s RESET For Growth
  • Advertising

Global Marketers Descend For AANA’s RESET For Growth

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has announced the final epic lineup of local and global marketing powerhouses for RESET for Growth 2024. Lead image: Josh Faulks, chief executive officer, AANA  Back in 2000, a woman with no business experience opened her first juice bar in Adelaide. The idea was brilliantly simple: make healthy […]