Spark Foundry gears up for 2022 with senior hires Oliver King, Kyra Hale Lyden + Liam Dunne

Spark Foundry has announced a number of key appointments to its senior team today including Oliver King as head of strategy, Kyra Hale Lyden as strategy director and Liam Dunne as business director.

King (left) and Lyden (centre) have worked as a strategy team for the past three years and together have produced and won fourteen media awards on behalf of their clients, including golds for best communications strategy, best use of insight and best creative media idea.

King brings over 25 years’ experience to Spark Foundry, leading some of New Zealand’s largest advertisers across automotive, financial, FMCG and telecommunication sectors. Equipped with an MFA and MAAM, King has in-depth banking experience, having strategically led the ASB account for over five years.

Says King: “It would be an understatement to say I am looking forward to Spark Foundry. It is not often in your career that you get the opportunity to help be part of building an agency from its foundations with strategy at its core. With Nicky in charge and the incredible people and clients already on board, I think we can build something very special at Spark Foundry.”

Lyden comes with a background in advertising and diverse experience across telecommunications, financial services, FMCG, entertainment, travel and tourism and insurance sectors to Spark Foundry. Previously working across digital, creative and media agencies in specialist client leadership and strategy roles, Lyden brings passion and a unique perspective to the team, always looking for new ways to tackle communications challenges for her clients.

Says Lyden: “I am so excited to have the opportunity to be a part of Spark Foundry, right from the beginning. Spark Foundry and their approach to strategic planning is truly unique and I am looking forward to helping translate it into the New Zealand market to produce some great work with our clients, and the exceptionally talented agency team Nicky is building.”

Dunne (right) has recently returned from six years in London, previously working on key clients including Camelot and Microsoft at Dentsu Aegis. With a background in traditional media channel planning and strategy, Dunne’s recent work on Xbox Series X and Windows 11 has seen his feet firmly grounded in data and tech, with innovation predominantly being driven through digital channels.

Says Dunne: “It’s not very often you are presented with the opportunity to join an agency during its inception, so to be linking up with the Spark Foundry team at the very beginning of their journey is a massively exciting prospect.”

Spark Foundry will welcome King and Dunne to the team in January 2022, followed by Lyden in May, as she returns from maternity leave.

On the new additions to the team, Spark Foundry, managing director, Nicky Greville says: “We are thrilled to have three amazing talents joining our growing team. Between Olly and Kyra, with their proven insight-driven strategic leadership, and Liam, with his wealth of experience running large portfolios such as Microsoft, the Spark Foundry team is geared up for a huge 2022 delivering to our vision of Famously Effective Ideas.”