Former DDB Aotearoa MD Nikki McKelvie joins Dentsu Creative Aotearoa as Managing Director

Former DDB Aotearoa MD Nikki McKelvie has joined Dentsu Creative Aotearoa as its new Managing Director. In this role, McKelvie will lead the creative practice, building on strong momentum across the business and supporting the continued expansion of dentsu’s client portfolio.

McKelvie joins the dentsu Aotearoa Executive Leadership Team, strengthening an already highly regarded, award-winning leadership group and reinforcing dentsu’s commitment to creative excellence.

She brings more than two decades of experience shaping some of Aotearoa’s most successful and highly awarded creative agencies. She spent 13 years at DDB Aotearoa, including four years as Managing Director, where she played a key leadership role in the agency’s sustained creative and commercial success before her departure in June last year.

During McKelvie’s tenure as Managing Director, DDB Aotearoa won eight Agency of the Year titles across major industry awards including Spikes Asia, Axis and AWARD. She was also instrumental in launching Takitoru, a Māori creative agency within the DDB Group, demonstrating a deep commitment to inclusive creativity and meaningful representation.

McKelvie is widely recognised not only for her creative and commercial leadership, but for her focus on people, culture and capability building. She has led large, diverse teams, led new business, shaped agency-wide inclusion and diversity strategies, and played an active role in industry education.

Says Rachel Anderson-Cormack, Group Managing Director, dentsu Aotearoa: “Nikki is an exceptional leader with a deep passion for creativity that drives real business impact. She brings a rare combination of creative ambition, commercial rigour and people-first leadership. As our client portfolio continues to grow, Nikki is exactly the right leader to build on the momentum in our creative business and help shape what’s next for Dentsu Creative Aotearoa.”

Says McKelvie: “I’m really excited to be joining dentsu. There’s great momentum across Dentsu Creative right now, an incredibly talented team, and a real opportunity to do work that’s both creatively ambitious and commercially effective. I can’t wait to get stuck in and help drive growth for our clients.”

McKelvie has worked across a wide range of industries including banking, FMCG, retail, insurance, electronics, pharma, telco, services, media and government.

Register for FREE HERE and receive the Campaign Brief Daily Bulletin and/or the global Best Ads Best of the Week Bulletin.              Subscribe to Campaign Brief Magazine.

#More Creative News   #No paywalls   #No annual membership fees

Subscribe to Portfolio & Reel for current listings of Australian and NZ ad agency and production company leadership and key personnel