Colenso BBDO named Campaign Brief New Zealand Advertising Agency of the Decade

Colenso BBDO has been named Campaign Brief New Zealand Advertising Agency of the Decade, after being consistently placed in the top 5 of Campaign Brief’s annual Hot + Cold Chart every year. During the decade Colenso BBDO won the Campaign Brief NZ Agency of the Year title five times: in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Says Colenso BBDO creative chairman Nick Worthington (above right): “To achieve CB Agency of the Decade in 2020 – which was perhaps the most challenging year we have ever faced  – is both a wonderful end and an incredible start to what I believe will be the most exciting decade of our lives, for New Zealand, and every purpose driven organization.”

Adds chief creative officer Levi Slavin (above left): “We are all enormously proud to receive this honour of honours. Colenso is a very special place. Over the last couple of decades I’ve worked in three different roles in the agency. Each time I’ve returned I’ve been fortunate enough to make the best work of my career.

“Colenso somehow does that for everyone who passes through its doors. There is a magic here. A collective love of creativity that transcends the industry and its trends. And that passion for creativity is shared by everyone in the building.

“On behalf of every single person who has worked at Colenso over the last decade, on behalf of every one of our wonderful clients, and on behalf of our unbelievably talented agency partners, thank you. This is one for the pool room.”

Says Colenso BBDO managing director Scott Coldham (above centre): “I’m just really proud of how consistently strong this agency has been. Few manage it. To have won agency of the decade for two decades running is bonkers. We have had so many amazing people, clients and partners who’ve been part of the agency’s journey, and no matter what, it’s always just been about doing great work. It’s a privilege to be at this agency, and I’m so happy for all of the people, clients and partners who’ve made it such a great one.”

Adds Slavin: “Over the last 10 years we have had some of the most remarkable creative people at Colenso. Each generation of talent breaking the rules, raising the creative standard, and paving the way for the next. The creatives in the building today are the most humble, wonderful people I know. There is a collective sense that we are only temporary caretakers here. That the work that we make today, the people we get to work with, and the culture we live within, are all thanks to the creatives who came before us. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Not literally, of course.”

Former CEO Nick Garrett, who transferred to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne from Colenso BBDO Auckland in 2015, made a big contribution to both agencies’ success (Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has been named CB Australian Agency of the Decade): “I have made life-long friends while working across Colenso and Clemenger BBDO and I am deeply proud of the work we have made together,” said Garrett when he departed the network in August 2019.