Bastion has elevated Cheuk Chiang to the position of Group Chief Executive Officer. Co-founder and current Group CEO, Jack Watts, will transition into the role of Executive Director, where he will concentrate on driving strategic growth initiatives. Established in 2009 by brothers Fergus and Jack Watts, Bastion was built as an agency for the modern era. Today, it partners with a diverse roster of local and global brands, including Kellogg’s, Air New Zealand, Spotify, L’Oréal, Ferrari, Unilever, Mars, Salesforce, and Bunnings Warehouse.0
“The past 16 years have been an extraordinary journey; to build a global business from scratch in any industry is something rare. An integral part of the growth and longevity of Bastion has been our continued evolution, knowing that what got us here, won’t get us there. Working with Cheuk as CEO of our ANZ business over the past year has been eye-wateringly fun. He possesses a remarkable skill set, with the proven experience to lead not just a team of 350, but teams as large as 3,000,” said Jack Watts.
Chiang’s role will be focused on driving the continued growth of the global Bastion business with key clients, services, regional expansion and multi-market integrated campaigns. He brings decades of experience leading marketing and communications organizations across Dentsu and Omnicom.
“It’s an honour to take the reins from Jack and lead Bastion into its next phase,” said Chiang.
“We are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of the modern marketer through our worldclass integrated end-to-end offering. Our global platform enables us to deliver truly integrated, best-in-class work with local insight and I’m energised to build on this strong foundation. Looking ahead, our vision is to scale Bastion to be the world’s strongest independent network driving innovation, embracing emerging technologies and expanding our global footprint while staying true to our entrepreneurial spirit.”
The leadership transition will be overseen by Bastion’s Chair, Fergus Watts, who was Group CEO for the first 10 years of Bastion’s growth.
“This is more than just a leadership change, it’s a natural progression for our business,” said Fergus Watts.
“Cheuk’s appointment is the culmination of a 5-year plan to ensure Bastion does not fall victim to what hampers most agency’s growth, which is an ongoing dependency on the founders. This business is bigger than any one person. It is and always has been about delivering exceptional results for our clients.
“Our ambition is to build one of the strongest independent agencies in the world. Having done that across Australia and New Zealand, it is now time to cement our strategy across the USA and focus our further expansion into Asia.”
