BMF nabs Google APAC creative head for new innovation and co-ECD role
Enero Group’s BMF has appointed Tara McKenty to the newly created dual role of chief innovation officer and executive creative director, amongst a suite of internal promotions.
With 16 years experience in the creative industry, McKenty joins the agency from Google, where she has been the creative head in APAC for the past Nine years. At Google she was responsible for driving brand love and trust for the brand, working with other global brands to use Google’s products and platforms in innovative ways.
McKenty has also spent time at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, and TBWA.
Ahead of her July start with BMF, McKenty said: “I have valued my time and learnt a lot working in tech, but I have missed agency life and the people our industry attracts. I am excited to be returning, it feels like a homecoming of sorts, and I can’t wait to start this next chapter of my career with my new BMF family!”
She will work alongside co-ECD David Fraser, who has been promoted into the role after first joining BMF in 2014, leading the ALDI Australia and Tourism Tasmania accounts for the past nine and four years respectively.
With his creative partner, Dantie Van Der Merwe, Fraser has helped Aldi to win more than 200 awards for creativity and effectiveness, with a “pivotal” contribution to the ongoing success of the brands ‘Good Different’ platform.
McKenty and Fraser will together undertake the remit left behind by former ECD Pia Chaudhuri, who left the agency in March to move to Denmark, where she has taken on a new role as as global creative lead for play inclusion at Lego’s in-house agency.
Fraser said: “BMF has always felt like home. It’s a caring family full of smart, talented, and ambitious people. And I’ve loved growing into a weird uncle here. To be asked to help build on the BMF legacy and take it to new places with Tara is a fantastic opportunity.”
Both McKenty and Fraser will work closely with BMF’s chief creative officer Alex Derwin to lead the agency’s creative department and creative output.
In addition, associate creative directors Rees Steel and Casey Schweikert, have also been promoted to creative directors.
Derwin commented: “Tara has made an enviable amount of incredible work both in her time at Google, and at her previous agencies. The skillsets she brings, her knowledge of tech and culture, her entrepreneurial spirit, and her boundless creative energy makes her the perfect person to take BMFs output to the next level.
“Dave has been leading our two most creatively awarded accounts, he knows the agency inside out, and leads with compassion and intelligence. With Casey and Rees also taking a big, well-deserved step up, we’re well set up for the future.”
Stephen McArdle, CEO at BMF, added: “Tara is a truly rare talent. As one of the first brilliant creative minds to be lured into the world of big tech, she’s got enviable experience in both creatively led innovation and tech enabled CX. When you couple everything Tara’s learned at Google over the past 10-years with a creative agency that has momentum, belief, and ambition, great things are bound to happen.
“We’re also incredibly fortunate to have more than our fair share of world-class talent already in the BMF building. With Tara’s arrival, we’ve taken the opportunity to recognise and elevate some of that outstanding talent and set ourselves up for our next phase of creative exploration and growth.”
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