We put brands, businesses and people in a position of strength
Bastion was born in the GFC and built over the last 15 years to service clients increasingly competitively challenged by a digitally disrupted and fast changing world.
About
Originally a brilliant innovation in fort design, a bastion provides more points to attack, and more points of defence – eliminating points of weakness.
We exist to deliver the strategic advantage needed to put brands, businesses and people in a position of strength.
We offer a breadth of specialist capabilities across the communications spectrum including Advertising, Social, Communications, Digital, Media, Experiential, Insights and Training.
Our Model
Our one-of-a kind integrated model is key to delivering this for our clients.
The difference is not just in the breadth of expertise, but the depth in each capability and our operating model, enabling us to work as seamlessly interconnected specialisms.
A true one stop shop.
When commercial strategy connects with brand strategy, which connects to digital, social, comms, CX, reputation, people and product, this puts organisations and brands in a position of strength that’s very hard to break.
Our Expertise
When you partner with Bastion, you access the expertise of the global Bastion Network.
Advertising
Delivers compelling messages that capture attention and spark emotion.
Media
Enable businesses and organisations with the digital foundations for growth in an ever-evolving digital world.
Communications
Helping you tell your story, connect with your audience, and make an impact that lasts.
Insights
Delivers market research & insights to make your life easier, your decisions better and your impact felt.
Experience
Connects people and brands with experiences and emotions.
Digital
Enable businesses and organisations with the digital foundations for growth in an ever-evolving digital world.
Training
Offers corporate affairs, issues and crisis communications that helps organisations to build, maintain, protect and strengthen their reputation.
Our People
Fergus Watts
Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
Fergus Watts Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
Thanks to his knack for understanding business quickly and creating growth opportunities, Fergus Watts has assisted some of Australia’s most dynamic companies in charting the future of their marketing and communications. First and foremost, Fergus believes that a company is nothing without quality people growing within it. He has even fostered his own education program, the Bastion Degree, to help turn visionary young workers into well rounded self-starters.
Jack Watts
Executive Director
Jack Watts Executive Director
Since 2019, Jack has led and driven Bastion’s growth to become the largest independent Agency in Australasia with a growing presence in the USA. As Group CEO, Jack is hands on day-to-day with Bastion’s global team, client base, service and geographical expansion. Jack is driven to ensure that anyone – client or colleague – that walks through one of the many yellow Bastion doors around the globe has a world class experience.
Cheuk Chiang
Group Chief Executive Officer
Cheuk Chiang Group Chief Executive Officer
Cheuk Chiang, Group CEO of Bastion, leads the agency’s teams across Australia, New Zealand and the USA, spearheading one of the largest integrated marketing and communication networks in Australasia and North America. With a career deeply rooted in innovation and leadership across creative, media, data and technology, Cheuk continues to push boundaries and drive exceptional outcomes putting brands, clients and organisations in a position of strength.
Before taking on the Group CEO role, Cheuk served as CEO of Bastion ANZ, where he played a pivotal role in strengthening the agency’s footprint and client impact. His extensive leadership experience includes serving as CEO, Asia Pacific for Dentsu Creative and CEO, Greater North APAC for Dentsu. His journey into data and technology began with chairing Mutiny, where he helped pioneer the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance marketing performance.
Earlier in his career, Cheuk held senior roles at Omnicom, serving as CEO, APAC for both Omnicom Media Group and PHD. At PHD, he led expansive growth from 3 to 21 offices and helped earn over 130 local and regional Agency of the Year awards for both OMD and PHD across the Asia Pacific region. His tenure at Cummins & Partners was marked by award-winning campaigns and notable success that led to the agency’s acquisition by Sapient Nitro.
Prior to Cummins, Cheuk contributed significantly at Leo Burnett Singapore as Regional Account Director, where he helped scale the Asia Pacific Breweries account into one of the agency’s largest regional clients.
With a career spanning three decades, Cheuk has worked with a wide range of iconic brands including Apple, ANZ Bank, Coca-Cola, GSK, Heineken, Kmart, Mars, Myer, Nestlé, Unilever and VW. His accolades include Media Magazine’s Suit of the Year in 2002 and The Internationalist Magazine’s Agency Innovator of the Year in 2010.
Jeremy Jenkinson
Group Chief Financial Officer
Jeremy Jenkinson Group Chief Financial Officer
Jeremy has more than 30 years financial and commercial experience in the marketing and communications industry. More recently he has spent the last 13 years as the CFO for JWT and Wunderman Thompson across Australia and New Zealand. During this time he also served as Chair of the WPP Australia Finance Group and more recently as a member of the WPPAUNZ Finance Executive Committee.
Madeleine Leonard
Head of Brand Communications & Chief of Staff
Madeleine Leonard Head of Brand Communications & Chief of Staff
As Chief of Staff and Head of Brand Communications at Bastion, Madeleine operates at the centre of the business, partnering closely with executive leadership to drive strategic alignment, organisational effectiveness and brand impact across Australia, New Zealand and the US.
Madeleine is an experienced communications and operations leader with over a decade of experience across globally listed companies, independent agencies and high growth organisations. Her expertise spans executive communications and advisory, business operations, organisational alignment and brand strategy, with a focus on enabling leadership teams to operate with clarity and cohesion while strengthening the agency’s external voice.
She has held senior regional roles within complex, fast paced environments and her strength lies in translating strategic priorities into actionable programs, aligning stakeholders and driving outcomes that build culture, brand and commercial performance.
Anna Cherry
Managing Director - Media
Anna Cherry Managing Director - Media
Anna Cherry is a seasoned media strategist and executive, currently serving as Chief Media Officer at CHEP Network, a leading advertising agency in Australia. Appointed in May 2023, she is responsible for overseeing the growth of the agency’s media capabilities and is a key member of its executive leadership team . Prior to joining CHEP, Cherry led the national strategy function at Spark Foundry, where she played a pivotal role in establishing the agency as the fastest-growing in Australia based on billings growth.
Throughout her career, Cherry has held senior leadership positions at some of Australia's most successful media agencies, providing strategic counsel to a diverse portfolio of clients, including ANZ Bank, Carlton & United Breweries, the Australian Federal Government, Toyota, and Westpac Group . Her contributions to the industry have been recognized with several accolades, such as being named in Campaign Asia's "Women to Watch" 2022 list, its "40 Under 40" 2021 list, and receiving B&T’s Best of the Best Strategist of the Year award in 2021 . Cherry is known for her commitment to integrating media, creative, data, and technology to drive effective and well-crafted execution in the advertising landscape.
Tim Den Braber
Managing Director - Digital
Tim Den Braber Managing Director - Digital
I am a highly motivated, business leader with a true passion for innovation & business transformation. I bring a strong balance of Business, Creativity and Technology.
Through a diverse background of positions held, I have developed multi-disciplinary capabilities focused on Team Leadership, Building & Management, Digital Strategy & Innovation, Business Transformation, Advisory, Deep Partnerships across eco-systems, Brand & Communication Strategy, Experience Design Strategy, Client Relationship Building & Growth, Platforms & Conceptual Architecture, End to End Production & Development processes, Content, Stakeholder Management and Media
I have strong experience in key categories for Financial Services, Automotive, Health Services, Retail (Across Electronics, Fashion and Beauty), Travel and Tourism, Industrial (Digital), Government & Education, Telecommunications & Directories.
Mike Godwin
Managing Director - Creative
Mike Godwin Managing Director - Creative
Mike is one of Australia’s leading agency professionals. Mike has helped clients such as McDonald’s and Coles successfully navigate their way through brand and business transformations. He led the McDonald’s business in New Zealand when the client won Client of the Year at the annual Effectiveness Awards. He helped turnaround the fortunes of DDB Sydney as GM, seeing it win B&T’s State and National Agency of the year as well as Employer of the year during his tenure. After running and building the Melbourne office of multinational agency Wunderman Thompson (JWT) from an office of 30 people to 120, over ten years, Mike joined Bastion to lead its Creative team.
Richard Chapman
Managing Director - Communications
Richard Chapman Managing Director - Communications
A creative communications practitioner with industry experience amassed over 20 years, Richard is a multi-channel expert who believes in the power of storytelling. He co-founded PR and experiential agency Spark Impact, going on to join one of the top global media and communications agency networks where he spent a decade creating memorable experiences that connected brands with consumers.
Peter Filopoulos
Managing Director - Experience
Peter Filopoulos Managing Director - Experience
Peter is one of Australia’s most respected leaders across sport, entertainment and major events, with more than 20 years’ experience delivering brand and commercial transformation.
He has held senior leadership roles including Chief Customer, Brand and Marketing Officer at Football Australia, where he played a key role in the growth of the CommBank Matildas and Subway Socceroos and the success of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. Most recently, he has been consulting with Canadian Soccer Media & Entertainment ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
With a strong track record in partnerships and sponsorships, Peter has secured more than $100 million in commercial value and is known for building high-performing teams and scalable growth platforms that put brands in a position of strength.
Joanne Norton
Managing Director - Insights
Joanne Norton Managing Director - Insights
Joanne is a highly experienced insights and transformation leader with more than 25 years’ experience driving data-led growth across global consumer brands.
She has built and led enterprise insights functions that deliver measurable commercial impact, with deep expertise across segmentation, advanced analytics and category strategy. Joanne has held senior roles at Bondi Sands and L’Oréal, where she shaped data-driven strategies across more than 30 brands and transformed how organisations use insights to inform decision making.
Known for her collaborative approach and strong commercial lens, Joanne connects consumer intelligence with clear business outcomes, helping organisations unlock growth and operate from a position of strength.
Simon Langley
Group Chief Creative Officer
Simon Langley Group Chief Creative Officer
Simon Langley has been successfully leading agencies and creative departments for over a decade. A personable and collaborative leader, Simon has a proven track record of producing highly effective, long-term campaigns across all channels, for some of the world’s most iconic brands. Throughout his career in Australia and overseas at some of the industry’s most creative agencies, his work has been recognised at all the major award shows, including over 30 Cannes Lions, multiple D&AD yellow pencils and NY One Show gold, silver & bronze amongst others.
Angela Morris
National Chief Strategy Officer AU
Angela Morris National Chief Strategy Officer AU
Angela has over 20 years’ global experience in building compelling brands & marcoms for clients such as Treasury Wine Estates, Kellogg’s, Nestle, Jetstar, HSBC, RAC, Vodafone, Subway, Ford and Tourism Queensland. She also specialises in behaviour change inc. health, road safety and bush-fire. Previously National Chief Strategy Officer at WPP’s Wunderman Thompson, Angela is widely awarded and has served as Chair of the APG, on the Communications Council Board, the Effies Committee and numerous award judging panels.
Susan Bird
Managing Partner - Advertising
Susan Bird Managing Partner - Advertising
Susan has over 20 years of creative agency experience as a client partner. Prior to joining Bastion Creative she has worked for both mulitnational and large independent agencies on some of Australia's biggest brands, Officeworks, Australia Post, Myer and Specsavers to name a few. She has also worked across categories including government, telecommunications and property.
Susan is driven by results which is recognised by numerous Australian Effectiveness awards, a Grand Effie and an Effective Advertiser of the Year Award. Internationally recognised with an APAC Effectiveness Award, plus a coveted IPA Effectiveness Award.
Ana Lynch
Managing Partner - Advertising
Ana Lynch Managing Partner - Advertising
Ana has a career spanning over 15years with integrated experience directing top multinational and domestic clients in both Global Networks and Independent agencies in the UK and Australia. She is a highly motivated brand marketing specialist with a global mindset and cultural fluency dedicated to delivering value to businesses, cross-team leadership and agency management. Ana’s expertise specialises in building and leading successful new team models with a focus & passion on people, culture and creativity, with a focus in FMCG, Telco, Consumer Health, Fashion Retail and Luxury Brands.
