Alistair Bruyns returns to Australia from Toronto to fill head of digital role at Ogilvy, Melbourne

After an extensive international search, Ogilvy Melbourne has announced the appointment of experienced digital leader Alistair Bruyns as its new head of digital.

With over 16 years of digital experience across Europe, North America and Africa, Bruyns is an accomplished digital agency leader and expert user-experience and digital strategist, with a thorough knowledge of digital production, technologies and integration.

Says David Fox, CEO of Ogilvy Australia: “We’re thrilled that Alistair is joining the Ogilvy team to further build our expanding digital offering. I’m certain he will help us make our existing team bigger, faster and stronger and ensure that digital is integrated into everything we do. We are committed to offer our clients truly integrated customer experiences across all consumer touch points and Alistair will help us deliver on that commitment.”

Ogilvy Melbourne managing partner Michael McEwan said Ogilvy searched far and wide to find the right fit for the agency: “It was really important for us to find the right mix of talent and experience for this role. We believe we found that in Alistair. He not only holds a Consumer Behaviour M.B.A, but is also a highly collaborative, engaging leader. Most importantly, he is a champion of consumer-centric digital approaches, which is exactly what our clients need in this day and age to make their brands matter.”

Bruyns returns to Melbourne after an eight-year stint in Toronto, Canada; where he worked for agencies including Y&R and Isobar. Most recently, he was head of digital and operations at inVentiv Health, a global biopharmaceutical technology company. His experience encompasses global integrated creative agencies, pure-play digital agencies, start-ups, and even running his own digital agency the TenThousand Group.

Back in his native South Africa, Bruyns had stints at Lowe and Partners, Saatchi & Saatchi and FCB Johannesburg.

During the course of his career, Bruyns has created digital experiences for an impressive array of global brands including Diet Coke, Malibu Rum, KFC, Pizza Hut, Pampers, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Ford, Toyota, Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, British Airways, Barclays Bank and Citibank.

Says Bruyns on his new appointment: “I’m tremendously excited to make the move to Melbourne and to join the Ogilvy Australia team. They are a driven and ambitious bunch and the opportunity to work together on some of Australia’s biggest brands was too good to pass. Agencies have only just begun cracking the top of the digital iceberg and I can’t wait to go deep into creating bleeding-edge digital experiences for our clients.”