Spotlight on Women Creatives: Elle Bullen, creative partner & co-founder, SDWM, Melbourne

As part of a daily series Campaign Brief shines the spotlight on the top female executive creative directors and creative directors in Australia…

Elle Bullen is Creative Partner and co-founder of SDWM, Melbourne. 

With plenty of local and international accolades under her belt for the likes of Myer ‘Give Registry’ and Bonds ‘Boobs’, Elle has built a career on bold and impactful thinking. 

She is one of the few women to win the Gold Siren and accompanying trip to Cannes, and has been recognised as Australian Creative of the Year at the B&T Women in Media Awards. She’s taken out the Cannes Grand Prix for Good for her work on Scope ‘See the Person’, as well as collecting metal at creative and effectiveness award shows worldwide for TAC ‘Rethink Speed’ and ‘Rider Reminder’, Drinkwise ‘How to drink properly’, La Trobe ‘Living Landscapes’ and the invention of 7-Eleven ‘BYO Cup Day’.

She’s helped grow and define many much loved brands in her time, including VB, Libra, Four ‘n’ Twenty, Latina Fresh and SEEK.

After a decade at multinationals including Leo Burnett and Clemenger BBDO, Elle and her creative partner James Orr took a leap to kickstart their own independent agency alongside two other founding partners. She managed to grow and give birth to a child and an agency within the same year, one of which has recently been recognised on Campaign Brief’s hottest agency list. 

An active member of the ad community, Bullen has educated and mentored the next generation of creative thinkers as Co-Head of AWARD School Victoria for the past two years, and shared what it takes to start an agency with a sold out MADC Presents event.

VIEW ELLE’S BESTADS PAGE

For the full up-to-date list of all ad agency creatives and producers and production companies in Australia and New Zealand go to Portfolio & Reel