40 Under 40 2021: Linda Fagerlund, Dentsu Media

Linda Fagerlund

Chief strategy and marketing officer, ANZ
Dentsu Media
Australia

With strategy experience spanning media, creative and publishing, Linda Fagerlund has an innate ability to size up audiences and turn concepts into powerful narratives that they can appreciate. It’s something she’s learned through a diverse career that began at independent media agencies before leading agency partnerships at publishing giant News Corp, then heading up integrated creative media strategy for Diageo at Leo Burnett, and building a new strategy unit upon joining Spark Foundry.

By the time she arrived at Carat Australia as chief strategy officer at age 34, Fagerlund’s rich experiences made her a difference-maker. With a new brand strategy, she elevated Carat’s long-standing client relationship with Nova Entertainment with the highest NPS improvement in the agency. Under her guidance, Carat’s in-house content division, The Story Lab, was scaled to become the fastest-growing division in the agency with more than 50% revenue growth. 

Twelve months after joining Carat, Fagerlund was promoted to chief strategy and marketing officer for Dentsu Media ANZ, where she excels at demonstrating the value of integrated strategies, stemming from her ability to forge strong relationships with CEOs and senior cross-functional leaders. 

A fun fact about Fagerlund is that she is an interior design fanatic, with an eye for pulling together a room’s décor and seeing potential in restoring vintage furniture with a bit of patience and time investment. In a similar way, Fagerlund thrives on bringing together the diverse talents of data and CX specialists, account leads and creatives to reveal hidden value through new strategies that others may not discern.

This desire to bring out renewed potential is very likely a driver behind her work as a strong mentor with ongoing career advice and support for four mentees she has advised over the past six years. Passionate about creating a more inclusive workplace, Fagerlund is a founding member of Dentsu’s DEI committee and began a ‘cultural swap’ initiative to allow staff to celebrate religious and cultural days that matter to them. 

Beyond this, Fagerlund contributes to the industry as a member of the Australian Influencer Marketing Council and by publishing thought leadership and industry whitepapers. She launched Carat’s ‘Create Community’ inspiration series in partnership with TikTok, News Corp and Acast, finding new ways to tell great stories and educate staff.