40 Under 40 2024: Charlotte Glennon, Colenso BBDO

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Charlotte Glennon

Head of integrated production
Colenso BBDO
New Zealand

Charlotte Glennon is now head of integrated production at Colenso BBDO, with over ten years of production experience under her belt at agencies including TBWA, Mother London, Host Australia, and DDB Auckland. She rose the ranks from an agency TV producer to lead integrated producer. 

As a member of the senior leadership team at Colenso, Glennon helped the agency win its second Cannes Grand Prix in a row, using AI to enable creativity rather than maximise efficiency. Pedigree’s Adoptable AI campaign was a first-of-its-kind AI machine-learning model that allowed real dogs from local shelters to star in adverts. As part of the campaign, Pedigree aimed to accelerate its mission to end dog homelessness by turning every Pedigree ad into an ad for a shelter dog.

Meanwhile, Glennon also worked on the Cannes-winning Whiskas Meowzer campaign, an idea that rebranded cats as ‘Meowzer’s’, or low-maintenance dogs, to spur cat adoptions and sales. The campaigns’ success has led to Colenso gaining substantial organic business from Mars and the opportunity to roll out the campaigns globally. 

Furthermore, Glennon was instrumental in the agency’s win of Auckland Pride 2025, and client lead Hāmiora Bailey attributed her “passion, determination and drive” as key reasons for the win.

Her proven success has also earned her an expanded role, where she now oversees the overall agency structure and how work runs through the agency. She now leads a team of 20, including producers, editors, traffic and studio staff. She was invited to join Colenso’s Shadow Executive Team as a senior leader, paving the way for her executive role in the agency well beyond just the remit of her department.    

Deeply passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion initiatives at the agency and the wider industry, Glennon sits on the DE&I Cross-Industry Working Group under New Zealand’s Communications Council. She also spearheads fundraising with D&AD to launch their DE&I programme. This free, industry-led night school supports self-taught creatives entering the industry without the benefit of a university education. She played a key role in developing Pīkari Mai, a web browser tool that replaces news with indigenous (Māori) content from various sources. She also collaborated with Māori indigenous artists Lissy & Rudi, volunteering her time outside of work hours to promote their exhibition.      

Building on her significant contributions to the industry, Glennon is currently working on using her experience to upskill producers on using AI across the advertising industry. Additionally, she has facilitated community-building within the industry by organising producer "hui's" (gatherings) for producers from Auckland-based production companies and agencies.

As a person of colour (Pasifika), she is actively working towards re-indigenizing the industry, ensuring the incredible creative talent within the many cultures of New Zealand can be seen, heard, and expressed on the biggest stages, and developing projects to elevate indigenous voices.    

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