Bastion acquires Shine in New Zealand

Comms agency Bastion has acquired New Zealand independent creative and digital firm Shine. The merged entity will rebrand to Bastion Shine and headcount will increase by 50, bringing the firm’s total staff to 300 globally. With this new number of staff, it is said to be “Australasia’s largest-ever independent communications agency”.

The move follows Bastion’s rebrand from Bastion Collective in October as part of its vision to deliver clients access to independence at scale.

Jack Watts, Bastion founder and global CEO, said: “Looking back, March of 2020 was one of the defining moments in the 12-year history of Bastion. We quickly set in place a plan and we have stuck to it ever since. That plan was to make difficult decisions early, and then accelerate out hard [while the] multinational agencies were still waiting for someone in London or Paris to tell them what to do.”

He added that clients are seeking agencies that are independent, but at scale. Some of Bastion Shine’s clients include Air New Zealand, telco company Spark, energy company Genesis alongside Bastion’s existing global roster of clients such as Microsoft, Google, KFC, AIA, L’Oreal and Carl’s Jr.

Simon Curran, Shine co-founder and CEO said that the company had been looking for a partner that can help the business scale across Australia and the US while also bringing new capabilities into New Zealand.

“We weren’t really interested in being swallowed up by a global network, and after a meeting of minds and philosophy with Jack and the Bastion team, we knew we had found the right partners,” said Curran.