Federation wins Emirates

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Originally published in AdMedia, 22 March 2012.

Glamour airline Emirates has appointed Auckland indie Federation to handle its creative account in the NZ market. It is believed (but unconfirmed) that Federation won the business in a pitch against the incumbent, Saatchi & Saatchi. As the agency of record, Federation will be responsible for brand, digital, direct and trade marketing, working alongside the Emirates corporate communications team in Dubai.

“Federation presented some outstanding and innovative ideas that connected with our vision of where we want to take our brand as we evolve and enter a new growth phase,” said Boutros Boutros, Emirates’ divisional senior vice-president, corporate communications, in a statement. Boutros also confimed that Starcom has retained the media side of the business. “As our creative account partner in New Zealand, Federation will work with our media agency Starcom to help build our brand and customer base in this market,” he said.

Federation founder & director Sharon Henderson said: “We are extremely proud to be appointed by Emirates. This is a very important win for our agency. The airline and travel category is one our team knows and loves and the Emirates brand has an enviable reputation as one of the world’s best airlines.“It is a company with an outstanding offer for New Zealand travellers and we’re very much looking forward to partnering with Emirates to build on their vision for this market.”

Simple twists of fate

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Originally published in AdMedia, July 2011.

Sharon Henderson is the founder of independent Auckland agency Federation. The first time she came to AdMedia’s attention was when she returned from Sydney in 2003 to become CEO at Aim Proximity.
Read more

A Federation of minds

Friday, February 4th, 2011

Originally published in NZ Marketing September-October 2010.

Well-known agency leaders Sharon Henderson and Murray Reid started Federation, in 2008. And by uniting marketing disciplines, putting in the hard yards and using their strategic nous to deliver real business results for clients, it’s now one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing independent outfits.. Read more

Federation appoints Gold Cannes winner Ben Chandler as Digital & Direct Creative Director

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Indy agency Federation has just announced two major new appointments. Well-known international award winning Creative Director with Proximity Canada and former Creative Group Head of Aim Proximity Ben Chandler has been appointed by the Feds as Digital and Direct Creative Director. Karla Burke, award-winning Craft department senior and Interbrand designer from DDB, has also been appointed Art Director to work with Chandler.

Chandler is a proven talent with an significant history in the Proximity network. His work has featured regularly at Cannes Lions, DMA Echos, John Caples and the RSVP’s, and he’s also served as an awards judge.

Sharon Henderson from Federation says, “We’ve been talking to Ben for some months to get him back to New Zealand. Ben is easily one of the most respected and loved Creative Directors in our business. He’s an exceptional digital and direct talent with an incredible list of international awards to his name, and extensive mobile marketing and social media experience form his time in Canada. And just quietly, he has an equally formidable reputation as a guitarist and coffee barista. We’re thrilled he’s finally able to get back to New Zealand to join us.”

The Feds have continued to grow steadily over the last two and a half years. In the last 12 months, they’ve quietly added some well known names to their client list, including Tourism Auckland, The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and major travel retailers Harvey World Travel and United Travel.

Murray Reid from Federation adds, “In just two and a half years. we’ve carved a unique niche for our agency as customer and brand engagement specialists. Ben’s digital and direct expertise will allow us to continue to grow our reputation in this space. He’ll lead our team of creative which has expanded rapidly over the last few months with the addition of Art Director Karla Burke who joins at the same time as Ben, and also Steve Leong from DDB and Nancy Chen from Colenso.99.

As Creative Director at Proximity Canada, Chandler oversaw direct, digital and CRM for RBC Royal Bank, monster.com, Mitsubishi, Gillette and Alberta telecom, Shaw communications and more.

As Creative Group Head of Aim Proximity, he has produced successful multimedia campaigns for Air New Zealand, BNZ, Vodafone, Yellow Pages and MINI among others and his work has been awarded at Cannes Lions, John Caples, RSVP, Echo and Axis.

The Feds poach digital specialist from Tribal DDB

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Federation has announced another new appointment to their team. Steven Leong has been poached from Tribal DDB and joins the Feds as Digital Art Director.

Sharon Henderson from Federation says, Steven is a terrific hire. He has produced some outstanding award-winning work for clients such as Coastguard, SKY and Cadbury, and we’re thrilled to have him coming on board. His ability to work right across the right across the digital environment along with his experience with social network applications and online video makes him a great hire for Federation. Quite aside from all that, Steven’s a thoroughly nice guy which makes him a great addition to our team.”

Henderson says the agency is on a growth curve with more new business to be announced. Planning Director Janisa Parag also recently joined the Feds from Aim Proximity.