Vivian Bryant – Director & MD

A Graphic Designer by trade, Vivian established Brand Spanking in the spare room of a Ponsonby flat in 2002. She has been the constant force in the agency’s evolution and has garnered widespread respect from both clients and industry peers over the last 15 years. Today she retains a major shareholding, heads up key client accounts including Independent Liquor, T&G Global, and 2degrees as well as contributing to the industry’s development as an active member of the CAANZ PRESCOM (PR, Experiential and Social Committee) and judge in a variety of awards ceremonies.

Outside of work, Vivian raises two young children with her husband Nathan and now lives back in Ponsonby, where it all started. Her past life includes a six-year stint in Japan and stunt work in films and television shows such as King Kong and Xena.

Jeremy Hunt – Director & CFO

Jeremy merged his campus marketing operation into Brand Spanking in 2004 and continues to hold a major stake in the agency. As well as being Brand Spanking’s CFO he oversees major accounts including Nespresso, Frucor, and MARS, and takes a particular interest in sponsorship work for clients like Gatorade. At an industry level, he was the Treasurer of EMANZ (the Experiential Marketing Association of NZ) for many years and has judged awards such as the EFFIES and the NZ Radio Awards.

Jeremy moved to Havelock North in 2010 and now spends 2-3 days per week in Auckland, leaving wife Christina and three children in “the Bay” to enjoy the sunshine and lack of traffic. Dig deep into his past and you’ll find everything from a degree in Swedish to time spent lecturing corporate strategy at the University of Auckland Business School.

Mark Pickering – Director & Creative Strategist

Mark joined Brand Spanking as a shareholder and Director in 2016 via a merger with Fluxx, the agency he owned previously. Over the past 20 years he has worked on some of the world’s biggest brands in both the UK and NZ, creating, planning and delivering award-winning experiential, event and sponsorship leverage campaigns. Current clients include Hancocks, Cottonsoft and several of our key agency partners. Chair of the CAANZ PRESCom (PR, Experiential and Social Committee), Mark is passionate about promoting best practice in experiential marketing via public speaking appointments and workshops. He also regularly judges at the Axis, Beacons and EFFIE Awards. 

Outside the office, Mark is an avid enthusiast for both vintage aircraft and vinyl, equally at home tending to warbird aircraft at Ardmore as he is on the decks in a bar. Go way back in time and you’ll find he even spent time at the front of a high school classroom teaching history.

Chelsea Came – Account Director

After completing a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Marketing & PR at the University of Waikato, Chelsea spent two years at the PR Institute of NZ in a Comms Advisor role. In 2015 she moved to Fairfax as the Marketing Lead on their events team, managing a wide range of events from the Night Noodle Markets to the Central Districts Field Days. Chelsea currently oversees a range of in-store and experiential projects for Nespresso, Almond Breeze, Subaru, and others. Outside of work Chelsea enjoys slaughtering vegetables of all shapes and sizes but animals large and small can rest at ease as she assures us that meat will only pass her lips if she’s stuck on a desert island and all her attempts to create an edible harvest fail. 

Courtney Brown – Talent Manager

Courtney oversees our Auckland-based talent and is a key point of contact for our regional coordinators in Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. She literally crossed the road in mid-2016 after spending two years at KAM Models and Talent as their Senior Talent Booker. Prior to that she completed a Bachelor of Communications at Unitec. 

She has two dogs who have yet to grace the office with their presence and loves spending her spare time outdoors, with trips to Great Barrier a particular favourite. 

Claudine Pausma – Account Manager

While studying for her Bachelor of Arts in Marketing and Event Management AUT, Claudine gained valuable experience working as a brand ambassador for Synergy and Copper. She then moved to SPUR as an Account Executive, working primarily on the Spark account, before moving to Brand Spanking early in 2017. Claudine now works for clients including Independent Liquor, Hutchinson’s and Frucor across projects ranging from in-store sampling to social media. Away from the office Claudine takes an active interest in social media and her life highlights reel also includes stints dancing on X-Factor and cheerleading for both the Vodafone Warriors and SKYCITY Breakers.

Piri Craig – Account Manager

Piri, known to all as ‘P’, was born and bred in the Waikato and studied Sport, Health and Human Performance at the University of Waikato. She joined the Brand Spanking team as a brand ambassador while studying, and also served as a Video Analyst & Nutrition Intern for the mighty Chiefs. After a stint of travel around Europe Piri became our Hamilton & Regional North Island, looking after Tauranga/Mt Maunganui, New Plymouth, Hawke’s Bay, Palmerston North and more in addition to the Tron. Passionate about sport and health/fitness, Piri is also a self-professed admin guru/freak and can’t imagine being without a diary and a to-do list, as Nick found out when he received his “welcome to the team” gift of a giant diary.

Piri is now well-established in the Auckland office and a key member of the team making sure activations go smoothly for clients such as Nespresso, Almond Breeze and Flourish Marketing.

Charlotte Brodie – Account Executive

Charlotte brings an eclectic background to the team with her BA in Psychology and Criminology striking fear in the heart of any brand ambassador that tries their luck with her while her five years experience working in a butchery provides the yin to Chelsea’s vegetarian yang. Charlotte also spent several years in the Air Cadets, travelled through Europe last summer, and has expensive taste when it comes to makeup, so has a pretty wide repertoire of conversation should you find yourself sitting next to her at a bar indulging in a cheeky cocktail.

We keep Charlotte out of trouble by keeping her busy delivering campaigns for Independent Liquor, Farrimond, Freshmax and others. She is also responsible for making sure the All Blacks have their Gatorade wherever they may be in the world, no pressure!

Taryn McAllum – Account Executive

A recent graduate of AUT’s Bachelor of Communication programme, majoring in Digital Media, Taryn is another of our brand ambassadors who have proved themselves in the field, had opportunities to help out in the office, and then made the move to a permanent role in our client service team. She now finds herself managing the execution of campaigns for clients including Hutchinson’s (and their delicious Castello cheese), James Crisp and Eleven PR.

In addition to working as a brand ambassador, Taryn kept herself busy while studying with office admin and waitressing work (at Jeremy’s old Kohi favourite Mama Rosa), both of which provided valuable skills for the demanding role our AEs play, from data processing to the training of new staff. Outside work her interests include Photography and fashion, as well as slaying the odd aquatic creature with a rod and reel in hand.

Fraser Hoffman – Activation Manager

Fraser moved from our brand ambassador team into a full-time role in early 2018 after completing his Bachelor of Performing & Screen Arts at Unitec. His role provides a roving commission to monitor and manage the quality of our executions in the field, from in-store sampling sessions to event activations. With several years experience working in a New World in his home town of Christchurch, as well as his passion for acting and drama (of the theatrical kind), Fraser is well-placed to judge both the compliance and behavioural aspects of our work.

Fraser has many hidden talents, including Jazz band singing, dabbling in guitar, and the ability to slot seamlessly into a Barber Shop Quartet. His other claims to fame include having hundreds of family members in Southland and being a very distant relation to Paul McCartney (he claims to have proof).

Lydia Peckham – Talent Booker

Lydia is a graduate of the Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School and since debuting at our front desk in early 2017 has taken much of the talent booking burden off Courtney. When not on the phone booking staff and looking forward to our weekly platter, she’s recording voice overs, video games and acting in Film and Television. Her most recent voice over was a Game of Thrones advertisement where she nailed the audition so well there was no need for a call back! Her favourite place in the world is India and she can often be found at her desk eating curries and drinking lemon water.

Olivia Brown – Christchurch Coordinator

Olivia currently manages our Christchurch and upper-South Island activations, having provided support for some-time to our previous coordinator Briar who is currently on maternity leave. Olivia graduated from the University of Canterbury in 2017 with a First Class Honours MCom, majoring in Management before departing on a 13 countries in five weeks tour of the UK, Europe and China. 

When she’s not recruiting talent, field managing shifts and completing admin, Olivia loves spending time with her friends, family and dog Scoota. She hopes to do the Milford Track in 2019 and further overseas travel beckons, with Barcelona top of the wish-list currently.