Sydney, Australia – Nightjar, an independent experience design company, has recently nabbed the digital experience account for the National Dental Care (NDC). 

Through the new account, Nightjar will be responsible for re-platforming NDC’s digital experience into one cohesive and flexible platform, developing a brand and customer experience (CX) strategy, refreshing the brand, and creating campaign work. The new platform will launch in December 2023.

Chloe Harding, chief marketing officer at NDC said, “Throughout a collaborative pitch process, we were impressed by Nightjar’s clear tech edge. They are passionate about delivering innovative solutions and we’re confident they’ll help us hit our conversion goals while also building a secure and robust platform for our next phase of growth.” 

Meanwhile, Ahmed Meer, head of innovation at Nightjar commented, “We’re always excited when clients come to us wanting to break the mould. NDC have an ambition to not just be the best digital experience within the dental industry, but are looking to re-imagine how we think of healthcare – and that’s just the kind of challenge we love.”

Nightjar has also announced new hires namely Alyce Biggs as senior CX strategist, Bek Ryan as program director and Ting He as designer.

Biggs joins Nightjar from ING where she was Strategic Innovation Lead for three + years.  Prior to this she was UX/Optimisation Lead with Vodafone for three years. She will work closely with the team on leading the customer experience across Nightjar’s clients.

Meanwhile Ryan comes to Nightjar after spending four years with Digitas working across the Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland offices. She has also worked with AnalogFolk – two years in London and one year in Sydney. Bek’s new role will include overseeing Nightjar’s overall delivery excellence, improving project performance and uncovering growth opportunities with existing clients.

Lastly, He was with MAUD for four years where she led a full refresh of the brand imagery approach for Telstra and worked on multiple campaigns for David Jones. After MAUD she joined DesignStudio for two years before being nabbed by Nightjar.

Speaking on the appointments, Christine Sultana, managing director at Nightjar said, “We’re thrilled to have these three talented women as part of our team and look forward to working alongside them. Their unique perspectives and skills will add immense value to our company, and we strongly believe that they will bring a fresh take on our work.”

Australia – Semi Permanent, the creativity and design festival firm based in Australia, has officially launched today its creative services and experience design agency, SP Brand Studio.

SP Brand Studio aims to bring together innovative brands and creative audiences through the lens of contemporary culture, and physical and digital experience design.

The new creative agency will be offering services in strategy, creative, and curation, as well as omnichannel production. It will also be tapping its network of global talent to deliver first-to-market concepts and ideas for partners and owned IP, driving cultural connection, audience engagement, and relevance for modern brands in the luxury, lifestyle, design, and technology sectors.

Murray Bell, Semi Permanent’s founder and CEO, believes that after nearly 20 years of creating well-attended events across the globe as well as online, Semi Permanent is uniquely placed to share its success with the brand partners.

“We know that an experience has the profound ability to directly connect with and immerse an audience in a brand’s story, and never before has that level of cut-through been necessary for gaining a competitive advantage,” said Bell.

The founding clients of SP Brand Studio are KPMG, Microsoft, Heaps Normal, and Perion, as well as Sea Forest, who join ongoing retainer accounts Rare with Google and Highsnobiety.

Mumbai, India – Global brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R in India has recently appointed Payal Vaidya as its new executive vice president of experience design.

Vaidya brings with her 19 years of global experience in transforming brands and businesses through collaborative leadership and problem-solving skills across India, APAC, and the US markets. Prior to joining VMLY&R, she co-founded the management consulting firm The Thinking Hats Innovation in New York City, which focuses on launching, sustaining, and innovating with brands on their experiences, products, and services.

Furthermore, Vaidya has also worked with various marketing agencies and consultancies like Ogilvy, Grey, and Publicis. She has helped start-ups, not for profits, and Fortune 500 companies like P&G, L’Oréal, and Unilever, as well as Tata, and Lowe’s, among others.

In her new role at VMLY&R, Vaidya will be a part of the senior leadership council, leading the customer experience design vertical, and will be responsible for evangelizing design thinking and customer-first experiences within the agency and with clients.

Commenting on her appointment, Vaidya said that she is thrilled to join the agency and help transform brands and businesses to create phenomenal experiences through creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. 

“It’s exciting to see the human-centered design approach permeate through agencies and brands alike, and I look forward to building on VMLY&R’s existing practice to allow us to truly put the customer at the center for every client,” said Vaidya.

Meanwhile, VMLY&R India’s CEO Anil Nair commented, “In our journey to becoming a complete marketing partner to our brands, we have been evolving our Customer Experience practice. For that precise reason, we are happy to have Payal on board to evangelize the importance of customer strategy and partner brands on the delivery of elevated experiences for their consumers.”