• by Fern Siegel , February 2, 2023

Steve Chavez has been tapped as Chief Creative Officer for the Bastion Agency in the U.S.

Prior to joining Bastion, Chavez, a 30-year ad vet, was executive vice president/CCO at WPP/Garage Team Mazda. Earlier, he oversaw the Twitter account at Leo Burnett and served as executive vice president/executive creative director at Doner handling Mazda, Pennzoil and Amazon Kindle.

Bastion USA CEO Dax Cornelius said hiring Chavez demonstrates “Bastion has created a new world agency, whereby brands can get the depth and quality of deliverables expected from a niche agency and yet the breadth of services expected from the publics.”

He added the company plans acquisitions in future.

Chavez will lead the U.S.-based creative team under the Bastion Amplify banner. It focuses on media buying and planning, social media, web/app development, content production, branding and experiential marketing and PR.

“We pride ourselves on our full-service capabilities and ability to deliver on any marketing need at any time,” said Bastion Amplify CEO Chris Bretschger. “By bringing in a heavy hitter like Steve, we’ll have world-class creative oversight.”

Bastion USA is part of the global Bastion Agency, Australasia’s largest independent agency with more than 360 employees working worldwide in Los Angeles, Orange County (Calif.), New York, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. It holds agency partnerships in 10 Asian markets as well.

Client work includes Ferrari, L’Oreal, Unilever and Air New Zealand.