Hi Rob, I’m your next hire.

If you’re reading this, it means you received my poster, and hopefully, you’re at least slightly interested in what I have to say.

My name is Kersti Ward, and I’d love to join the Colenso BBDO team as a Planner.

Verbal, visual, written; communication is my passion, creating content that people resonate with and has them hungry to learn more.

I’ve worn a lot of different hats throughout my career so far - such as Content Writer, Graphic Designer, Internal Communications Advisor - and in all of these roles, I’ve excelled. I can set and follow a brief, produce events, establish and adhere to process, film and edit video, develop strategy, set boundaries and project manage with confidence.

But I need more.

More creativity, including creative people to collaborate with and work alongside.

In my previous roles, the creatives I’ve worked with have taken many different forms, from supermarket owners supporting communities through COVID, to urban planners conceptualising new cities. A big part of this mahi was taking complex information and communicating it in a way that stayed true to the brand or organisational requirements, but was easily understood and accessible by audiences with different levels of literacy and accessibility. This meant often thinking outside the box for the best way to reach these audiences, and in one instance, establishing an entirely new video function for my team, and flying across the country to run the training workshops I designed.

Though I haven’t quite made it to the circus, I’ve mastered the Account Director art of the juggle; balancing many different stakeholders with different objectives, approaches and tones. I’m a people person, so fostering ongoing relationships with business partners is my cuppa. By regularly checking in with my stakeholders, I stay informed of opportunities for both engagement and conflict in my portfolios and can raise these with the appropriate parties in advance.

I’m a confident person in both my own presentations, and those I develop for others, including tackling tricky topics like redundancy and transformation.
In this context, my expertise lies in reading people and what they need, taking dry and difficult content and not only helping audiences to understand these situations, but engage productively with them too.

If it wasn’t obvious, I’m a self-starter and am confident in my creative decision-making. At the same time, I am a firm believer in collaboration and asking for help when needed, and would welcome working closely with a range of stakeholders while being part of a wider team in this role.

In short, I love creative people, and want to work with them.

In addition to my expertise, I’d say I’m a pretty decent human being. I love to laugh (including at myself) a Friday beer, and backing the underdog.

But enough of the novel - let’s link in person for a coffee, on me.

Cheers,

Kersti