BastionBUNTIN Says Merger Could Be Start of “World’s Strongest Indie Agency Network”

BastionBUNTIN is putting marketers and talent at other agencies on notice; “There is a new, different way forward now, and [we’re] inviting clients and people to join.”

This alternative, explains co-chairman Jeffrey Buntin Jr., is the new model arising from the merger of Jeffrey’s family-run, Nashville indie, BUNTIN, and Bastion USA, the Stateside outfit of Australian-founded agency, Bastion.

Under the BastionBUNTIN banner, the organisation is set to offer end-to-end marketing capabilities across the US, Australia and New Zealand, all with one clear long-term ambition, as group CEO Cheuk Chiang tells LBB: “To build the world’s strongest independent agency network.”

“Importantly, we don’t define ‘strongest’ as the biggest,” he says, sharing that BastionBUNTIN is instead designed around client strength. “The problem with scale for scale’s sake is that it creates complexity: layers of governance, slower decision-making and an inflated cost to serve. Profit optimisation can quietly replace talent optimisation. Opaque commercial models can protect agency economics rather than client interests. Fragmented specialist businesses create handovers that erode strategy and accountability. And ‘innovation’ is too often something clients are promised rather than something they actually experience.”

Instead of recreating this holding company mentality, BastionBUNTIN is structurally aligned with “how growth actually happens today”, without silos between international talent. “We call that ‘Radical Collaboration’.” he adds, “Fewer layers between the idea and the outcome, faster decisions and genuinely integrated teams across strategy, creative, media, communications, digital, data, insights and experience.

“We're not a smaller network, we're a fundamentally different organisation… We don't optimise for volume; we optimise for outcomes. We don't sell capability and pass responsibility sideways; we take responsibility and measure it. We don't separate brand from performance; we design growth as a single, integrated system, because that's how customers experience it. We don't hide behind black boxes; we expose the data – the good, the bad and the uncomfortable.”

This is backed by Strength OS, BastionBUNTIN’s proprietary AI ecosystem embedded across client marketing intelligence, creative production, media planning and analytics “to deliver measurable advantage, not innovation theatre”.

And brands are already choosing this alternative, with Geely, KFC, Trex, ALDI, SERVPRO, Spotify, Kellanova and others getting on board. “Clients don't need more partners today, they need better ones,” says Cheuk. “Ones with independence of thought, independence of incentive and independence to act.

“We’re not suggesting that being global or integrated is new. [But] what we believe is different is combining the reach, talent and capability that clients expect from a global network with the speed, transparency, accountability and entrepreneurialism of an independent. Ultimately, clients shouldn’t have to choose between global capability and independent thinking. BastionBUNTIN is being built to give them both.”

According to Jeffrey, the merger came about as BUNTIN embarked on its 51st year in business with a new mantra: ‘Transformational Growth; True to Our Values’. This meant finding a modernised model that could “double or triple” the agency’s business while altering the trajectory of major national and international brands. After exploring a number of options, internal and external, Bastion stood out as the way forward.

“We have been family-founded and fiercely independent. So is Bastion,” he shares. “We have always prioritised maximising results for clients over all else. So has Bastion. We care deeply about people, their careers, their opportunities and their lives. So does Bastion. And, perhaps most importantly, we have felt that clients desperately deserve a new kind of agency that, heretofore, they’ve been unable to find. Turns out, so does Bastion.”

For Jeffrey, the timing couldn’t be more perfect, either.

Amidst a “radically modernised” industry, with increased tension and vulnerability for clients, he believes that a gap has emerged for BastionBUNTIN. “The holdcos certainly have made it clear that they risk weakening client points of vulnerability – not strengthening them. And the independents (even the largest ones, many of whom have solid reputations) lack the scale, globally integrated capabilities, and proprietary technology to do this at the level we can.”

This allows the newly merged organisation to position itself as a solution that’s tailor-made for the increasingly difficult demands of the modern marketer. BastionBUNTIN CEO Jeff Browe lists these brand needs as: go-to-market speed; “true integration” between creative media, PR and other agency teams; access to the best talent for the job regardless of location; technology that genuinely creates advantages; and finally, trust and accountability as to how and where their investment is being used.

“Our model connects integrated capabilities across markets, allowing us to assemble the right talent around a client challenge without traditional geographic or organisational silos,” he says. “Our independence means fewer layers, faster decisions and the freedom to invest around our clients’ priorities. And our philosophy of ‘Radical Collaboration’ means specialists work together from the beginning rather than handing work from one discipline to another.

“Ultimately, modern marketers don’t need more agencies or more complexity. They need fewer barriers between their business problem and the people capable of solving it. That’s the organisation we’re bringing to clients.”

In filling this gap in the market, the goal isn’t just to become the world’s strongest indie network, but to also “maximise” its clients’ strength. “This is the ultimate independent agency statement,” says Jeffrey. “Full and complete alignment of your goals with your clients’ goals. And the freedom to push everything else out of the way in pursuit of that.

“Being independent is essential in order to do that for clients. With two strong independents coming together, it just doubles the positive propulsion this creates, on pretty much every level.”

This week’s announcement was just “the starting line” for this ‘bringing together’ process, says Cheuk, and the next few months will be about “proving the model”. Short-term, the priority is simple: “Make the promise of BastionBUNTIN real, and quickly. By the end of the year, I want our clients and our people to be experiencing the benefits of the new organisation, rather than simply hearing us talk about them.”

This starts with integration – sharing talent, ideas, technology and capabilities across the US, Australia and New Zealand, although CEO Jeff is keen to not approach the integration “as an exercise in standardising everything at once”.

“The test isn't whether nine offices behave identically. The test is whether our people can move seamlessly across markets, our capabilities can come together around a client brief, and our leaders are accountable to one commercial ambition. That's true integration.”

Done successfully, it will create immediate opportunities for existing clients and allow BastionBUNTIN to compete for new global and regional briefs, building on the momentum of having already won business together. Internally, it also presents new opportunities for the agencies’ talent, and a chance to strengthen the culture that brought the two companies together in the first place. “It’s about taking the best of both businesses and creating something stronger together,” he adds.

“So by the end of the year, success isn’t a particular headcount or number of offices. It’s whether we can point to clients winning because of the combination, our people collaborating seamlessly across markets, and new opportunities we simply couldn’t have pursued independently.”

Long-term, the team has its sights set on deliberate, global growth, with Europe “clearly part of that consideration”, as well as continued investment in world-class talent, capabilities and technology – but “always through the lens of client advantage”.

And as it grows, Cheuk says it’s “critical” to protect BastionBUNTIN’s independence and culture, ensuring the agency doesn’t become the thing it’s setting out to challenge. “We want to retain the entrepreneurialism, speed, transparency and client intimacy of an independent while building the capabilities and geographic reach of a truly global organisation.

“If we do that successfully, growth will be the outcome rather than the objective. Our ambition is global, but our measure of success will always be client strength. As our clients become stronger, so will BastionBUNTIN.”