Aussie expat Haylie Craig departs Colenso BBDO for associate CD role at LEGO Group in Denmark

CB Exclusive: Award-winning Aussie expat creative director Haylie Craig has departed Colenso BBDO after five years to take up the role of associate creative director at The Lego Group in Denmark.

Hailing from Adelaide, Craig started their career working at a number of local shops including kwpx, Jamshop, FNUCKY, Showpony and Clemenger BBDO Adelaide before joining We Are Social in Sydney as an art director / designer. In 2018 they joined Google Creative Lab for a brief stint before moving to New Zealand to join Colenso BBDO in 2019.

At the beginning of 2023, Craig was promoted to creative director following a string of world-class work including Spark ‘Beyond Binary Code’ which was shortlisted for a Glass Lion for Change at Cannes Lions 2022 and won a Silver Lion for Use of Digital Platforms, Delivereasy ‘Mouthville’, State Insurance ‘Tally My Post’ BNZ ‘Checkout Checkpoint’, MyHooman ‘Give up on Humans’ and Breast Cancer Foundation ‘Pre Check app’. During their time at Colenso BBDO the agency was named Campaign Brief Agency of the Decade.

Other career highlights include being picked by The One Show for Next Creative Leaders 2020/2021, and the following year for Campaign Asia’s Top 40 women/gender diverse people to watch.

Says Craig: “I’ve had some amazing career and life changing opportunities at Colenso BBDO, Aotearoa in the last five years. From creating code that rewriters the internet to be more inclusive of Takatāpui, Transgender and Non-Binary people (Beyond Binary Code, Spark x OutLine). To creating an interactive digital tool that helps teach your hands what to look for to help detect breast cancer (Pre-Check App, New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation).

“Luckily, my next step is another epic opportunity. I’ve taken on an associate creative director role at The LEGO Group within ‘Our LEGO Agency’ in Denmark. Focusing on ‘adults’ and enabling them to reconnect with LEGO. I can’t wait to see what we all build together.”

Says Si Vicars, CCO, Colenso BBDO: “We love seeing our people leave to take on the world. Colenso’s been a launching pad for so many talented creatives, suits, planners and producers. Haylie’s a rock star. They’ll go far. And we all hope, eventually, they will find their way back.”

The LEGO Agency is led by Aussie expat and former McCann Worldgroup Australia CEO Nicole Taylor, who joined over two and a half years ago.

Craig joins former 72andSunny creative lead Genevieve Hoey, who was appointed global creative director of LEGO last month and former BMF ECD Pia Chaudhuri, who was appointed global creative lead for play inclusion at the LEGO Agency, 18 months ago.