New Zealand expat ad executive, Nicky Bell, has become the global VP of Facebook’s Creative Shop. She joins Facebook from R/GA in Los Angeles, where she spent the last four years. In her roles there, she has worked to transform the office from being a pure campaign agency to a true R/GA connected brands practice, which integrated visual, verbal, experiential and behavioural brand design to provide clients with connected strategies, media planning, and business consulting.

Before R/GA, she spent more than six years as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, transforming it into one of the strongest creatively and technically innovative offices in the entire company and establishing a strong track record of building and growing strategic partnerships and trusted relationships with clients. From 1999 to 2009, she was a senior partner and worldwide managing director of Ogilvy New York.

In her new role, Bell’s focus will be to help push the boundaries of creativity in a mobile-first world and unlock growth for Facebook’s business partners. She has had a long career working closely in partnership with creative leaders as a clear advocate and supporter of creativity.

Bell commented, “I’m thrilled about the opportunity to lead Facebook’s Global Creative Shop. I’ve spent my career advocating for creativity and technology as key drivers of meaningful business growth. Over the past year of lockdowns, businesses around the world have had to accelerate their digital transformation — and Facebook’s Creative Shop has helped them to not only remain connected to their customers and stay afloat but to thrive. I look forward to working with this talented team to help businesses of all sizes around the world tell their stories, connect with people, and use our platforms to grow.”

She will be responsible for managing a team across 39 global offices and will be based in Los Angeles. She will report directly to Carolyn Everson, vice president global business group and will work closely with Facebook’s chief creative officer and VP of global business marketing, Mark D’Arcy – another New Zealand native in a senior role at Facebook.

Everson stated, “Nicky Bell is a brand builder who has spent her career pushing the boundaries of digital innovation. I’m so excited to welcome her as the lead for our global Creative Shop team to help businesses around the world transform and grow. The pandemic has forced every business—no matter the size—to reinvent how they reach customers in an online marketplace that is more crowded and competitive than ever. It requires decisive, creative, and unconventional thinking, and that’s what Nicky has always offered her clients.”