Tara Mckenty
- Chief Innovation Officer and ECD
- Australia
- Member since 2015
Tara McKenty is the Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Executive Creative Director at BMF Australia.
Long before landing at BMF, Tara’s kindergarten teacher told her mother that Tara would either grow up to be the Prime Minister of New
Zealand, or the devil itself.
After casting a career in politics aside, and realising red wasn’t her colour, Tara found herself at Whybin\TBWA Auckland working in
advertising. It was at TBWA where she and her creative partner gained international attention by floating shares in their creative future when they funded themselves to Cannes.
During her time at TBWA, Tara disregarded discipline in favour of creating impactful work, and in doing so was named in Campaign Magazines Top
50 emerging talent portfolio. She submitted several entries into the pantheon of ABSOLUT work, one of which was the creation of a limited-edition ABSOLUT bottle design.
After spending time honing her craft in Aotearoa, Tara headed across the ditch to Sydney where she joined Saatchi & Saatchi. While at Saatchi
& Saatchi she created a children’s book for OPSM that tested the eyesight of children. The project was named the most effective marketing campaign in the world by the WARC 100 in 2016.
After Saatchi & Saatchi, Tara headed to Google where she held multiple roles, and lead teams that ignited love in the Google brand through creativity.
During her tenure at Google, Tara supported some of Asia Pacific’s largest clients to use Google’s products and platforms in creative and innovative ways.
Of her professional achievements to date, Tara sees her most notable as founding Rare with Google. Rare is an initiative that provides
equitable opportunities for underrepresented creatives to thrive at every stage of their career. Tara’s team of 60 people ensured all three of Rare's offerings were scaled and available globally.
Tara continues to disrupt the status quo and has won over two hundred awards during her advertising rebellion including D&AD pencils,
Cannes Lions, Grand Prix's, and Best in Shows.
Contact Tara.
