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Tara Mckenty
Creative Head, Google APAC
Tara McKenty is a highly accomplished creative professional with a diverse career in advertising and technology. She recently left her position as Chief Innovation Officer and Co-Executive Creative Director at BMF Australia to join AKQA as Executive Creative Director in January 2025.24
Prior to her role at BMF, McKenty spent 11 years at Google, where she held the position of Creative Head for the Asia-Pacific region.35 During her tenure at Google, she was responsible for driving brand love and trust through creativity and working directly with global brands to use Google's products and platforms in innovative ways.5
Throughout her career, McKenty has created globally renowned work that has been awarded at major award shows across the globe. Some of her notable projects include:
- OPSM's 'Penny the Pirate': A book and app that tests children's eyesight
- Spark's 'Kupu': An app that translates images into Te Reo Māori
- Google's Project Skate: A machine learning tool for measuring skateboarding tricks in real-time5
McKenty has won over 200 awards, including a gold Lion for Innovation, WARC's Most Effective Campaign in the World, D&AD pencils, and many others.15 She has also served on innovation juries at key award shows such as Cannes, D&AD, and Spikes.5
In addition to her professional achievements, McKenty is a strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She founded Rare with Google, an initiative that provides equitable opportunities for underrepresented creatives to thrive at every stage of their career.15
McKenty's career has spanned various agencies, including TBWA Auckland and Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, before her long stint at Google and subsequent roles at BMF and AKQA.1
