Kellie Chapple is Chief Operating Officer at Bulletproof, an independent brand design agency with studios in London, New York, Singapore, Amsterdam and Sydney.

Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, Kellie was surrounded by international influences as a teenager – not least the 80s music from the UK and US broadcasted by MTV – so travelling the world and living abroad was always on the cards.  

After graduating in Interior Design and working as a Junior Designer in her hometown, Kellie embarked on a backpacking trip at the age of 22, which eventually led her to London. Realising her savings wouldn’t last long in the UK capital (back then $3 AUD got you £1 GBP), Kellie joined a Graphic Design agency in the finance department, before moving into client services as a Client Executive and quickly becoming an Account Director. 

Since Kellie’s first experience of London agency life, she’s progressed through the ranks of client services in quite a few notable small, medium and large agencies, working across a vast range of brands, in categories such as; health & beauty, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, brewing, spirits, travel & hospitality and retail.

Now in New York, Kellie leads many of Bulletproof’s global client relationships, from Diageo to Heineken to Mondelez. A love of building relationships and finding creative ways to get the best out of people drives her internal teambuilding, and she believes in ‘working smart’, empowering the individual and the need for a stable and secure environment where people can thrive and be themselves. 

Kellie is always looking for alternative ways of doing things, whether in creative processes, new ways of working or strategic problem-solving. She believes that there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to creativity – and empowers the team to seek inspiration in unexpected places.  

Many great ideas never see the light of day, so Kellie pushes the team to look beyond the idea, to focus on how it is presented to the client so that they too can see the greatness – and together, make it happen.

Kellie’s collaborative approach, focus on design commerciality and the fact that she does sweat the small details have allowed her to get great ideas to market, including; Hovis ‘Baked Beans’ and Wild Brew ‘Tiger’. She also has two D&AD yellow pencils to her name.