PHD Australia appoints David Clugston as head of effectiveness

PHD Australia has appointed David Clugston to the newly created role of head of effectiveness, giving him responsibility for building the agency’s evidence and measurement capability.

Reporting to chief strategy and effectiveness officer David Bielenberg, Clugston will lead effectiveness work across PHD Australia’s client portfolio, including Virgin Australia, ANZ Bank and Volkswagen Group.

READ MORE: Omnicom Media Group elevates Laura Nice and Sian Whitnall to lead PHD and OMD

READ MORE: PHD promotes David Bielenberg and Elyse Foley to national roles

Building PHD’s effectiveness capability

Clugston brings close to two decades of experience across marketing analytics, media effectiveness and measurement science in Asia-Pacific, spanning agency and in-house roles.

His background includes senior analytics leadership within the Omnicom network and experience with Microsoft and Woolworths. In the new position, he will work with clients’ insights and data leads alongside Omnicom Media’s specialist Marketing Analytics and Consumer Research services.

He will also work to embed measurement and effectiveness capability across PHD’s planning and strategy teams.

PHD Australia CEO Laura Nice said effectiveness was one of the agency’s strategic pillars.

“Effectiveness is one of our strategic pillars as an agency as we work towards becoming the most pioneering media and communications business in Australia, and bringing Dave on board is a huge step towards that ambition.”

Nice became CEO of PHD Australia in November 2025 as part of a wider Omnicom Media Group leadership reshuffle, while Bielenberg had been elevated to a national strategy role the previous year.

Connecting measurement with commercial outcomes

Bielenberg said Clugston’s appointment would strengthen the agency’s ability to connect measurement more closely with clients’ business performance.

“Dave’s appointment is a step change for PHD, which will further elevate our ability to help clients navigate increasingly complex measurement stacks; connect silos across insights, analytics and marketing teams; and ensure that every dollar we invest for our clients is accountable to commercial outcomes.”

Clugston said effectiveness would increasingly differentiate agencies as marketers put greater scrutiny on business outcomes.

“Effectiveness is at the heart of everything PHD does – driving growth and building brands. That commitment is particularly exciting because I believe an obsession with effectiveness will ultimately determine which agencies thrive and which fall behind.”

PHD said the appointment comes as it continues to invest in its strategy and effectiveness offering across an expanding client portfolio, including Bunnings Warehouse and OpenAI.