Tennille Barnes is the Head of Digital Design, Creative Technology & Innovation at Colenso BBDO, one of the most creatively awarded agencies. She leads a multidisciplinary team driving innovation across creativity and technology, informed by cultural insight, and is known for bringing together diverse expertise to shape collaborative, solutions-focused approaches that help make ambitious creative ideas possible. Her leadership has been central to work that blends innovation with purpose.

With more than 20 years’ experience, Tennille has worked across London, Europe, the US and Asia–Pacific delivering experiential activations, immersive digital experiences, digital products and large-scale platforms for major global brands. This international grounding shaped her approach to innovation, making creative ambition executable through solutions that translate bold creative intent into feasible, buildable and high-craft outcomes. At Colenso, she works closely with creatives, technologists, clients and cultural collaborators to ensure ideas are delivered with purpose and executed with the technical rigour and creative craft required to push boundaries.

Some of her most awarded contributions include Spark’s Kupu, a culturally grounded, pioneering digital innovation supporting te reo Māori language revitalisation by turning everyday photos into language learning moments, and Pedigree’s Adoptable platform, a first-of-its-kind AI-enabled system turning ad placements into live dog adoption opportunities and driving cultural impact at scale. Her work reflects a commitment to blending creativity with technology to enable world-first solutions that solve real problems, are shaped by cultural insight and create meaningful impact.