People
The people who shape the work
Geoff Matthews
Director
PG Dip Mark · FCIM (UK)
Geoff completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from Victoria University of Wellington in 1999 and holds a BCA(Hons)-level COP in Marketing Research Methodologies. He went on to guest lecture at MBA level in his specialist subject: branding.
Geoff's strategic firepower and business experience enables BrandCom to undertake work that is usually beyond the domain of other creative agencies. He has held company directorships of two Deloitte Fast 50 companies, and a Deloitte Technology Fast500 Asia Pacific 2012 company, which also won an American Chamber of Commerce Export Award in the same year.
In 2012, Geoff was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketers (UK) one of the highest professional distinctions in marketing globally. He has been acknowledged as a "global thought-leader" by Aluminium International Today, was the first New Zealander to be invited to speak at a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit, and co-authored the first Pathway to Zero Carbon 2050 for primary aluminium production.
For organisations seeking to engage Geoff directly in advisory, leadership, or project roles, a detailed professional engagement profile is available on request.
Carryn Colton
Director
BA (Psychology) · BCom (Marketing) University of Otago
Carryn Colton is a Principal at BrandCom and has been central to the practice for two decades. She completed a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Marketing and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology at the University of Otago a foundation that combines commercial rigour with a deep understanding of human behaviour.
Carryn plays a key role in shaping brand ideas, language, and positioning. She has contributed many of BrandCom's most enduring taglines and creative concepts, bringing clarity and originality to how strategy is expressed. The Clutha District tagline "Where everyone says hello" more than twenty years later still in use came from a moment of frustration in conversation with Geoff. MacGregor's Pies' "Baking at sparrow's fart since Adam was a cowboy" was the two of them at play, looking for a compelling truth.
Carryn is also the engine room of BrandCom's work, bringing structure, momentum, and discipline to complex projects. She works closely with clients at the coalface of implementation from major brand development and launches through to product introductions and operational roll-out.
Carryn has been working in the low carbon fuels sector since 2024, adding further depth to BrandCom's sustainability and decarbonisation capability.
Tom Matthews
Creative Director
Creative Direction, Digital Media and Content Production
Tom Matthews brings a new-generation creative perspective to BrandCom, combining creative direction, digital production, content development and practical delivery experience.
He grew up around BrandCom’s work and has been exposed from an early age to the way brands are built, shaped and brought to market across very different sectors. That background gives him a practical understanding of BrandCom’s way of working: strategic first, commercially aware, and focused on the real-world details that help ideas move from thinking into execution.
Tom studied at the University of Auckland and Massey University, with study across marketing, history, media, film, visual effects, game development and video production. That mix of disciplines has given him a broad creative and technical base, particularly in digital media and content production.
Since 2024, Tom has helped deliver SIM-PAC Live events in Australia and New Zealand, supporting event operations, filming speaker presentations and assisting with production logistics. He has also been responsible for video production across more than 100 SIM-PAC Live interviews and presentations published through the SIM-PAC Live YouTube channel.
After working alongside BrandCom through the SIM-PAC Live program, Tom formally joined BrandCom in early 2026 as Creative Director. He quickly commanded respect for his natural creative eye, his ability to see what a project needs visually, and his instinct for shaping the look, feel and expression of an idea. His role has grown quickly into overall creative direction across BrandCom projects, bringing together art direction, digital media, content production and the practical judgment needed to turn strategy into work that feels clear, contemporary and commercially useful.
See portfolio of Tom’s work →