Kitschke joined Australian-based global design software company Canva nine years ago. In 2021, Kitschke’s team – which had doubled its 2020 headcount of 200 people – launched Canva’s first major global marketing campaign. This was a community-focused effort that saw the stories of real Canva users brought to life across a wide spectrum of media touchpoints including TV, out of home, PR and social media.
With Canva entering a round of funding in September, Kitschke launched a PR blitz with news that Canva had received finance from the VC community and highlighting its valuation. This secured global top-tier coverage in media outlets including Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, CNBC, Financial Review, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, Axios and Fast Company.
At the end of 2021, millions of new users had joined Canva, marking a 65% increase year on year.
In the past year, Kitschke also helped the company move forward on another founding goal – "do the most good we can" – by supporting the launch of the Canva Foundation, bringing the best of Canva and its resources to help solve global challenges in the most impactful way possible.
The foundation focuses on key areas where the company can have the most impact through its product and partnerships. These include empowering non-profits to achieve their goals and have impact through design and giving young people in poverty access to skills needed to succeed in the digital economy.
Judges said Kitschke was a "resilient entrepreneur who keeps the human touch at heart – with impressive business results too".
Shortlisted:
Bettina Fetzer, vice-president, communications and marketing, Mercedes-Benz AG, submitted by OMD Worldwide (UK)
Take me back to Campaign's Global Agency of the Year Awards winners list