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Herd MSL

Team PROFILE

Agency Type

PR & Communications

Ownership

Publicis Groupe

tagline

Creating Conversations That Change Australia

LEADERSHIP TEAM​

Skye Lambley

CEO

Damian Marwood

General manager

Stuart Wragg

Chief strategy officer

Laura Sanford

Executive director - B2B

Matt Ogilvie

Executive director - consumer

Sophie Roubicek

Group account director

Key Stats

Offices

Sydney

Headcount

50+

Gender Balance Staff

M: 12.5%
F: 87.5%

Gender Balance Leaders

M: 33%
F: 66%

Client book

Client Wins

10

Client Retentions

10

Largest clients

Nestlé

Salesforce

Telstra

Trophy Cabinet

1

B&T Awards

Agency Scorecards report

Publicis Groupe-owned comms agency Herd MSL, likens itself to Bad Bunny, an artist who doesn’t follow culture, but creates it.

And in 2025 it certainly lived up to this attitude.

Campaigns such as the Cancer Council’s ‘End the Trend’, Telstra’s ‘Heritage Phones’ and nbn’s ‘Accelerate Great’ combined cultural relevance with hard results, driving behavioural change, strong commercial outcomes and measurable reputation uplift.

Meanwhile, culturally agile work such as Nescafe’s ‘TikTok Iced Coffee Clutch’ demonstrated the agency’s instinctive understanding of creator culture, proving Herd MSL knows how to move with culture as it evolves.

Herd MSL picked up accolades, including the B&T Award for Best Creator-Led Campaign for Nestlé’s  ‘Pour It, Mix it, Hack It.’

Its new business success was mighty impressive.

Herd MSL added 10 clients, taking its total to more than 35. The likes of Roblox, Contiki, Australia Post, Tinder and Veeam all joined the fold.

The band was called up on the pitching stage on numerous occasions to defend its business. It hit the right chords by retaining Telstra, Salesforce, Four Seasons, Lenovo and DoorDash, among others.

However, the agency did not disclose the number of clients it lost in 2025.

Herd MSL explained what set 2025 apart from previous years was “not just the work itself, but the systems, tools and people behind it”.

Proprietary platforms such as Buz.AI accelerated speed to insight by integrating real-time data from YouGov, GWI, BrandTrack and social channels.

Meanwhile exclusive partnerships with platforms including TikTok and Reddit gave teams early access to cultural signals, enabling sharper creative decisions and more effective optimisation, while staff go through weekly AI training to improve efficiency and outcomes.

Just before the year ended, Herd MSL launched a Reputation Resilience Council, designed to support existing and new clients in navigating a complex and fast-evolving risk landscape.

Hightlights reel

NESCAFÉ: 'TikTok Iced Coffee Clutch'

NESCAFÉ’s ‘Iced Coffee Clutch’ showed how brands can move beyond passive sponsorship to become part of culture. Rather than settling for logo visibility at the TikTok Awards, Herd MSL helped NESCAFÉ create a moment people actively wanted to engage with, share and talk about.

The agency achieved this by hacking the red carpet with an iced coffee clutch – carried by B&T 30 Under 30 winner Tina Provis and filled with real NESCAFÉ Espresso Concentrate.

The campaign transformed sponsorship into participation. It reframed NESCAFÉ from event sponsor to a cultural player, turning a traditionally transactional placement into a headline making idea that resonated with creators, media and audiences alike.

The work stood out because it understood the platform instinctively: playful, creator led and designed for social amplification. It resulted in 15 million earned reach, 6.7 per cent engagement, 40 plus organic UGC moments and the coffee concentrate category doubled in Australia within a year.

Hightlights reel

Telstra: 'Heritage Phones'

To shift sentiment amongst non-customers 40–59-year old non-customers, Herd MSL set out to demonstrate real, tangible value and show how Telstra is actively bettering Australia. The comms agency did this by spotlighting the essential role Telstra’s infrastructure plays in
keeping communities connected when it matters most.

The campaign reframed an overlooked asset, public phones, as powerful symbols of connection, resilience and social value. By nominating three public phones for inclusion on the National Trust of Australia’s Heritage Register, it transformed everyday infrastructure into cultural icons and recast them as part of Australia’s national story.

Herd MSL spotlighted three phones of unique community value: a disaster responder in Narooma used for nearly 1,000 calls during the 2019 bushfires; a regional connector in Doomadgee averaging almost one call per resident each year; and a mental health support line in Brunswick West with more than 1,300 Lifeline calls since 2021.

Launched during a crowded federal election cycle, the campaign cut through to deliver more than 400 pieces of coverage and 37 million reach (147 per cent above KPI).

Hightlights reel

Airbnb: 'Ashes stay, Only On Airbnb'

‘Ashes Only on Airbnb’ showed how culturally led PR can turn a major sporting moment into a powerful growth driver. With data revealing a rise in sports tourism, Airbnb set out to show the power of hosting and positioning itself as the accommodation of choice around Australia’s biggest sporting events.

Timed to land ahead of the Perth Ashes Test, Herd MSL’s idea was a once‐in‐a‐lifetime stay: transforming the WACA  into a one‐night‐only Airbnb, hosted by cricket legend, Mike Hussey.

Sleeping on the hallowed turf, playing backyard cricket with “Mr Cricket”, watching a movie under the stars and attending the sold‐out Test, the stay turned a major sporting event into an immersive, unforgettable travel experience.

The activation was amplified through sporting star access, earned media and creator-led social content helping to ensure the story travelled far beyond Perth. Anchored in cultural relevance, the campaign captured national attention and tapped into surging Ashes travel demand.

Herd MSL's take on 2025

In 2025, Herd MSL delivered an exceptional year, reinforcing its position as Australia’s leading progressive PR agency. The agency produced a sustained body of award-winning work that shaped national conversation, drove behaviour change, delivered record commercial outcomes and measurably lifted client reputation scores across multiple sectors.

This performance was recognised with major industry accolades, including Campaign Asia’s Australian PR Agency of the Year and multiple wins across PR, influencer and data-led effectiveness categories.

Commercially, Herd MSL achieved double-digit organic growth, exceeded budget targets and secured significant new revenue through competitive pitch wins, welcoming 10 new clients. The renewal and expansion of longstanding cornerstone accounts also reflects a deep trust in the agency’s strategic counsel and delivery.

People’s performance matched commercial success. A strengths-based culture delivered strong staff retention, well above industry benchmarks, while ongoing investment in diversity, wellbeing and capability ensured teams consistently delivered at the highest level. By year-end, Herd MSL had set the benchmark for effective, culturally fluent PR in Australia.

Stuart Wragg,
chief strategy officer

Wragg relentlessly elevated strategy, culture and creative ambition, driving sharper thinking, braver work and lasting impact across clients and teams.

If we were a band, we'd be...

Bad Bunny

He doesn’t just follow culture, he helps move it.

He understands how to turn relevance into resonance, and moments into movements. Everything he does is designed to spark conversation, challenge norms, and stand for something bigger.

Critic's Comment

“Like any great band, Herd MSL spent plenty of time fine-tuning its sound, but what shone through is how it helps clients show up and be relevant in culture.”

Herd MSL

B&T's Agency Score

8.3

Previous season: N/A

This year's Agency Scorecard was assessed by an Advisory Panel.

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