While 30 Under 30 has come and gone for another year, we’re continuing to celebrate the best and brightest in the industry by doing a roundup of all our talented winners in 2019.
Yesterday, we introduced our media planner/buyer winners.
Today, we’re introducing three on-the-pulse individuals who nabbed a coveted B&T 30 Under 30 Award for their work in PR.
Stay tuned for the stories of the rest of our winners, which we’ll be rolling out across the next two weeks.
You can also see all the winners here and photos from the night here.
Drew Collins – Edelman
At just 24 years of age, Drew was part of the team who provided crisis communication during the 2014 Lindt Café Siege. The team’s social listening and conversation analysis fed directly into senior management which then helped drive the strategic counsel across emergency and police services.
One of Drew’s biggest achievements has been his work in relation to social causes. He worked pro-bono this year for Out For Australia, a leading support and mentor network for LBGTIQ professionals.
He’s proud to say he has made a significant contribution to equality in Australia.
At 26, Drew returned to the Edelman offices to reinvent its influencer offerings for Australia. He created an Australian-first influencer marketing strategy that improves identification, qualification and optimisation of influencers. This offering has now won influencer work from global brands such as Adobe, PayPal and Unilever. As a result, Drew has contributed over 67 per cent of Edelman’s social team revenue growth in the past 12 months.
Mike Lane – OPR Life
Mike started his career in the UK as a junior account executive for PR firm Ruder Finn, quickly moving into a senior account executive position. His biggest achievement at Ruder Finn was the campaign funding of Bexero®. In 2015, he made the big move Down Under, landing a job at OPR Agency in Sydney as a senior account executive.
In this role, he knew he had to push boundaries to make a mark. His passion lies within the health sector where he tackles the most difficult-to-treat cancers and the policy barriers to overcome communications.
Mike’s focus since moving to Australia has been supporting AstraZeneca’s oncology team. He hopes to champion the stigmas that surround cancer and how we can influence the ‘health-scape’. By fostering firm relations with clients, advocacy partners, media, and peers, Mike has and will continue to be a leading health communications specialist.
Rachel Barry – Red Agency
Rachel found her passion for PR and communications while completing a BA in PR and advertising at UNSW. Eager to gain real-world experience, Rachel pursued her first role with boutique PR agency DMG Media while studying full-time.
Inspired by a guest lecturer from Edelman, Rachel secured her next role as assistant account executive with the global PR network. She forged her next opportunity with consumer PR and content marketing agency Magnum & Co. where she joined as junior account manager before quickly being promoted.
She then joined boutique PR agency OPF Consulting in Canberra where she led accounts working with the state and federal government, and global corporate leaders like Google.
Rachel joined Red Agency Sydney as a senior account manager in March 2016 to further develop her focus on strategic communications. She believes success is the ability to inspire a group of people enough to follow you into a scary and difficult, but ultimately rewarding new venture, and the impact that makes on other people.
