Without a great strategy, you cannot have a great media campaign. It is as simple as that. And while plenty of people in adland can spot a good idea, it takes a sharp strategic mind to know which ones are worth backing, where to find the opportunity and how to give them a fighting chance.
Australia is blessed with some seriously good media strategists, which makes narrowing the field down to just ten a near impossible task.
As always with B&T’s Best of the Best, we’ve done our homework, weighed up market reputation, agency success and, most importantly, the role these strategists have played in delivering standout work for clients.
And because getting down to ten was hard, there are a number of strategists we reckon deserve more than just a nod. Consider these the ones who came very, very close: Raj Gupta, chief strategy officer at UM, Initiative’s Tom Dodd and the national strategy and planning at Match & Wood Ryan Hancock.
Before we get to far a head of ourselves let’s have a look at who made the cut? Here are B&T’s Best of the Best Media Agency Strategists.
10. Danni Dimitri, managing partner and head of strategy, Hatched
Danni Dimitri has built Hatched’s Sydney operation from the ground up alongside managing partners, growing it to a 20-strong team in line with sustained client growth. The agency now operates as a national business across both Sydney and Melbourne.
As managing partner and lead strategist, she writes growth strategy for both the business and its clients, and pioneered the agency’s communications strategy product, ensuring consistency and calibre across the board. Outside of helping Hatched’s clients she also collaboratively authored the agency’s positioning and values, which steers culture, capability and operations across the business.
With more than 15 years across multinationals and independents, including strategic leadership for McDonald’s, NRMA and TK Maxx, she has delivered work recognised at Festival of Media for tbh skincare (2024) and Best Brand Platform for Tassal at the 2021 B&T Awards. At the most recent B&T Awards Dimitri added to her silverware taking home Best Retail Media Campaign at the for ‘Who Gives A Crap’ and Kitchen Warehouse’s ‘Mum-nipulate The Algorithm’ with Special, which won Best Data-Driven Marketing and Best Digital Campaign.
9. Melissa Mullins, managing partner, Avenue C
Melissa Mullins is an award-winning strategist who has led strategic product for Avenue C for six years, cementing the agency’s market proposition and its place as one of the industry’s most respected indies.
Mullins believes strategy has to be completely embedded in the agency process rather than a baton-passing exercise. Avenue C’s experienced team works closely with her throughout, an approach that has helped the agency become recognised for the strength of its enduring client relationships and strategic media partnerships.
Mullins works across Avenue C’s wide-reaching portfolio, with clients including Alinta Energy, Primo, Brown-Forman, hipages and AMP. She also leads the KitchenAid business, which Avenue C told us “delivered its biggest Black Friday ever” under her strategic direction.
Her approach has also driven new business, with Avenue C picking up Maurice Blackburn, Betashares, Viva Leisure and Dream Home Art Union in the past year.
The agency’s momentum hasn’t gone unnoticed. Avenue C won the MFA’s Agency Talent and Culture (less than 100) Award last year, and Mullins has also led its pro-bono partnership with MND Australia, work that has been recently shortlisted at the MFA Awards.
8. David Bielenberg, chief strategy and effectiveness officer, PHD Australia
Under David Belienberg’s strategic direction, PHD Australia delivered strong year-on-year revenue growth, with existing client relationships expanding. This is because his strategy has led to nine contract renewals without pitch.
Bielenberg has spearheaded a transformation of PHD’s strategic product around three pillars: effectiveness, innovation and AI. He established the agency’s effectiveness capability, integrating strategy, analytics and effectiveness into a single practice that focuses measurement on business outcomes rather than campaign reporting. His innovation agenda has been equally impactful. Rejecting innovation theatre, he introduced a structured test-and-learn framework and an Innovation Toolkit now used across a growing share of clients.
Work developed under this model has delivered tangible outcomes. PHD has told B&T that his work has helped drive a substantial sales uplift for McCain P!ckers, 7-Eleven sushi and even successfully revived Melbourne’s mX newspaper as wX for AFLW, contributing to an increase in macth attendances.
A recognised industry contributor, he leads PHD’s AI thought leadership, has presented at MFAx, apart of the MFA committee, delivered AANA Masterclasses on AI and measurement. His credentials span senior strategy roles at MediaCom Brisbane and MG OMD London, where he helped lead planning capability. Returning to Australia in 2022, he rose to PHD’s national strategy leadership role in less than three years.
7. Asier Carazo, chief strategy officer, Atomic 212°
Since joining Atomic 212° in 2020, Asier Carazo has built an 11-person strategy team from the ground up and led it through the agency’s transition into Publicis Groupe, embedding commercial accountability, speed and data-driven clarity at the centre of how it competes.
In 2025, Atomic became the country’s most successful pitching agency under his strategic direction, as recognised by Trinity P3’s pitch report, converting 31 new business wins. This included winning Tennis Australia, Vicinity Centres and Origin. Carazo’s focus has been to accelerate strategic capability by making it more tangible and accessible to clients and the agency’s teams. He has built two proprietary strategy products that have reshaped how the agency operates—Sonar and A360°
Carazo is committed to building the next generation of strategists. He has a passion for nurturing talent from entry level to award recognition. He has mentored a strong strategic team with long tenures, all home grown and promoted from within, with members being recognised in the Industry including the wins in B&T 30 Under 30 for Sam Bessell and Angus McLeod.
Carazo is also an advocate for inclusion, serving on the MFA DE&I Advisory Council to champion diversity. Additionally, he led the first piece of research for Inclusively Made, covering how Australian consumers expected brands to embrace diversity and inclusion in advertising. This resulted in the opportunity for Atomic 212° to become the very first media agency to become one of its foundation partners.
6. Rob Frost, chief strategy officer, OMD Australia
As chief strategy officer, Rob Frost has been instrumental in bringing OMD Australia’s ambition ‘We Create What’s Next’ to life. He has been a driving force for the agency-wide adoption of media creativity, co-developing the frameworks, training and strategic standards that have embedded it into everyday practice across Australia’s largest media agency.
In his first year at OMD, Frost has helped shape the strategic thinking behind the agency’s work with McDonald’s, NSW Government and Snapchat. On the business front, under his strategic watchful eye, OMD has been granted a one year extension for the NSW Government, and has won a slice of the WA Government account for at least the next four years.
This year, he was part of the team that developed and presented the AANA Masterclass ‘The New Age of Discovery’, helping marketers navigate the changing ways consumers find, evaluate and choose brands in an increasingly fragmented media landscape. He also contributed to the AANA Academy ‘The New Rules of Discovery’ education session, sharing practical insights on the forces shaping modern decision-making and effective marketing strategy.
In recognition of his leadership and influence, Frost was also selected to participate in The Marketing Academy in 2026, an industry leadership development program. Alongside his industry education work, he continued to invest in the development of future leaders as one of the creators of The SBLNGS, Omnicom Oceania’s initiative to bring the network’s strategists, creatives and innovators together to co-create elevated solutions.
5. Elliott Eldridge, chief strategy officer, Mindshare Australia
Few strategists have had a greater impact on an agency’s growth story over the past year than Elliott Eldridge on Mindshare. Following a year of client success, strategic innovation and business growth, he was promoted to chief strategy officer from national head of strategy, recognising the central role he has played in shaping Mindshare’s strategic agenda.
A force behind the new business success of the agency, Elliott led the strategic direction for major pitch wins for Mindshare including Suncorp, Asahi, uBank and MG.
Beyond this, Elliott has led the evolution of Mindshare’s strategy product, ensuring clients benefit from more rigorous audience intelligence, communications planning and effectiveness thinking. His leadership has helped elevate the role of strategy from campaign development to solving broader business challenges facing marketers today.
As the strategic leader behind IKEA’s ‘Bowled Out’, Rexona’s ‘Hero the Bits Below’, ‘The Pits’ and ‘Rexona Rivals’, he has consistently demonstrated an ability to combine cultural insight, audience intelligence and communications strategy to create work that drives both brand relevance and commercial impact.
His work has been recognised at the 2025 B&T Awards taking home the Best Sponsorship Campaign for Ford’s ‘Hoop Dreams’. Mindshare in 2025 was also a finalist at the MFA Awards for the Data-Led Activation category.
His influence expands out of the usual day-to-day for a strategist. He has taken the lead for Australia in the WPP Media APAC Limitless Pitch program which brought together hundreds of junior staff from across the region globe to compete in a simulated pitch process. His mentorship across the local teams saw Australia take out the top prize for the APAC region. An amazing accolade in a competitive program.
4. Penny Shell, chief strategy and product officer, Zenith Media Australia
Penny Shell, the chief strategy and product officer at Zenith Australia, joined the agency back in 2024. She has held Australian, Asia Pacific and global media leadership roles in strategy, account leadership with OMD and Starcom and client-side positions with Nike. Her expertise spans retail, financial services, FMCG, luxury, sport, automotive, government, tourism/travel, beauty, QSR and telecommunications.
At Zenith Australia, Penny oversees strategy, planning, research and marketing nationally, focusing on building bespoke, connected solutions for brand impact and business returns. In the last 12 months she has led and oversaw strategy and product for all Zenith Australia recent new business wins, including Flight Centre, Tourism Australia, Industry Super Australia (Industry SuperFunds, Host Plus, Cbus) and a further two confidential accounts. She also led the local strategy and product for the recent Publicis Groupe Mars (part of Publicis Groupe’s OneMars) win and retention of Aldi (part of Publicis Groupe’s AldiOne).
Shell launched Zenith Australia’s ‘Imagination Sprint’, which brings national strategy and product teams together to create rapid fire, proactive big ideas for clients. The agency has told B&T that more than 60 per cent of clients have been part of a ‘sprint’, with new concepts executed for clients including Stockland, Disney and RACQ outside of the traditional briefed process in the last two years.
Outside of her day-to-day, Shell gives back to the industry. She has judged and mentored for the Media Federation Australia, The Pause Awards, B&T 30 Under 30, Effies, and B&T’s Women in Media, and served on the Cannes Young Lions Executive Jury 2026.
3. Catherine Rushton, chief strategy officer and partner, This is Flow
Over the past year, Catherine Rushton has continued to transform This is Flow’s strategic product, embedding consistent innovation across the agency’s entire client roster. Her strategic leadership drove measurable commercial breakthroughs from a2 Milk’s sold-out Australian Open Frappe activation and Southern Cross Travel Insurance’s ‘Detour Dishes’ campaign (which generated the client’s highest web traffic of the year), to globally recognised executions for Holland America Line, Hydralyte’s Lost Paradise festival activation, work for MESHKI, and fundraising for pro-bono partner Australian Children’s Music Foundation.
Alongside campaign executions, she leads Flows AI and automation transformation and her ‘Invisible Audiences’ framework continues to be heavily leveraged for how client’s brands navigate AI model intermediaries and machine-driven discovery. Her remit and leadership spans data, technology and measurement, and last year she even launched the agency’s partnership and influencer division.
As pitch product lead, Rushton orchestrated a very impressive expansion period for Flow, winning Amazon Ring, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Charles Sturt University, Opal HealthCare, and Cranky Health (The man shake), whilst successfully retaining Workwear Group’s KingGee and Hard Yakka brands following a competitive pitch. Cementing her status as a top-tier industry leader, she co-chairs both the MFA Awards and MFAEx alongside Accenture Song’s Chris Colter.
Who says you need the backing of a holdco hey?
2. Chris Colter, managing director and media strategy ANZ, Accenture Song
Taking the second spot on this exclusive list is Rushton’s MFA co-chair Chris Colter. Colter, a widely regarded strategic thinker in the industry, leverages over 14 years of experience across UM and Initiative before starting up Accenture Song in Australia with Mel Fein (who is off to the US) and Sam Geer. Together, the trio has set-up one of the most exciting media businesses in Australia.
In the agency’s relatively short lifespan, Colter has quickly established himself as the strategic driving force, helping steer the agency to a string of major account wins. Under his strategic leadership, the agency landed Optus last year, Australia Post at the beginning of 2026 and most recently Medibank.
The Optus work was forced to take a quieter route following the telco’s mass outages towards the back end of last year. But with the dust settling, Colter and the team are now starting to show what they can really do. The launch of ‘There’s Always A Way’ with Droga5 has offered the first glimpse of what’s in store, with the agency’s strategic thinking helping Optus chart a new course and reset its relationship with Australians.
Prior to setting up Accenture’s media arm in Australia, Colter played a pivotal role in some of Australia’s most iconic campaigns, including Meat and Livestock Australia’s Spring Lamb, LEGO’s Star of Christmas, and Tourism Australia’s Dundee.
1. Sophie Price, chief strategy officer (CSO), EssenceMediacom Australia
Sophie Price is one of Australia’s most experienced and decorated media strategist, leading strategy for EssenceMediacom. What sets Price apart is the breadth of her impact. She has transformed agencies, built Australia’s largest strategy function, helped win some of the country’s most significant accounts, developed award-winning strategists and helped redefine the purpose of an entire industry. Few strategists have influenced Australian media so deeply – and fewer continue to shape its future every day.
She has led strategy across both creative and media agencies, giving her a rare ability to combine strategic rigour with breakthrough creativity. It is this unique perspective that has made her one of the industry’s most respected strategic leaders.
Since joining EssenceMediacom as chief strategy officer five years ago, Price has helped transform the business into a juggernaut of a media agency. Under her strategic leadership, EssenceMediacom scored equal second with relative Mindshare on the 2025 RECMA qualitative rankings.
Over the past year, the agency has secured major wins including Uber, NRL, Michael Hill and MasterCard, with strategic thinking central to the pitches. Price’s personal new business strike rate over the past 12 months is astronomical. Across every pitch and major client engagement, clients are repeatedly crediting the agency’s strategic clarity, originality, and creativity.
She leads EssenceMediacom’s strategy team. Under her leadership, the team collected a Bronze for Film Campaign and Silver for Technology Campaign and Branded Content.
Price’s work has been championed for strategy for more than two decades. She has won multiple Cannes Lions, Australian Effies and MFA Awards.
