Australia is blessed with a vibrant, diverse and incredibly talented media agency sector that punches well above its weight globally. A major reason for this are the media agency leaders who have helped grow the sector and nurture the next generation coming through.
Every holdco media agency leader on this list has played a significant role in shaping the industry to what it is today. And for the first time since B&T began its Best of the Best series, a certain Peter Horgan will be missing from the cohort, having handed the OMG reins over to Kristiaan Kroon.
Choosing 10 names is nigh on impossible and a subjective task that considers various factors, such as an agency or group’s new business success and client retention success; a leader’s industry profile and leadership qualities; how they are perceived by peers; and the broader role they have played in shaping the industry in the past year.
We also examined your nominations, making sure no stone is unturned in our search for leadership excellence.
There’s still plenty of time to nominate for the upcoming categories, too. Next week, we’re taking a look at the Best of the Best indie creative agency leaders and indie media agency leaders.
NOMINATE FOR B&T’s BEST OF THE BEST NOW!
Also, please check out the Best of the Best holding company creative agency leaders.
B&T has settled on a list that represents leaders with genuine power and passion with some of the finest emerging leaders coming through. There are some who just missed out: Jason Tonelli at Zenith and Wavemaker’s Peter Vogel who placed eighth and fifth last year, respectively. iProspect’s Marcelle Hoyek is also unlucky to miss out, given how she has grown and changed the agency.
10. Mark Jarrett, CEO, PHD Australia
After just falling short in the Federal Government pitch, it feels that Mark Jarrett’s chargers at PHD have turned a substantial corner in 2024 after losing Unilever and Spotlight in quick succession. The agency picked up the Asahi Group and retained Volkswagen, one of its largest accounts. This year, the momentum has continued with PHD winning the tasty media account for chicken shop Wingstop and nailing Bunnings media to the mast.
‘MJ’ will be looking to continue PHD’s hot streak ahead of Omnicom’s proposed acquisition of UM, where it is likely consolidation of media agencies will be near the top of the new leadership’s agenda.
9. Maria Grivas, CEO, Mindshare Australia
A finalist for Media Agency of the Year at last year’s B&T Awards, Grivas has guided Mindshare to a stellar 2024 where the agency won Nestle, Nike’s performance business, Nova and Footlocker,. he also led the agency’s work on on media planning and buying for Labor’s successful federal election. Mindshare also holds the sizeable for Electronic Arts account locally.
The agency topped B&T’s agency new business winners list and has been called out as an agency to watch this year. The early signs are that Grivas and her team are living up to their promise.
8. Imogen Hewitt, chief media officer, Publicis Groupe & CEO, Spark Foundry ANZ
The leader of Spark Foundry has a dual role within Publicis Groupe. As chief media officer, Hewitt is charged with working alongside the leaders of Zenith and Starcom to implement media buying and planning best practice across the group. Hewitt also takes charge of Spark Foundry across the Antipodes, while Matt Turl handles much of the day-to-day running of its Australian business.
AN MFA board member and widely respected media operator, Hewitt has helped power the fastest growing media holding company in Australia, and is a vital part of Michael Rebelo’s (more on him later) senior leadership team.
7. Sian Whitnall & Laura Nice, co-CEOs, OMD Australia
It’s been a solid year for OMD co-CEOs Sian Whitnall and Laura Nice.
OMD has remained Australia’s largest agency, thanks to its huge clients including Coles, Suncorp Group, McDonald’s and Telstra, recently picking up sports apparel brand Under Armour, while it resigned Renault.
Whitnall and Nice have been busy installing new leaders across the East coast. Amanda Watts has been promoted to lead its Sydney Office, Alison Costello has taken the reins of Brisbane, with Rachel Page being hired as Melbourne MD.
The pair have presided over an agency whose work has shone brightly; picking up the MFA Grand Prix Award for Telstra’s ‘Free Calls to Santa’ campaign and the Cairns Crocodiles Grand Prix alongside Akcelo for McDonald’s ‘Squid Game Meal’ campaign.
6. Pippa Berlocher, CEO, EssenceMediacom
To describe 2024 as a breakthrough year for EssenceMediacom would be criminally underselling the job that Pippa Berlocher and her team have done.
After Essence and MediaCom merged in 2023, Berlocher was brought in to assemble a team and its ‘Breakthrough’ proposition that would help the agency standout in a crowded market, and they delivered in spades. Matt Scotton, Stevie Douglas-Neil, Jack Graham and Sarah James were brought in to complement a crack leadership team that has taken all before it.
EssenceMediacom retained Queensland Government, picked up Specsavers and a host of other accounts. The agency won a bunch of industry awards, including the prestigious B&T Media Agency of the Year prize, and was ranked top in new business by RECMA. Read more about the agency’s success.
5. Melissa Fein, managing director, media, Accenture Song
When Melissa Fein, Sam Geer and Chris Colter took the reins of Accenture Song’s media arm last September, it was unclear whether she would feature on this list this year. Building a media consultancy from scratch is a tall order and it has taken several months for Fein and the rest of leadership trio to get some client runs on the board.
Fast forward to June and Fein has not only won the biggest pitch in town this year, but has well and truly laid a marker that Accenture Song means business.
The Optus win was remarkable not just for a fledgling team, but also in how it could revolutionise how media services are delivered, underpinned by transparency and AI technology.
There was never a doubt Fein, Geer and Colts would emerge victorious, it was just a matter of when and with who, and boy have they delivered. Every agency leader will closely watch Fein and Accenture Song’s next move.
4. Michael Rebelo, chief executive officer, Publicis Groupe ANZ
This is the second B&T Best of the Best list in a fortnight in which Michael Rebelo features. The Publicis Groupe boss headed up the holdco creative leadership list last week, but also presides over the group’s media arm.
Under his leadership, Rebelo has taken Publicis Media from number five to number three in terms of media billings for the first time in its history, according to RECMA. Publicis Groupe’s media arm is also among the fastest growing with blue chip clients including Westpac, Toyota, Aldi, Adobe, Procter & Gamble, Bupa, Entain and BMW.
An MFA board member, Rebelo was the driving force behind one of the industry’s most notable acquisition when Publicis acquired Australia’s largest independent media agency, Atomic 212°. His partnership with Imogen Hewitt has been described by an industry insider as “legendary”.
3. Mark Coad, chief executive, IPG Mediabrands
The past year has been tough for IPG Mediabrands and its leader Mark Coad. The departure of Initiative top trio Melissa Fein, Sam Geer and Chris Colter, meant that Coad had to usher in a new leadership team and did a sterling job by elevating Sydney MD Jo McAlister into the hot seat.
Coad has also had to contend with the uncertainty that surrounds Omnicom’s proposed takeover of IPG Mediabrands, but has provided a steady hand and optimistic note under difficult circumstances. Coad has also stepped up to chair the Media Federation of Australia, continues to inspire and mentor the next generation, including taking leadership of events such as MFA X.
Of all the media executives on this list, Coad is among the most experienced and knowledgeable, and ideal leader to help media transition into an AI-powered future.
2. Kristiaan Kroon, chief operating officer, Omnicom Media Group Australia
A new addition to this list, but not to B&T’s Best of the Best. When Peter Horgan decided to call time on his OMG career, there was only one likely candidate to step up in former chief investment officer Kristiaan Kroon.
There are few industry figures that command the respect or possess the knowledge of Kroon, whose role as chief operating officer is a temporary pathway to becoming CEO of the Australian operation.
At OMG, he presides over Australia’s largest media agency, OMD, and the second largest group by billings. Kroon steps into the incredibly large boots of Horgan, but is well placed to do so. And with Omnicom’s looming takeover of IPG on the horizon, Kroon’s remit could become far wider if he lands the top media spot.
1. Aimee Buchanan, CEO, WPP Media ANZ
This is the second year running that WPP Media boss Aimee Buchanan has topped this list and not without good cause. Simply put, she has been a transformative industry leader that has guided WPP’s media agency division into pole position across a number of different ranking and ratings systems.
According to COMVergence, WPP Media (then known as GroupM) came out first in terms of net new business billings in 2o24 and cemented its place as leader of the pack in RECMA’s latest Qualitative Domestic Report, 15 points ahead of its nearest rival. Testament to Buchanan’s impact on the industry is that she placed second in last year’s Women in Media Power List after winning top spot a year earlier.
In the year ahead, Buchanan will be charged with rolling out WPP Media’s new AI-powered market proposition. The Australian and New Zealand business is already ahead of the curve and there are few better place leaders who exude the confidence and competence to make WPP Media’s transformation a roaring success.
