From major sporting spectacles and elaborate brand takeovers to pop-ups that have consumers willingly queuing around the block, Australia’s experiential agencies have been busy giving people plenty to talk about in 2026.
But behind the impressive production budgets, ambitious creative concepts and inevitable last-minute headaches are the leaders responsible for making it all happen.
For this year’s B&T Best of the Best Experiential Agency Leaders, we’ve looked beyond the spectacle to recognise the people driving the businesses behind it. This year’s list is dedicated to celebrating those who have demonstrated they can deliver more than a memorable activation, all while building agencies capable of doing it all over and over again.
And while B&T has been doing its homework, we know the industry has a few opinions of its own. Nominations remain open for upcoming Best of the Best categories, and up next week is independent agency creatives.
Without further ado, here are B&T’s Best of the Best experiential agency leaders for 2026.
10. Michael Ozard, group brand experience director, Havas Blvd
Michael Ozard knows there’s more to a memorable brand experience than putting on a good show. As group brand experience director at Havas Blvd, he’s no stranger to the challenge of turning ambitious ideas into something audiences can actually get amongst.
In 2026, Ozard was among the team behind Toyota’s new RAV4 launch, which saw the automotive giant swap the traditional showroom reveal for a three-day immersive media experience at Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain. The launch gave Toyota’s latest SUV a rather impressive stage, with the activation bringing the vehicle into the spotlight in a setting far removed from the dealership floor.
He also headed the team behind Havas Red’s rather unconventional ECOVACS activation, which saw 380 Australians gather at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden in July to set a Guinness World Record for the most people performing the Dad Stance simultaneously.
He’s also been flexing his strategic muscles beyond the client brief. In November 2025, he brought together experiential specialists from across Havas Red’s international network to develop A New Lens on Brand Experience 2026, a global white paper examining six trends shaping the industry.
Not every experiential leader can claim a major automotive launch, a Guinness World Record and a global industry report in the same year. Ozard, however, has managed to tick all three boxes.
9. Gareth Davies, managing partner, Amplify Australia
Davies has made a career out of turning big cultural moments into even bigger brand experiences. With more than 15 years spanning brand strategy, content and live experiences, the managing partner of Amplify Australia has built a reputation for bringing ambitious creative ideas into the real world. And judging by the agency’s recent work, there’s been no shortage of ambition.
Amplify gave Sydney Harbour a rather sinister makeover for the launch of Netflix’s fifth and final season of Stranger Things. Taking over the Overseas Passenger Terminal, the experience brought the Upside Down to life through large-scale projections and immersive visuals, transforming one of Sydney’s most recognisable landmarks into a scene straight out of Hawkins.
Davies and the Amplify team also had their foot firmly on the accelerator in March 2026, partnering with Revolut on Overtake: The After Party to celebrate the Audi Revolut F1 Team’s debut at the Australian Grand Prix. The event brought together music, kinetic lighting and live performances, in a night that kept the race-weekend energy going well beyond the circuit.
The work has also earned Amplify a place among the finalists for Experiential/Promotional Agency of the Year at the 2026 B&T Awards. From unleashing Vecna on Sydney Harbour to giving Formula 1 fans somewhere to celebrate after the chequered flag, Davies has helped oversee a portfolio that knows how to make the most of a cultural moment.
8. Meredith Cranmer, co-founder and managing director, Curious Nation
Meredith Cranmer has built a career out of asking questions, challenging the obvious and refusing to settle for the first idea on the table. With more than 20 years in brand activation and over a decade running her own agency, the Curious Nation co-founder and managing director has plenty of experience turning curiosity into commercial opportunity.
From marathon finish lines to university climbing walls and even a spot of gelato in Bondi, Curious Nation has delivered an eclectic mix of activations in 2026. For Sanitarium’s UP&GO Protein, the agency developed a six-event campaign culminating in the Sydney Marathon’s Victory Hub, with more than 30,000 product samples earmarked for distribution across the program. Meanwhile, Western Sydney University’s ‘Charge Towards Change’ activation saw prospective students invited to scale two climbing walls at its Parramatta Open Day. A rather literal way of encouraging students to reach new heights.
Beyond the creative work, Cranmer has also had plenty to celebrate earning a finalist spot for Experiential/Promotional Agency of the Year at the 2026 B&T Awards. Having previously taken home the category’s top honour in 2019, Cranmer knows her way around the awards circuit. Whether another trophy is on the cards remains to be seen, but there’s certainly no shortage of work to put before the judges.
7. Vanessa Rolfe, director of client services, Misfits Media Company
If there’s one person who knows how to keep the show on the road when the pressure is on, it’s Vanessa Rolfe. The Misfits Media Company’s director of client services has built a reputation for juggling ambitious briefs, demanding timelines and the occasional logistical headache, all while keeping clients happy and the wheels turning. Having joined the business in 2018 following stints at McCorkell & Associates and George P Johnson, Rolfe has become a familiar face behind some of the company’s biggest events and brand experiences.
Her client portfolio spans the likes of SAP, Snowflake, monday.com and TPG Telecom, with the Misfits delivering everything from large-scale corporate experiences to creative brand activations. Among the agency’s more playful projects was monday.com’s first-class-inspired lounge at WOBI, which turned a conventional exhibition stand into an airline-themed experience complete with cabin crew ambassadors, hands-on demonstrations and personalised keepsakes. Meanwhile, Misfits’ work for Snowflake has seen the agency bring complex technology to life through immersive events across Australia and New Zealand.
But it’s Cairns Crocodiles where Rolfe has really had her hands full. As executive producer of the festival, she helped deliver an event that welcomed more than 2,000 delegates from across the advertising, media and marketing industries and the world. She also leads the team behind the awesome Pinterest Welcome Party in Far North Queensland.
From managing major client relationships to helping pull off one of the industry’s biggest gatherings, Rolfe has plenty of experience making sure the show goes on, even when there are a thousand moving parts behind the scenes.
6. Brad Hampel, founder and chief executive, Seeker Agency
Brad Hampel has had his fingerprints all over some of Australia’s biggest sporting spectacles, and with a calendar spanning Formula 1, AFL and the Sydney Marathon, it’s a wonder he’s had time to sit down. As founder and chief executive of Seeker Agency, Hampel has carved out a place in the experiential world where live entertainment, sport and brand partnerships collide.
The agencies’ recent portfolio reads like a sporting fan’s dream itinerary. From the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix to the AFL Grand Final Parade and Toyota AFL Grand Final Village, Hampel’s teams have been busy bringing brands into the thick of the action. They also worked across Snoop Dogg’s AFL Grand Final entertainment, adding a little West Coast flavour to the biggest day on the Australian footy calendar.
Gather Round provided another opportunity to get amongst the crowds, with work spanning the Macca’s Footy Festival, Ball in the Mall and the Next Door experience hosted by Hard Rated. And for those who prefer pounding the pavement to chasing a Sherrin, the agencies also delivered Sydney Marathon activations with Oura Ring.
It’s a portfolio with some serious crowd appeal, and one that shows Hampel’s ability to operate across major sporting properties, entertainment and experiential campaigns. From Grand Prix engines to Grand Final entertainment, he’s certainly found himself in the middle of the action.
5. Barry Wafer, founding director, Rizer
Barry Wafer has made a business out of putting on a spectacle, and he’s certainly not limiting himself to Australia’s backyard. As founding director of Sydney-based experiential agency Rizer, Wafer has built a portfolio that stretches from major sporting ceremonies to luxury brand experiences across international markets, with a client list that includes Cartier, Mercedes-Benz and Qantas.
In 2026, Rizer was behind the opening ceremony of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup at Perth’s Optus Stadium, kicking off the tournament in front of more than 44,000 spectators. Back in Sydney, the agency helped bring the Qantas and David Jones partnership to life with a runway presentation at Sydney Airport, giving the traditional airport fashion parade a rather literal new meaning.
Wafer’s team has also been busy courting the luxury end of the market. Internationally, Rizer delivered Cartier’s 20th anniversary Women’s Initiative event in Bangkok, alongside a Cartier High Jewellery Gala. Closer to home, the agency developed Mercedes-Benz Studio Sydney, a multisensory brand experience created in collaboration with BABEKÜHL and Jono Ma, bringing together automotive design, art and sound.
From stadium-sized productions to the considerably more intimate world of high jewellery, Wafer’s portfolio isn’t exactly short on range. And with Rizer operating well beyond Australian shores, he’s flying the flag for Sydney’s experiential industry on a much bigger stage.
4. Bridget O’Sullivan, general manager – experiential and sponsorship management, Bastion
Bridget O’Sullivan has had her hands full at Bastion, and judging by the variety of work coming out of its experiential division, that’s putting it mildly. From rubbing shoulders with tennis royalty to celebrating the humble Bunnings sausage sizzle, O’Sullivan has helped steer an increasingly diverse portfolio of brand experiences.
The year got off to a start with Kia’s Hotel Tasman activation at the 2026 Australian Open, which brought the automotive brand’s fictional Aussie pub to life near Melbourne Park. Complete with interactive driving experiences and an appearance from tennis legend Rafael Nadal, it was a rather unconventional way to showcase a ute. Bastion also turned up the heat at the Magic Millions with TAB, unleashing a 400-metre wall of green pyrotechnics and a monster truck onto the racecourse. Subtlety clearly wasn’t on the brief.
Elsewhere, the team brought together more than 78 creators for L’Oréal and Meta’s Beauty Content House, took UNIQLO’s HEATTECH range to the streets of Melbourne and Adelaide, and continued celebrating grassroots footy’s unsung heroes through Bunnings’ ‘Legend of the Tongs’ campaign. The latter recognised 90 local legends in 2026.
Bastion’s experiential team has also delivered projects spanning Mattel’s ‘Masters of the Universe’, Kérastase and GEELY, while L’Oréal’s AI Luminarium brought approximately 1,000 participants together for an immersive exploration of artificial intelligence. From beauty creators to sporting crowds and the occasional flying sausage, O’Sullivan’s portfolio certainly hasn’t suffered from a lack of variety.
3. Mike Edkins, director, PIM Group
Mike Edkins has become something of a regular fixture at Australia’s biggest sporting events, with PIM Group making its presence felt everywhere from the Formula 1 paddock to the Australian Open and Melbourne Cup Carnival. And with a portfolio spanning luxury hospitality, major brand partnerships and large-scale fan experiences, the PIM Group director has certainly had plenty of moving parts to keep track of.
The 2026 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix was a particularly busy affair, with PIM delivering eight activations and experiences across the event. Among them were Casa Ferrari, La Roche-Posay’s Precision Pit Stop and UVMune launch featuring F1 driver Valtteri Bottas, the Melbourne Junction and Motorsport Straight precincts, and a dining experience courtesy of Chin Chin.
And the sporting calendar didn’t get much quieter once the chequered flag came down. At the 2026 Australian Open, PIM delivered Grey Goose’s Courtside Bar and venue activations, alongside Casa Altos, which marked Altos Tequila’s debut as an official tournament partner. The agency also continued its longstanding relationship with G.H. Mumm at the 2025 Melbourne Cup Carnival.
The breadth of work has helped earn PIM a finalist spot for Experiential/Promotional Agency of the Year at the 2026 B&T Awards. With eight Grand Prix experiences, a strong presence at the Australian Open and a Melbourne Cup partnership, Edkins has overseen a year that would give even the busiest sporting calendar a run for its money.
2. Miles Scott, partner and COO, Akcelo
Miles Scott has helped turn Akcelo from an ambitious Australian indie into an agency with some serious international clout. As one of the founding partners and chief operating officer, Scott has been part of the agency’s rapid rise since its launch in 2020, with the business continuing to expand its global footprint, attract major clients and produce work that gets people talking.
The agency’s recent creative portfolio has been anything but quiet. For McDonald’s, Akcelo brought the Netflix phenomenon Squid Game into the Macca’s universe with ‘Dare to Play’, before giving everyone’s favourite purple mascot the VIP treatment in ‘Grimace’s Very Important World Tour’. Doritos got in on the action with ‘Halloween Hijack’, while Anytime Fitness encouraged Australians to embrace the joy of movement through ‘Find Your Fitphoria’.
Beyond the campaigns, Akcelo has been making some substantial business moves. Its expansion into London marked another step in its international ambitions, with the agency securing global children’s audio brand Yoto as a major new client for the UK office.
The trophy cabinet has been getting a workout, too. Akcelo took home both Experiential/Promotional Agency of the Year and Branding, Design & CX Agency of the Year at the 2025 B&T Awards. Between the international expansion, major account wins and a collection of campaigns that wouldn’t look out of place in a pop culture fever dream, Scott has helped build an agency that’s proving increasingly difficult to ignore.
1. Laura Roberts, managing director APAC, INVNT
Laura Roberts has come a long way since her early days in New York, when one of her first jobs in events involved trekking through the snow to find eye drops for a famous musician. These days, the INVNT APAC managing director is overseeing brand experiences for some of the world’s biggest names, with a portfolio spanning everything from global technology conferences to immersive activations and entertainment launches. Having established INVNT’s APAC operations in 2017, Roberts has spent nearly a decade building the agency’s presence in the region, and the international briefs haven’t stopped rolling in.
One of the agency’s biggest undertakings in 2026 came courtesy of Xero, with INVNT delivering back-to-back Xerocon experiences in London and Denver as part of its five-year partnership with the accounting software giant. The London edition, dubbed the “Glastonbury for Accountants”, was hardly your typical gathering of number crunchers, featuring a ball-pit slide, an Air Your Dirty Laundry phone booth and interactive installations.
Closer to home, Roberts and the INVNT team have been just as busy. The agency delivered Samsung’s Sky Portal activation at Vivid Sydney, SAP NOW at the Hordern Pavilion and AANA RESET 2026, while a Netflix luncheon celebrating ‘My Brilliant Career’ added a touch of showbiz to the schedule.
Roberts has helped INVNT build an experiential portfolio that stretches well beyond the conventional corporate event. After nearly a decade at the helm of its APAC operations, she’s still finding new ways to make business events considerably less business as usual.
