Wavemaker

If Wavemaker was a band, it would be King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, an Aussie rock band that has ventured from genres as diverse as surf music, heavy metal, psychedelic rock, folk and everything in between.

In its album cover, Vogel has gone more for a heavy metal kinda look, one that matches his energy on a B&T Women in Media Awards dancefloor.

Vogel’s charges are a multi-skilled lot, much like the Lizard Wizard, producing some of the finest talent in the industry and plenty of noisy hits and industry plaudits along the way.

For the second time in three years, Wavemaker won the prestigious B&T Media Agency of the Year award.

Strategist Summer Treseder took out the  Strategy trophy at B&T’s Women in Media Awards for her work on Cancer Chicks’ first above-the-line campaign, while Shavani Maharaj, yet again and now in a WPP Media group role, took home the Social Media trophy.

Group strategy director Kate O’Loughlin won the strategy category of the B&T 30 Under 30 Awards. 

Treseder and O’Loughlin joined the agency in early 2025, and have taken their game to new heights.

The agency’s talent isn’t just winning industry accolades; Wavemaker is consistently voted the top agency partner by major clients including Hungry Jack’s and Audible. 

The agency’s effective ‘What Magic Sounds Like’ campaign took over public transport spaces to launch Harry Potter audio editions caught the eye, as did its work for L’Oreal brand Maybelline, an outdoor campaign that helped the mascara brand lift market share to around 30 per cent in an ultra competitive category.

On the new business front, Wavemaker had a solid year, winning seven clients, including the likes of Sorbent, Health Partners and University of WA, and retaining the South Australia Government — one of its largest and most important clients. 

It also leads the account for the world’s largest advertiser Amazon under the bespoke WPP OpenDoor unit, which moved to a WPP Media in late 2024.

This, combined with growth in its bespoke L’Oreal WPP Beauty Tech Labs has led to a surge in the agency’s reported headcount, increasing to by around 100 to 457 staff.

Nonetheless, it was not all smooth sailing. Wavemaker lost Paramount and Netflix, both from international reviews, while Journey Beyond also moved on.

Wavemaker’s score of 8.5 makes it one of the better performing media agencies in the country, underlined by the success of its people throughout the awards season.