Wavemaker Turns Five

GroupM agency Wavemaker Australia & New Zealand is celebrating its five-year anniversary, marking the agency’s formation from the merger of two of the industry’s best-known agency brands, MEC and Maxus.

Since opening its doors at the start of 2018, Wavemaker ANZ has become a regional power hub for brands such as Mondelez and Audible, supporting clients’ business transformations agenda in the APAC region. It has also expanded its national footprint with the establishment of a Perth office, in addition to offices in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane – making it the only major agency network with an office in every metro state in Australia, plus an office in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Wavemaker team

Among the agency’s diverse new business wins are prestigious local and global brands, including Australia Post, Henkel, Danone, DoorDash, Netflix and L’Oréal.

The agency launched its ‘Positive Provocation’ global positioning at the start of 2020, helping brands achieve responsible and sustainable growth by reshaping consumer decision-making and experiences through media, content and technology.

Among many successes in positively provoking growth for clients, Wavemaker has:

helped Mitsubishi achieve its most successful launch of a new vehicle, the All New Outlander, in late 2021, including the highest number of pre-registrations via a dedicated prelaunch campaign;
celebrated 100 years of Cadbury in Australia in 2022 with a campaign highlighting moments of connection Cadbury had enjoyed with Australians over the decade, including through a partnership with Nine across TV, VOD, Digital and talent touchpoints, effectively “painting the network purple”;
opened a rift to the Upside Down, Down Under on Bondi Beach for Netflix’s launch of Stranger Things 4, unleashing eight timely and unexpected media partnerships to drive excitement – making ST4 Netflix’s most popular show ever, holding the #1 spot across ANZ for 16 weeks.

As an early champion of influencer marketing and redefining the role of media agencies, Wavemaker Australia has carved out a leadership position in this space. Today, influencer marketing is the agency’s fastest-growing product, quadrupling revenue year-on-year. Among widespread industry recognition, Wavemaker Australia was Campaign Asia’s 2022 Influencer Marketing Agency of the Year and 2021 MFA Awards Grand Prix winner for its ‘Discreet Life’ HIV awareness campaign for NSW Government.

In 2022, Wavemaker led the industry in new business and retention according to RECMA, which ranked the agency at number one on estimated new business billings of AU$161 million for the period July 2021 to August 2022.

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