GRAND PRIX TITLE
Charlotte Berry
Howatson+Co (formerly Innocean) copywriter

At 21, Charlotte Berry became the youngest Cannes Young Lions winner in history. Her advertising career began in a graduate role at UM, where she became a senior strategist within three years and worked across Coca-Cola, Lion, Amex and Nestle while winning pitches for the Federal Government and Tourism Australia. After leaving media to become a CHEP creative for non-traditional ideas, Charlotte was then poached to transform Innocean from a two-client auto-shop into an integrated agency. As senior creative, Charlotte has written an ARIA-winning song, changed how female pro-surfers are discovered, launched a distillery on an island and opened an Australian Museum exhibition. A founding member of Fck-the-Cupcakes, she created “Be-the-Change” to engage men in gender equality and is proactive in mentoring the next generation of creatives.

Alvaro Bretel
Thinkerbell head of strategy

Alvaro Bretel is one of only two Peruvians working in Australian advertising, adding to the diversity of voices in the industry. At age 26, he became one of the youngest strategy directors in Peru. In 2015, he was invited to The Institute, MullenLowe’s global boot camp for Rising Stars in New York City. Three years later, while working for Wunderman Dubai, he was included in Campaign Magazine Middle East's 30 under 30 list. That same year, he was instrumental in helping the agency become the 4th most effective in the region at Effie Middle East and the 12th most effective digital agency globally by WARC Rankings. Since joining Thinkerbell, Alvaro has worked closely with junior talent, helping them find their own voice and creative direction.

Michelle Day
GroupM commercial director

Just 19% of CFOs at the top 300 Australian companies are female – Michelle Day wants to smash that ceiling and she’s on track to do it. Michelle is the 2IC to GroupM’s CFO, a business responsible for more than $2 billion in billings, and a member of several leadership teams including the Finance Leadership Group, Nexus Services SLT and Nexus Exco. Michelle is also a champion for financial literacy, devising a ‘Wellness Through Wealth’ initiative aimed at the female workforce aged between 25-35. With 60% of WPP’s staff comprising of females, the education program includes a speaker series providing actionable takeouts for building financial wellness and success. In addition to her work in the finance space, Michelle has also spearheaded several initiatives in DE&I and sustainability.

Sam Enshaw
Cassette head of strategy

In his new role as head of strategy at creative communications agency Cassette, Sam Enshaw has already taken a leadership position in developing and rolling out the agency’s new proposition to market. Enshaw brings 13 years’ experience from media agencies in Australia and Singapore with previous roles at Initiative, IPG and McCann, leading strategic direction and implementation for brands including Netflix, Spotify, FitBit and Johnson & Johnson. He joined Cassette from Match & Wood in May, where he was responsible for the agency’s entire strategic output across its Melbourne and Perth offices and created its proprietary planning process ‘Perspectives’ from the ground up. Sam’s passion is seeing young industry talent find their voice and he leans heavily into mentorship for the Young Lions and NGEN awards.

Ryan Hancock
Match & Wood national planning director

In the six and a half years since he joined Match & Wood, Ryan Hancock has been a critical part of the new business team. Ryan has helped to grow the agency from four people and zero clients to 35 staff and $70M+ in annual billings, with heritage Australian brands such as Snooze, Chobani, and Catch.com.au. Having been integral in the creation of Match & Wood’s strategic planning process, he is now positioned as the agency’s planning and strategy lead, with his work being recognised through winning Silver in the 2022 Australian Young Lions competition and most recently Gold in the 2024 competition. Ryan has shown tremendous growth over the last 12 months, as recognised by his promotion to national planning director, where he sits on the senior leadership team for the agency.

Jonathan Henshaw
Ryvalmedia head of product and innovation

Jonathan Henshaw is an accomplished entrepreneur who, at 22 years old, co-founded JBZ Digital and grew the agency to 10+ staff and $3 million in revenue. In 2020, JBZ Digital was acquired and merged as part of the launch of RyanCap and Ryvalmedia, where Jonathan assumed the role of head of product and innovation. He has become a driving force behind the growth at Ryvalmedia, which was recently snapped up by the French-based Labelium Group. Jonathan now connects nationally and internationally to bring clients cutting edge solutions and media innovations, while also leveraging the group to maximise partner relationships for clients. Jonathan is a powerful emerging leader with over 10 years’ experience working for brands such as MyDeal.com.au, Live Nation Entertainment and BIG4 Holiday Parks.

Psembi Kinstan
DDB Australia group executive creative director

Psembi Kinstan spearheads the creative output for DDB Group Melbourne. In the two and a half years Psembi has been at the helm, the business has tripled in size. He has previously led creative agencies across the globe - as an ECD at McCann Melbourne, and CD at BBH and VMLY&R London - the youngest in their histories. He was the youngest ever Australian winner of a Cannes Lion. His work has twice been awarded the IPA Grand Prix for the world’s most effective marketing, and amongst his 200+ awards is a BAFTA for his work with the BBC. He's also led the creation of Maker, the DDB production arm and studio. He has helped retain every client in the stable of DDB Group Melbourne over the last 12 months, and the team has also retained every member of their creative department. 

Sarah Kramer
CHEP Network strategy director

As strategy director at CHEP Network, Sarah, who goes by Kramer, oversees major accounts in Samsung and Lifeblood Red Cross, contributing to accolades like Effie's Most Effective Ad Agency of the Year in 2023, saving an extra 279,000 Australian lives for Lifeblood and winning new business across CompareClub and Sydney University. In her past, she headed up OMD Sydney's Social Committee and was selected for the Verizon Brand Love Academy, speaking on 'Brand Love' at AdWeek APAC. During the pandemic, Kramer successfully led a team of seven with zero resignations over two years. She raised $3,906 for Variety Children’s Charity and donated 35 cm of hair. As Initiative's representative, she served on the MFA 5+ Committee and was a Cannes Young Lions Media Finalist.

James Lambert
GroupM Nexus head of advanced DOOH

As head of advanced digital out of home (DOOH) at GroupM Nexus, James Lambert has driven substantial growth in the division, achieving 147% revenue increase in 2022 and 70% in 2023. He has led initiatives such as the launch of data-driven DOOH planning and activation tool Journeys, as well as a global-first DOOH Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) solution. Previously group sales manager at JCDecaux from 2019 to 2022, he managed a $25M+ portfolio and achieved 100% revenue growth YOY in 2019. Under his leadership, the programmatic offering contributed 52% of the national revenue. He successfully led his team through the challenges of the pandemic and a major merger with APN Outdoor. James is also a member of the Outdoor Futures Council, is co-chair of the IAB DOOH Working Group, and sits on the GroupM Nexus Solutions Senior Leadership team.

Olivia Martini
Carat senior client director

Only four years into her career, Olivia Martini was chosen to be an integral member of the L’Oreal 2021 client pitch, which saw her presenting alongside Carat’s most senior leaders. During the past 12 months, while leading Dan Murphy as senior client director, her leadership on the broader Endeavour portfolio helped ensure the agency’s retention of a key client. She is one of ten Carat Summit Board members, a shadow board to the executive leadership team and CEO providing diverse opinions and feedback to help deliver the business vision and employee value proposition. Olivia also dedicates her time to charitable work, leading a team on a pro-bono campaign for non-for-profit business “Mood Tea” and delivering $10 million worth of media.

Ellena Mills
Howatson+Company head of craft

Ellena Mills was recruited to help start Howatson+Company in the role of senior designer, becoming the company’s fourth employee in 2021. Ellena is an award-winning designer, picking up multiple D&AD pencils and Cannes Lions gongs for her work as design lead on Rejected Ales. The project had a major impact for what was a start-up agency, putting them on the global map for creativity and design. Her work on Exhibit A-i and recently Mastercard TOUCH has continued to secure awards for the business. Ellena was named #4 designer globally by D&AD. Ellena’s work has led her to be promoted three times since starting at Howatson+Company, leading a team of 11 designers and studio artists.

Sally O’Brien
Meta agency partner

Sally O’Brien has helped shape the new agency structure of Meta, becoming the first agency solution manager for Meta in ANZ. Developing and leading a strategic plan to drive scaled education for ANZ global agencies, she has exceeded expectations of her core remit and earned a ‘Redefines' performance rating. This is reserved for only 1% of Meta employees and her achievement was personally acknowledged by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In 2019, Sally volunteered for Meta's inaugural Community Boots program in Tasmania. Sally helped educate 1,050 small businesses build digital literacy skills. Over the past year, Sally has been the ANZ market lead for Meta’s sales business, leading the ‘Creative and Creator’ taskforce. 

Katherine Pochroj
Essencemediacom marketplace group director

The past year has been a period of unprecedented challenge and change for Katherine Pochroj. Navigating through a company merger and facing a particularly tough trading environment in the media marketplace, she delivered an outstanding performance in her division. As group investment director, she leads a team of 28 media buyers handling accounts such as Coca-Cola, Bayer and eBay. Prioritising staff happiness as a key KPI, she has the lowest churn in the agency at 7% and empowered her team to consistently meet 100% of trading objectives. Over the past 12 months, she spearheaded the 'Future of TV' educational program and has played a pivotal role in leading the agency’s partnership with Dolly's Dream, a foundation dedicated to ending childhood bullying.

Emily Rebecca Smith
Paramount ANZ head of commercial transformation

Promoted to head of commercial transformation within eight months of joining Paramount ANZ as commercial data lead, Emily Rebecca Smith is driven to succeed. In 2023, she led the development and implementation of a business transformation strategy designed to safeguard and augment Paramount’s market share, which was subsequently adopted globally. This year, she assumed project lead role for developing a unified customer view within its advanced streaming ecosystem, encompassing the Paramount+ Ad Tier. Australia is being used as a prototype for global markets, with Emily and her team driving the establishment of a scalable, consent-led addressable solution.

Sophie Stone
This is Flow strategy director

Since joining This Is Flow in June 2023, Sophie Stone has proactively driven a number of initiatives outside her direct remit including the establishment of an AI committee, a partnerships ecosystem product and ACMF charity partnership. Sophie transitioned to the independent agency from Mindshare, where she spearheaded strategies that reshaped brand trajectories and enhanced agency acclaim. As Blackmores global strategic lead, she played a pivotal role in reclaiming its number one market position with Australia recognised as the best-in-class example. This led to her appointment as global media strategist, an uncommon achievement for someone based in Australia.

 

Belle Thompson
Thinkerbell group account director

There’s a running joke that Belle is the Bell in Thinkerbell and given her input from the very beginning, it’s less of a joke and more of a reality. Belle Thompson is one of the original Thinkerbell team members and was involved in the pitch for the agency’s foundation client Bega on her second day. She has grown from a thinker (AM) to head thinker (GAD) with a team of three people and is part of the Melbourne management team. As a strong believer in Behaviour Change, Belle’s marketing mind is paired with an ability to build genuine relationships and deliver healthy commercial results. Consistent double-digit YOY growth with organic and new business supports this: 17% from FY22 to FY23 and 35% from FY23 to FY24.

Lauren Thornborough
UM client partner

Returning to work after her first child, Lauren Thornborough noticed a gap in the support provided to parents, resulting in many talented professionals leaving the industry. Rather than wait for change, she opted to reform the sector. Lauren launched UM Working Parent’s committee in May 2021, an initiative to support working parents within the network, and pioneered UM to be the first media agency to be accredited as a Family Inclusive Workplace. She proceeded to launch The Village in May 2024 with fellow co-founder Lou Wilson, a community which advocates for parents with media careers beyond Mediabrands. Lauren is also a commercial force of nature, critical in winning several successful pitches at UM Australia between 2021-2022 which accounted for $14 million in billings.

Moritz von Sanden
Audience360 head of sales 

Leading the Audience360 sales operation and sitting on the senior leadership team, Mortiz von Sanden’s responsibilities cover four divisions within the business. Having started with a team of five, all under the Audience360 brand, Moritz built out the white labelled audience extension solution to work with brands like Carsales, Executive Traveller, Rent and more under its own division as AudienceXT. Since taking over as head of sales, the team has delivered 29%, 14%, 20% and 23% of sequential YoY growth. He is a key industry advisor, supporting and attending the IAB’s consultation with the Attorney General’s office and providing counsel for the Privacy Act review.

Fiona Walters
Orchard Marketing digital analyst

In the past 12 months, Fiona Walters has conducted over 11 experiments and developed over 45 testing ideas. Fiona leads the Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) program on two of the biggest accounts at Orchard – Hyundai and Tourism Tasmania. The CRO program she co-leads uses large sample sizes and test results declared only when they reach at least 95% statistical significance. It’s hard to believe the rising star commenced with Orchard as an intern in 2020, fast-tracked to account manager in two years and again to senior level data analyst in 24 months. The move not only represents a promotion but a fully new skill set that is primarily self-taught. As the first woman on the data team, Fiona has now seen the division grow from 25% female to 66% female with 100% retention.

Taylor York 
Thinkerbell group account director (PR)

In 10 years, Taylor York has risen through the ranks of DDB, One Green Bean and Ogilvy PR to become head earned thinker at Thinkerbell. At the agency, he is part of the senior leadership team guiding the Sydney division and its earned media offering. Taylor has embraced Thinkerbell’s ‘Measured Magic’ proposition to create a pioneering, marketing-sciences-backed PR offering in Australia. Taylor has been instrumental in helping companies like Lion, NRMA Insurance, Royal Caribbean, Hort Innovation, Spotify, Amazon, Menulog, Afterpay, and Koala build their brands through an earned-first approach backed by marketing sciences.