The Secret Architects of Social Media Fame: Meet the Agency Leaders Shaping 2025's Influencer Marketing

Creators are fast becoming the new word-of-mouth media, making or breaking brands with every post, like or comment.

This week in our Best of the Best series, we're celebrating the Creator and Influencer Agency Leads shaping what influence really means in 2025.

This category encompasses external or in-house agency leaders focused on creators, influencers and social either as an agency or division within an agency.

This list was a hard one to whittle down, with social media increasingly becoming the driving force of culture and conversation.

In September, Publicis Groupe Australia launched Influential, a new influencer and social agency designed to evolve how brands connect with culture, creators, and commerce. With a focus on uniting media, creative and communications into a single solution for social and influencer marketing, the freshly formed shop will surely be one to watch in 2026.

There are also a couple of notes. We're only looking at agency folk in this list. Anyone in the creator-tech space or industry associations isn't covered. We have to acknowledge some incredible talent who didn't quite make the list.

Among them is Sophie Keogh, whose innovative work as social account director at OMD Create continues to push the boundaries of what social storytelling can achieve and Alexis Whelan at IPG, whose creator and content leadership has helped shape the agency's modern marketing edge. Erin Brizga of Eleven also deserves a nod for her ongoing influence across TBWA's social ecosystem.

Before you go any further, make sure you nominate suggestions for future B&T Best of the Best lists. We read all of your suggestions and we take them into account. Next week, we're looking at the Creators themselves. That's right, we'll be handing down the definitive verdict on which TikTokers, YouTubers and Instagrammers are actually worth their salt when it comes to brand work. Let us know who you think should be on the list by submitting a nomination below:

But before we dive into the creators, it's time to spotlight the agency bosses responsible for wrangling them.

10. Emma Barnes, Co-Founder, Click Media

Emma Barnes is the co-founder of Click Media, a creator agency, ventures studio and talent management company representing leading digital talent across gaming, sport and culture. Since launching the business in 2017, Barnes has helped transform Click into one of Australia's most successful creator agencies, brokering more than $60 million in brand, licensing and content deals for its roster before its recent $8.5 million acquisition by GameSquare.

Under Barnes' leadership, Click has partnered with brands including Optus, Maybelline and McDonald's, as well as delivering a national youth anti-vaping campaign that combined influencer advocacy with real-world impact.

She has built Click as a business incubator for creators, helping them turn personal brands into long-term ventures by developing IP, launching products and expanding into new commercial territories.

A driving force in Australia's creator economy, Barnes is recognised as a key voice in the development of the local influencer marketing industry. Her focus on innovation, authenticity and entrepreneurial growth has positioned Click not just as an agency, but as a platform for creators to evolve into business leaders, setting a new benchmark for what creator representation looks like in the modern era.

9. Sive Buckley, Managing Partner, Born Creators Group

Sive Buckley has built her career around uniting creativity, technology and purpose. As managing partner of Born Creators, she oversees a global collective of independent agencies working across creative, media, digital, CX, and technology, leading integrated marketing solutions that connect strategy with execution.

With more than 15 years of experience across Australia, the Middle East and Europe, she's worked with some of the world's biggest brands, including Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, Flybuys and Salesforce.

Her leadership has consistently delivered results recognised at major award shows, and her influence continues to shape and support the next generation of marketing talent through her role as head of operations at The Aunties.

In 2025, Buckley helped launch Social St., Born Creators' new full-service social and content agency, designed to help brands cut through the noise and create meaningful engagement online.

The agency brings together strategy, creative, production, and media under one roof to produce content that's platform-specific and performance-led. True to Buckley's belief in authentic connection, Social St. is built around data-driven storytelling and high-quality production that drives business impact. It reflects the same collaborative, future-focused mindset that defines her work, one that blends creativity with commercial insight to ensure brands stay relevant in an ever-changing digital world.

8. Jamie Searle & Hannah McElhinney, Co-Founders, Snack Drawer

Jamie Searle and Hannah McElhinney have redefined what it means to build a brand in the attention economy. As co-founders of Snack Drawer, they've created a culture-first creative agency built on the idea of earning attention.

Their combined experience spans music, media, entertainment and social strategy, with roots in companies like Universal Music, VICE, Thinkerbell and Brave Bison.

Together with a team of team of 20-plus creatives, they've turned Snack Drawer into one of Australia's fastest-growing independent agencies, known for its sharp understanding of internet culture and its ability to turn audiences into communities.

Released this year, the pairs Fandomination! report, a brand growth playbook in a culture-driven world, captures the essence of what sets Snack Drawer apart. Based on national research, the report argues that fandom, not traditional advertising, is the key to brand growth.

Searle and McElhinney's thinking reframes loyalty as identity, showing how modern audiences form emotional bonds with the brands, products, and communities that reflect who they are. Through their "Fandom Tornado" model and "Five Laws of Fandom," they give marketers a blueprint for cultivating authentic fan relationships.

By helping brands embrace creator- and fan-made media and build rituals that anchor identity, the duo has positioned Snack Drawer at the point where creativity, culture and community collide.

7. Amaury Treguer & Mary Proulx, Co-Founders, Bread

Amaury Treguer and Mary Proulx are the co-founders of Bread, a social and digital agency built on strategy, creativity, and collaboration, nearly three years ago.

Between them, they bring more than two decades of experience across agency and client-side roles, blending Treguer's deep digital and production expertise with Proulx's strategic and creative leadership.

Treguer's career spans continents and categories, from launching Sixtine, a Paris-based creative studio, to leading digital strategies for brands such as Netflix, Universal Pictures, Toyota, and NIVEA. A regular contributor to B&T and judge at Cairns Crocodiles, he's helped shape how brands approach content and community in the social era.

Proulx's background in PR, content marketing, and influencer strategy gives Bread its distinctive voice and personality. Having worked in her native Canada and Australia, she's built a reputation for designing social programs that are equal parts insightful and imaginative. Her portfolio includes work for Amazon, The Body Shop, Virgin Australia, and SunRice, campaigns defined by clarity, creativity, and cultural awareness.

Together, Treguer and Proulx have grown Bread into a trusted creative partner for major brands, including singing with Big W and Woolworths Group's Healthy Life this year alone, with a reputation for delivering thoughtful, high-quality social work that's both strategic and human.

6. Ben Mayor, Social Director, Akcelo

Ben Mayor has spent more than 15 years helping brands show up authentically in the spaces where audiences actually spend their time. As social director at Akcelo, he leads the team responsible for developing social-first strategies that sit at the heart of major brand experience projects.

From McDonald's and Gatorade to Spotify and Tinder, his work is driven by a clear understanding of what engages people online and how to make content relevant across markets. Under his leadership, Akcelo's social division has become a key driver of the agency's global growth and cultural impact.

Mayor's experience spans client leadership, influencer marketing and digital strategy, having built platforms, partnerships and communities across sport, entertainment, technology and FMCG.

His years at We Are Social and time developing IMG Engage in ANZ gave him a sharp view of how audiences interact with brands in real time.

Under Mayor's direction, Akcelo's social capability has become central to the agency's creative success, contributing to a year that saw the business take home the B&T Awards Grand Prix, deliver 25 per cent year-on-year growth, and roll out campaigns across 26 countries.

5. Sharyn Smith, Founder, Social Soup

As the founder and CEO of Social Soup, Sharyn Smith has built a business on the belief that people are most influenced by the people around them.

Over the past two decades, she has shaped how brands harness social proof, creators and communities to build authentic connections and drive behaviour change. A pioneer in the space long before influencer marketing became mainstream, Smith has led Social Soup to produce more than 500 campaigns across categories from FMCG and tech to fashion, beauty and not-for-profit.

Her background in behavioural science and data strategy underpins a career focused on understanding how influence works, and using that insight to help brands grow with integrity and purpose.

Smith's commitment to purpose-driven influence extends beyond business. Through her Influence for Good initiative, she has partnered with organisations such as R U OK?, UNICEF, Planet Ark, and Take 3 for the Sea to prove that social platforms can be used for positive change.

Her leadership continues to shape the industry's ethical and strategic direction, combining commercial innovation with social impact. As an entrepreneur, mentor, and respected speaker, Smith has helped define what meaningful influence looks like in a rapidly evolving digital world.

4. Georgina McKinnon, CEO, OMG Content APAC (CREO)

As CEO of OMG Content APAC, Georgina McKinnon oversees Omnicom Media Group's content and influencer marketing capabilities across the Asia-Pacific region, spearheading the rollout of its global influencer division, CREO. Under her leadership, OMG has unified its creator and influencer operations across markets, building a consistent, data-driven framework for how brands collaborate with creators at scale.

McKinnon has been instrumental in redefining influencer marketing as a core media channel within OMG. She led the re-launch of CREO in Australia, integrating the group's global tools with Omnicom's Omni platform, a powerful analytics engine that enables precise creator discovery, forecasting, and measurement.

Ahead of launch, influencer content was tested on 10 major OMG clients, including Edgell, Mazda, Nivea, SBS, AAMI, and the NSW Government, proving the model's impact.

Through innovations like AI-powered creator matching and predictive performance tools, McKinnon is helping bridge the gap between content and commerce. Her focus on cultural connection, creativity, and commercial results has driven major success across APAC. By aligning influencer strategy under one cohesive vision, McKinnon is helping brands forge meaningful creator partnerships and take a leadership role in the fast-evolving creator economy.

3. Sam Kelly, CEO, Hello

Sam Kelly is the CEO of Hello, one of Australia's fastest-growing independent marketing groups, encompassing Hello Social, Hello Talent, Hello Create, Hello Media, Hello Events and Hello PR.

After four years as managing director and partner, Kelly was last month appointed CEO to lead the group's next phase of growth, both locally and internationally. Under his leadership, Hello has earned multiple international accolades and has built a team of more than 65 specialists servicing clients including Uber, Unilever, Kmart, Paramount+, CBA, and BMW.

Kelly brings over 15 years of marketing and commercial leadership experience across global brands and emerging ventures. He also serves as deputy chair of the Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AiMCO) and is a Board Director of the Audited Media Association of Australia.

Known for his "Creative Intelligence" philosophy, Kelly champions an integrated approach that fuses strategy, culture, creativity and data to deliver measurable impact. His ability to unite creative thinking with commercial rigour has made him one of the industry's most respected modern leaders.

2. Suzie Shaw, CEO, We Are Social

Suzie Shaw is the APAC CEO of We Are Social, where she leads a 60-strong team at the forefront of socially-led creativity.

Since joining the agency in 2015, she has overseen its evolution into one of Australia's most culturally influential agencies, driving work that connects brands with audiences through relevance, authenticity, and community. Under her leadership, We Are Social has landed some major partnerships with brands this year, such as Lion and KFC Australia.

With over two decades of global experience, including 14 years in London at agencies such as TBWA, Shaw brings a mix of strategic clarity and creative instinct to every challenge.

She's also deeply committed to industry progress, founding SWIMM (Senior Women in Media and Marketing) to champion female leadership and serving as a Board Director for Sydney FC and Greenpeace.

1. Shivani Maharaj, Chief Creator Officer, WPP Media

Shivani Maharaj, chief creator officer at WPP Media, has reshaped the role of social leadership in Australia by placing creators, communities and culture at the core of modern brand storytelling.

As the country's first executive to hold this title, she has pioneered a new operating model that treats creators as collaborators rather than channels. In 2025, she led one of the market's biggest influencer transformations, winning and onboarding L'Oréal ANZ's influencer portfolio across 32 brands, scaling a 30-person team, and delivering record-breaking engagement results within six months.

A driving force in the evolution of the influencer industry, Maharaj is a founding committee member and council leader of AiMCO, where she has co-authored accreditation programs and championed ethical standards for creator partnerships.

Her influence extends beyond Australia's borders, with appearances at Cannes Lions, Meta Festival and collaborations with major platforms including Amazon. Named B&T's Women in Media Social Media category winner, Maharaj continues to elevate the industry… how could anyone else be our Best of the Best!