There were fewer agencies more aptly named than Wavemaker in 2023. The GroupM outfit, which was established through the merger of MEC and Maxus in 2017, made a big splash on several fronts.

Not only was the agency on fire in winning and retaining clients, it picked up the one prize that matters most — B&T’s Media Agency of the Year. In fact, Peter Vogel’s 328-strong outfit might need to build a new trophy cabinet after notching up a formidable haul of awards, including its work for Netflix that won MFA Awards and silver at the Festival of Media APAC.

Vogel — one of the industry’s nice guys and mentors — has fostered a “culture of growth and belonging”. Star performers include Wavemaker’s chief content and partnerships officer Shivani Maharaj and former group strategy director of content and partnerships Clare Riding, who both won categories in the 2023 B&T Women In Media list. Riding has since left for a marketing role at Netflix, but Wavemaker’s leadership team has remained reasonably stable through choppy industry waters.

The agency’s growth spurt has seen the agency on a sharp upward trajectory in 2023. It won 11 clients, including Macquarie Bank and Merlin Entertainment.

Just as impressive is its ability to retain larger clients, including the Government of South Australia, Allianz and Mitsubishi Motors. The Japanese motor giant has been a client of Wavemaker (and its predecessor agencies) for half a century, making it one of the longest-enduring agency-client partnerships. A notable loss was the TPG Telecom account – which includes Vodafone, TPG and iiNet – to Publicis Groupe’s Starcom. 

Wavemaker’s overall billings surged by 20.5 per cent to $748 million — the fastest-growing in GroupM’s stable and seven largest media shops in the country, according to COMvergence figures.

On the human resources front, Wavemaker benefits from broader GroupM initiatives such as family-friendly flexible workplace policies, being a pride in diversity partner, sustainable workplace practices, diversity and inclusion training, management and client leadership programs, menopause and gender affirmation policies, to name a few.

2024 is going to be a hard act to follow for Vogel and his team.