The ADWEEK 50 of 2025: Industry Leaders at the Top of Their Game

In her second year as Gut’s U.S. CEO, Sandra Alfaro has only accelerated the meteoric rise of the creative network by always putting people first. Alfaro champions diversity, nurtures high-performing teams, and creates tailored growth plans to match employee talent. This included hiring the founding team of Gut New York and Gut LA’s first managing director.

The results have shown in Gut’s recent work, with seven of the network’s 21 Cannes Lions being taken home by U.S. offices. Alfaro puts the same effort into her client relationships, which has brought on or expanded work with P&G, ABI, Kraft-Heinz, DoorDash, WhatsApp, and PIM Brands. That growth helped increase global revenue 30% year-over-year and headcount by over 30%. —Aleda Stam

As COO of Bloomberg Media, Julia Beizer spent the last year overseeing digital, distribution, and advertising product teams, while working closely with editorial and subscriptions to grow Bloomberg’s audience, advertising and consumer revenue. The first step was a homepage redesign, including Watchlist Alerts to keep audiences informed about stock market movements in real time. In the fall, Beizer oversaw the launch of Weekend Edition and audio-based platform Bloomberg Live Q&A, which allows subscribers to connect directly with journalists. Then Bloomberg put its newsletters behind a paywall, which offered more in-depth coverage for readers. Instead of deterring users, Bloomberg saw a jump in first-time subscribers, with 43% coming from international markets. —Aleda Stam

Since her promotion last spring, Danielle Betras has found innovative new ways to keep the New York Times brand at the forefront of how we live today. Last June, she inked a deal between Instacart and NYT Cooking to make more than 22,000 recipes shoppable via the online grocer, delivered in as little as 30 minutes. Orders containing NYT Cooking ingredients skyrocketed 360%, and gave the brand new traction across the country. Betras also hooked Wirecutter up with Google Shop during the holiday shopping rush in December to make for seamless eleventh-hour gifting. —Meredith Begley

The AI revolution is upon us, and Adam Buhler is making sense of it all for internal and external stakeholders. He led the development of Digitas AI to streamline workflows and rethink ideation; he also oversees Publicis Fusion, a network of hundreds of AI pros within Publicis Groupe, to shape best practices. Buhler is also in charge of an AI-powered content creation pipeline for clients that uses audience, brand, and performance learnings to develop highly customized marketing assets. Don’t get him started on lazy generated content; he’s all about the nuance and sophistication of AI. —Meredith Begley

After two decades with some of the industry’s most respected agencies, Lindsay Cole was on the hunt for her next adventure in 2024. She found it at Uncommon, the majority female-founded, London-based studio that was expanding globally, which gave her a chance to flex her entrepreneurial skills. At Uncommon’s first U.S. headquarters in New York, she oversees not just client work for the likes of Vimeo, British Airways, the National Association of Realtors, and Guinness, but also the challenges of building an international startup. To say she’s succeeded is an understatement: The New York office has experienced 75% quarterly growth since Cole’s arrival in July, with 60% coming from new business, and a remarkable 100% of pitch opportunities converting to wins. —Eva Kis

Jeff Collins hit the ground running when he joined Fox last year, leading Upfronts less than six months into his new gig. His 2024 vision panned out: Fox’s sports, news, entertainment, and streaming portfolios all had year-over-year growth in both linear and digital ads, as well as higher prices across the board. Collins also lassoed more than 25 new clients to the Fox-owned Tubi and grew volume by double digits.

Internally, he reorganized the ad sales team and inked tech partnerships that focused on cross-screen measurement and currency. Additionally, Collins is on the board of the Ad Council, whose 2024 campaigns on gun violence, inclusion, veterans’ mental health, and more earned more than 900 million impressions. —Meredith Begley

As the author of McKinney’s annual Food Trends Report, Jasmine Dadlani knows what customers crave. This year, she led the launch of Little Caesars Crazy Puffs mini pizzas, the most successful new launch in the chain’s history. She also spearheaded the Popeyes “Crashing the Wings Party” campaign, which introduced wings as a permanent addition to the chicken chain’s menu. In less than three months, Popeyes became the No. 3 QSR for wings. Dadlani was also behind the launch of McKinney’s BrandAI, a proprietary AI tool that quantifies market attention. It has been a welcome step up from its manual predecessor, the Brand Attention Index. —Meredith Begley

When Shaquille O’neal is on your leadership team, the pressure is on. But Majority founding partner Asmirh Davis, who was named president in November, has always come ready to play. In the past year, she led the 2022 ADWEEK Breakthrough Agency of the Year to new business from SheaMoisture, Abbott Technologies, Gilead, and Swedish Fish that raised the diversity-forward agency’s YOY revenue more than 30%.

For established clients, highlights include reprising Sprite’s “Obey Your Thirst” campaign and teaming up with the creator of FX’s The Bear for spot featuring multiple brands in the Coca-Cola portfolio. Outside of work, Davis is ​​a board member of the Procter & Gamble-backed Building Leaders and Creators internship program. —Meredith Begley

With previous digital marketing experience at Spotify and Walmart’s retail media outfit, Parbinder Dhariwal joined CVS Media Exchange in 2022 to grow its retail media footprint. In the last year, Dhariwal negotiated a series of strategic partnerships with Pinterest, LiveRamp and The Trade Desk to expand CMX’s ability to bring more transparency, autonomy and control to advertising partners. In addition to expanding premium publishing offerings to programmatic advertisers and tapping into CVS’ extensive loyalty program, he grew CMX business by 96% and net revenue by 68%. Dhariwal also worked with the Interactive Advertising Bureau to standardize measurement practices across retail media networks. —Aleda Stam

Anette Fonte leaned into the creative agency’s female heritage—it’s named for parent company Quad’s late co-founder Betty Quadracci—for its launch last year. It’s working: Last year, Betty won half of its new business pitches and added 20 brands to its roster. Since joining the group, Fonte has scored wins for major clients like UnitedHealthcare and CLR Brands, which saw an 18% increase in YoY sales.

She’s a soup-to-nuts marketer, closely collaborating with sibling media agency Rise to make sure client messages are making the biggest impact. Fonte has also brought her voice as a Latina and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community to internal initiatives. —Meredith Begley

Born in the midst of a global pandemic, David Bogota has grown into a Latin American success story under the stewardship of Juan Pablo Garcia. Just four years after its opening, David Bogota works globally for clients such as Netflix and AB InBev, which honored the agency as its international creative partner of the year in March 2024. Under his leadership, the agency has won more than 100 creative awards, with 91% of the Effies won by David in the last year coming from the Bogota office. Garcia’s ability to blend empathy with creativity and business acumen has netted the office work with Nobel Peace Prize recipient Juan Manuel Santos, Pope Francis and Uganda’s Defection Program against guerrillas through the Peace Process of Colombia. —Aleda Stam

With more than 15 years at the top creative agencies across London, Tom Ghiden was a natural choice for Joan to launch a U.K. operation. In the two years since, Ghiden has overseen 156% year-over-year growth to help Joan’s co-founders create the first female-owned advertising holding company. He led
the office’s debut campaign for eBay, “See Things Differently,” and secured the brand’s Love Island partnership in October. Ghiden’s leadership has extended to purpose-driven campaigns that spark conversation, including Joan’s collaboration with The Cybersmile Foundation’s “Modern Witch Trials” campaign, which drew powerful parallels between medieval witch trials and today’s online culture. —Aleda Stam

With a strategic mindset and sharp eye for growth opportunities, it’s not surprising that Kat Grib was named chief growth officer at FCB New York last year—at only 33 years old. Her proprietary pitch process uses a rigorous win framework to find the right team members to solve specific client needs. In the last year alone, FCB New York won 75% of its pitches and added 15 brands to its roster, accounting for more than $20 million in new revenue. In her three years, FCB New York has achieved 34% topline growth and added over 30 new clients, including five global accounts. Most recently, Grib orchestrated Interpublic’s Kellanova global creative pitch, which integrated a team across agencies and global regions and brought a slew of wins to IPG agencies. —Aleda Stam

Ali Haeri led streaming TV advertising platform MNTN—which recently divested Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production shop and is flirting with an IPO—into its DIY era. He boosted accessibility and leveled the playing field: 93% of advertisers using the self-signup tool are advertising on TV for the first time. He oversees MNTN’s sales development organization, resulting in growth and more use of AI tools by customers. Haeri also created MNTN Research and deftly positioned it as an unbiased industry resource, leading to a 23% higher demo request rate. And when he’s not shaking things up on TV, you can find him lecturing on product marketing at Northwestern. —Meredith Begley

As half of the founding duo at vibes-first brand experience agency Verb, Yadira Harrison is changing how audiences interact with brands. The agency’s work—from collaborating with the team of agencies that brought Airbnb’s Icons series to life to a guerrilla marketing campaign for Amazon Prime Video’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith series—increased revenue by 300% last year.

But the real success has been Verb’s team members. Harrison strives to make her employees “the visionaries for the visionaries” through initiatives like the creation of a guest experience team responsible for every detail of every Verb project. Harrison also prioritized sustainability and giving back to communities where Verb experiences are set up through supporting local food banks and donating resources to schools. —Aleda Stam

When the Los Angeles wildfires raged in January, Chad Hickey—whose business handles cause marketing—sprang into action. In just one week, he gathered 14 media partners and 12 agencies for the We <3 LA campaign, prompting donation drives and fundraising at offices across the nation. Hickey was also behind the launch of Givsly’s Values-Based Audiences, a tool that helps advertisers find and reach consumers who share the same views, as well as Karaoke for Causes, his industry event that has raised more than $400,000 in two years. His agency’s annual Season Without Swag has been a standout sustainability campaign for the past five holiday seasons. —Meredith Begley

Today’s parents want baby gear that looks good on and off the playground, and Austin Hodges is happy to oblige. Nuna is elevating the category to luxury status, scoring partnerships with BMW, Vogue, and Nordstrom, among others. Next up is a high-end clothing and pet line, a flagship store in Florence, and deals with sports teams like the Boston Red Sox and Dallas Cowboys. Hodges is out to prove that new parents don’t have to sacrifice design, quality, or lifestyle when they’ve got a baby on board. That aspirational message has resonated: Nuna has notched back-to-back record years. —Meredith Begley

David Hughes’ second official year as president was the Austin-based agency’s most successful to date, with a 45% revenue increase year-over-year. He was behind Olipop’s first-ever holiday ad, which featured the adorable stop-motion animated yetis Oli and Pop, as well as the two-inch vinyls that played composer Ludwig Göransson’s five-second Disney+ mnemonic, released for Record Store Day on April 20. Did we mention Hughes is also a mustard entrepreneur? He teamed up with University of Texas running back Bijan Robinson on a gourmet Dijon and gave him equity in the deal, ensuring financial benefits beyond those of a paid spokesperson. —Meredith Begley

Ten years into business and Day One Agency is hitting its stride, with Jiffy Iuen coming on in 2024 to significantly scale up its production efforts through Day One Studio. Under Iuen’s guidance, the agency’s production capabilities have grown to become a key revenue contributor as brands look for more partners with full-scale production and in-house services. The results are evident in Day One’s work last year, including e.l.f. Beauty’s first-ever full funnel global brand campaign, “Divine Skintervention,” which brought a 135% lift in site traffic and increased purchase intent by 16%. She also led projects for Nike and spirits company Beam Suntory. —Aleda Stam

After overseeing MediaLink’s marketing transformation business for nearly a decade, Andrea Kerr Redniss recently leveled up to help lead all business after a messy split with founder Michael Kassan. This year, she spearheaded consulting projects for some of the most well-known Fortune 500 brands like Gap, Walmart, and American Express, and helped maintain long-term relationships with Priceline and AT&T. Continuing her multi-year streak, she was the firm’s top revenue driver in 2024. Her efforts have led to a staggering $45 billion of media spend since 2020, and project spend up 37% from 2022 to 2024. Oh, and she was named partner at UTA last year, too. —Meredith Begley

One of the first promotions made after WPP Media (then GroupM) North America brought on CEO Sharb Farjami in 2024, JiYoung Kim took up the mantle of COO and was tasked with transforming the media agency’s performance marketing capabilities. Under her stewardship, WPP Media retained a bevy of key clients while winning Johnson & Johnson and Electronic Arts, and transforming the agency’s digital media powerhouse. Kim forged strategic partnerships, such as the co-development of the Amazon Marketing Cloud Maturity Framework and exclusive data integration with NCSolutions, providing AI-enhanced campaign optimizations. In addition to career successes, Kim advocates for community empowerment, supporting WPP Media’s AAPI ERGs and mentoring as a board member of digital advertising organization 212NYC. —Aleda Stam

Kristen King joined ATTN: in 2023 looking to break away from traditional agency models, and she’s spent the last two years using strategy and data to help brands break through the noisy media landscape. Under her leadership, ATTN: partnered with AT&T, TikTok and Amazon, driving a 100% revenue increase in 2023 and 51% growth in 2024. She spearheaded the research initiative Made You Look and expanded Assembly, ATTN:’s panel of more than 5,000 culturally connected consumers, which gives clients better strategy for navigating cultural trends. For Meta AI, King led a campaign with Armchair Expert hosts Dax Shepard and Monica Padman that used humor to make AI more approachable, while also overseeing ATTN:’s work with CalHope to help Gov. Gavin Newsom’s youth mental health initiative reach young audiences. —Aleda Stam

Katie Klein took several steps up the ladder in December, when she went from overseeing $4 billion of investment for U.S. media agency PHD to managing $20 billion in spend for its parent company Omnicom Media Group. And Klein came out swinging. As one of the few CIOs who has been on a client team, Klein used that experience to overhaul OMG’s RFI process, defining best practices to ensure a consistent emphasis on value and outcomes. She instituted a new pre-Upfront planning process that required account teams to center client business priorities and aligned investment teams based on those priorities. Klein also helped launch Media Ladies Conquering Cancer, which champions more than 100 women in media who had or are currently fighting breast cancer. —Aleda Stam

Leading Infinite Reality’s product and marketing teams, Karina Kogan is championing the adoption of 3D commerce and AI-driven digital experiences by brands of all sizes. In the last year, she secured high-impact industry partnerships, including a five-year alliance with Google Cloud to power AI-driven consumer experiences, and played a key role in the agency’s $3 billion funding round, raising the company’s valuation to $12.25 billion. Kogan’s brand-building skills and revenue-centric philosophy have been hallmarks of her career, and instrumental in supporting Infinite Reality through its growth. —Aleda Stam

In 2024 alone, Jess Linares Flores led creative marketing for major box office hits at The Walt Disney Studios by breaking the promotional mold, from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes to Deadpool & Wolverine, which became the top R-rated film of all time. When not marketing blockbusters to millions of moviegoers, Flores is an adjunct professor at USC’s School of Business of Cinematic Arts, sharing her film marketing knowledge with the next generation. —Aleda Stam

Danielle Loose connects the podcast network Dear Media, which has more than 80 shows and 235 million followers on social, to brands and agencies looking to reach their target female customer. When Khloe Kardashian’s podcast Khloé in Wonder Land premiered in January, Loose booked BetterHelp, Thrive Market, and Zocdoc as launch advertisers. In 2024, she took the network offline for “IRL days” in Austin and New York that featured more than 100 partnerships. Loose is also committed to supporting women in the creator economy, identifying merch, apparel, and other monetization opportunities for Dear Media talent. Her vision keeps expanding, and so does revenue: It’s doubled for the past five years consecutively. —Meredith Begley

As a champion of sustainability in Tripadvisor advertising, Christine Maguire’s real-world impact is something to write home about: Every 30 million ad impressions served avoids 6.2 metric tons of carbon emissions. Her work got the attention of the United Nations, which recognized the travel site as a model of responsible media. Maguire has also built Tripadvisor’s in-house content and creative studio, Wanderlab, into a serious production company that delivered 1.5 billion impressions in 2024. And she’s committed to paying it forward, launching an apprenticeship program for underrepresented voices, empowering women in their roles, and creating clear leadership pathways for high performers. —Meredith Begley

Dani Mariano oversaw the 2024 rollout of the agency’s custom AI tools, R-Index and Razorfish Beta Lab, which led to new business from Helen of Troy and PayPal. Mariano is also a Gen Alpha whisperer whose research into today’s kids and tweens is upending and future-proofing the marketing playbook. An advocate for women in tech and a decentralized internet, she recently wrote the afterword for the newest edition of Women in the Web 3 Space: Inclusive Futures, and serves on the board of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. —Meredith Begley

Mark Marshall has spent more than a decade at NBCU, and his last two years as chairman have flipped the script on the advertising process. To celebrate SNL’s 50th anniversary, he had marketers send in RFPs on why they should partner with such a historic show, which led to multi-year deals with five presenting sponsors and record revenue. The biggest event of the year, however, was the Paris Olympics. Under Marshall’s leadership, NBCU saw the highest Olympics advertising revenue in the history of the company, helped in part by shoppable ad formats and 70% new advertisers drawn to the first programmatically sold Games. At CES 2025, Marshall also co-led the Comcast partnership that launched Universal Ads, a one-stop TV ad platform to simplify ad buying. —Aleda Stam

A Meta and Pinterest alumna, Kim Mayo took on a new challenge when she joined Trade School in 2023: helping rebuild Home Depot’s retail media practice from the ground up. Over the last two years, she contributed to its rebrand to Orange Apron Media and the company’s first Media InFronts in 2024, which welcomed nearly 500 advertiser partners to Home Depot’s Atlanta headquarters. At Trade School’s retail media practice, Mayo has substantially grown billings and her team from a two-person outfit to nearly 30 strong. —Aleda Stam

After starting as a senior account executive in 2012, Kaylen McNamara was named VaynerX’s first ever chief business officer in 2023. Since then the company’s top line revenue has increased by 82%. In the last 12 months alone, she helped increase VaynerX’s global win rate by 42% year-over-year, and helped land over 90 new clients globally including Visa, H&R Block, Ulta Beauty, and Bayer. McNamara recognizes trends as they blossom in the industry, and pivots to create opportunity.

At a time when brands are moving their marketing in-house, McNamara launched Vayner CoLab, which provides support to build a brand’s internal capabilities. Recognizing the increased importance of social in the marketing mix, she created VaynerMedia’s Social at the Center creative framework, which has 60% of consulting clients scale to an AOR relationship. All that while leading the global consulting practice. —Aleda Stam

At the center of Luis Montero’s vision for The Community is an understanding that multicultural insights should be core to any brand’s business—an ideology he calls “cultural honesty.” The Community’s “culture out” approach centers diverse voices in all aspects of a client’s business, from communications to merchandising, marketing, and new product development. The idea keeps stable clients such as Walmart and Verizon coming back and has reaped 20% year-over-year revenue growth for the agency. Montero worked with chief strategy officer Lee Maicon to launch the Cultural Intelligence hub, which helped clients like Taco Bell break into new markets. —Aleda Stam

As the local news landscape continues to shrink, Allison Murphy is expanding her outlet’s reach. She is the brains behind Axios Local, a network of newsletters for 31 major cities that hit 2 million unique subscribers and doubled its local advertising revenue in 2024. She has welcomed AI into newsroom and business operations, and in January secured a partnership with OpenAI to fuel news operations in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Boulder, and Huntsville, Ala. Still, she knows that at the end of the day, there’s no replacement for the human voice, so she led the creation of three new paid membership programs with exclusive expert-backed content. —Meredith Begley

Like any trusted advisor, Chris Noble seeks to give his clients the kind of insights they can’t find anywhere else. His consultancy Consiglieri does away with the current fragmented marketing model in favor of a more nimble, nuanced approach that’s embedded directly within companies to bridge business and brand building. And people are taking him up on it. In 2024, he grew Consiglieri’s revenue by 35% and doubled its Managed Services team, proving that a small, highly specialized team can hang with established players. —Meredith Begley

In her seven years at UTA, Jennifer Palacios successfully lured Coca-Cola from CAA and also helped nab L’Oréal, Progressive, and Eli Lilly as clients. Big brands trust her view of the big picture: She built UTA’s strategy division, which last year shot up 67% and was a major revenue contributor. Recently, Palacios connected Eli Lilly with USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative for a report on disease representation in popular culture. When the report showed serious gaps, she went straight to production companies and advocated for change. Palacios also extended Coke’s relationship with FX’s The Bear into Season 3, which premiered to almost 9 million views. —Meredith Begley

In addition to Publicis Media, Dave Penski leads Publicis’ digital experience agencies, martech firm Epsilon, influencer marketing shop Influential, and investment arm Publicis Media Exchange (PMX) to ensure connection across consumer touch points. Under his 2024 stewardship, Publicis grew three times faster than parent company peers and five times faster than the IT consultancies. Big wins from Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Hershey, Lego and Rocket Companies contributed to that growth, as did the acquisitions of Influential and the Mars United Commerce retail agency. The newly created role is a boost for Penski, who secured some of Publicis Media’s biggest clients as CEO of Publicis Media U.S. and global chairman of PMX. —Meredith Begley

Addressable sales at the House of Mouse under Jamie Power exceeded automation benchmarks, hitting 50% and on track to reach 75% by 2027. She also teamed up with established players in the digital inventory ecosystem like Google’s Display & Video 360 and The Trade Desk while launching Disney’s Real-Time Ad Exchange Direct, providing buyers more seamless access to Disney+ and Hulu content. At CES, Power introduced Disney LIVE Certification, opening up the previously un-biddable landscape of live sports and entertainment. Additionally, she worked with Walmart Connect on next-generation targeting powered by insights from Disney’s Audience Graph that connect screen and store. —Meredith Begley

Over 15 years working in and then leading Google Marketing Platform, Jessica Qaasim has been redefining how brands, agencies, and tech partners have interacted with the adtech space. In the past year, she has led high-profile partnerships bringing millions in incremental revenue for global brands even as they navigate the will they/won’t they of cookie deprecation and the effects of AI on performance. A first-generation college graduate of Harvard, Qaasim has spoken to more than 1,000 students worldwide, mentoring them to thrive in the ambiguity of the digital age. —Aleda Stam

As a founding team member, Wendy Qi has been instrumental in taking Mila Cares from crowdfunding to being named among Time Magazine’s 100 Best Inventions and setting the standard for home indoor air quality. Last year, Qi spearheaded the launch of Mila Air Mini, which invited the Mila community to choose the product’s final colorway; the Mini sold out in just three weeks. Qi has also been instrumental in establishing Mila’s reputation for top customer experience and leading the Mila Cares Packages initiative, which donated more than 200 air purifiers to families impacted by wildfires and poor air quality. —Aleda Stam

Thanks to new business wins including Signet/De Beers, Monte Nido, and Toast, plus an expanded scope with existing clients like Progressive, Bre Rossetti upped revenue growth by nearly 50% last year. Not only is she the youngest CSO in the agency’s history, she also does double duty as head of communications planning across Havas Media North America. Last year, she grew the strategy team by 50%, adding data scientists, cultural experts, comms planners, and behavior specialists for a mix of perspectives. On the client side, she helmed a new Progressive campaign with Dr. Rick for the Paris Olympics and helped develop PNC Bank’s new “Brilliantly Boring Since 1865” positioning. —Meredith Begley

Since becoming CMO of Redscout in early 2024 after stints with Netflix, Ideo, Preacher, and Outerknown, Ashley Shaffer has been a driving force for the brand consultancy’s new business efforts. In just one year, she increased new business revenue by 40% and brought in clients like Hoka, the National Women’s Soccer League, and her former employer Netflix. Up next is the creation of a proprietary listening tool for CMOs, a relaunched website, and publicized success stories. Internally, staffers are also happy with how things are going: Redscout’s 100% remote setup boasts a 96% employee satisfaction score and a 93% employee retention rate. —Meredith Begley

Dan Simonetti was  instrumental to some major wins in 2024, such as Droga5’s Super Bowl campaign with Antonio Banderas for Bosch, and its Emmy-winning “Battle of the Baddest: Rumble” short for Riyadh Season. (He also reinstated Coors Light’s Silver Bullet Train with a social twist for the Big Game.) Additionally, Simonetti helped with JP Morgan Chase’s Waiting Workforce film, which advocated for Clean Slate legislation to make it easier for people with criminal records to obtain employment. Its accompanying art installation, held in Philadelphia last spring, consisted of 38 anthropomorphic sculptures made of real expungement papers. —Meredith Begley

When Shannon Simpson Jones co-founded Verb in 2018, she sought to balance innovation and culture. Seven years later, the agency has become a place where diverse talent (64% of employees are from underrepresented groups) is heard and valued, and that support shows up in the work.

After creating the iconic Barbie x Ken Dreamhouse for Airbnb in 2023, Verb was tapped as part of the team of agencies that launched the brand’s Icons offering. The campaign created 11 custom home experiences including the Up House, Edna Mode’s Incredibles Mansion and the larger-than-life Polly Pocket compact. At the same time, Verb ran a “prank” campaign for the launch of Amazon Prime Video’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith series, which spread across Reddit and entertainment publications.

Overall, under Jones’ guidance, Verb’s revenue tripled in 2024 while boosting agency headcount by 300%. —Aleda Stam

Mark Singer was among the architects who built Deloitte Digital into the creative, tech, design, and business powerhouse that it is 13 years later. Currently, he bridges sales and marketing, delving headfirst into AI for the agency’s 2024 rebrand and the creation of Orb Foundry, a generative AI tool to create bespoke branded content. His work has paid off, with Deloitte Digital winning more than 175 new clients last year, resulting in nearly $335 million in new business, and expanded work with 260 clients, contributing to $1.2 billion in organic growth. The agency was also hailed among Cannes Lions’ Top 10 Creative Companies of the Year in 2024. —Aleda Stam

Kimberly Snead’s work at Bookshop.org is a case study in how small budgets—think less than 1% of the company’s annual revenue—can still have a big impact when a brand is mission-driven. Using a blend of organic social buzz, affiliate marketing, PR, and storytelling, Snead’s marketing efforts compete with digital giants while still driving awareness, building loyalty and supporting independent bookstores. From launching Bookshop.org’s ebook platform, which drove more than 70% revenue growth, to countering Amazon with the impactful Anti-Prime Day promotion, Snead’s efforts create cultural moments that resonate. During the two-day Anti-Prime campaign, Bookshop.org’s revenue hit $570,000, up 48% year-over-year, and social engagement boomed 300%. —Aleda Stam

Bess Spaeth’s territory at Amex is expansive: global strategy, sponsorships, experiential marketing, enterprise events, plus operations & risk management. Her North Star for all of it: unforgettable experiences for all cardholders. She led last year’s relaunch of the Amex Gold Card, which played to today’s members with tie-ins to Resy and Dunkin’, an updated dining credit, and a sleek white gold design. She was also behind festivities and luxe member experiences around the 40th and 25th anniversaries of Platinum and Centurion, respectively, as well as a supper club with Carbone at Miami Race Week. Spaeth also beefed up the company’s exclusive conference for Corporate Card customers with enviable networking opps, speakers, and programming. —Meredith Begley

Monica Tailor has built her career on transforming agencies to solve modern client problems. She recognized early the importance social would have in the marketing mix and created McCann London’s social practice before expanding it globally. She is the mind behind McCann Content Studios, the hub that integrated full service social and creator strategy with execution for clients including Aldi, L’Oréal, and TJ Maxx. Tailor married the studio’s capabilities with an operating model that keeps up with the speed of the feed and has been implemented in the top 10 McCann markets. Under her leadership, the content studio has become the agency’s biggest driver of growth and brought in more than 30 client wins in 2024. —Aleda Stam

Since joining Team One in 2001, Matt Taubman has spent his career helping the creative agency innovate with the latest technology. In 2024, that meant leading Team One through a comprehensive business transformation that included the creation of a fully integrated tech company within the agency. The completely employee-led initiative created a more efficient workflow that created a National Search Inventory Tool, which drove record-breaking traffic to clients like Lexus and Toyota. Taubman also developed internal tools that use AI to streamline operations and offered learning sessions to better integrate them. Across the board, Taubman’s acumen has brought Team One seven development pitches since 2021 and contributed to tripling the annual production revenue. —Aleda Stam

You could say that Eva Wasko does PR for, well, PR. By incorporating public relations into nearly 75% of Allen & Gerritsen’s business, she’s made it essential to client relationships and opened the door to other media opportunities like creator, influencer, and experiential partnerships. As a result of the Meet Boston Music Festival her team staged in Atlanta, searches for “Boston hotel” surged 156% YOY, and overall searches for “Boston” returned to the black after a dip the previous year. She also kept Beantown pride alive with new business from the New England Aquarium as well as existing partnerships with Dunkin’ and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. —Meredith Begley

Marc Weinstock and his team have driven five movies to top openings at the domestic box office in the last year, thanks to his insistence on rethinking strategy every six months. The challenge keeps teams ahead of audience behaviors to cut through the noise. For instance, Weinstock leverages YouTube as a real-time testing ground to run multiple cuts of a trailer ahead of campaigns to measure audience engagement. The strategy paid off: Smile 2 opened at No. 1 globally, outgrossing its predecessors and ultimately earning more than $138.2 million worldwide, while Sonic the Hedgehog 3 opened at No. 1 domestically and went on to become the franchise’s biggest international opening and the highest-grossing film in the series. —Aleda Stam