AiMCO GC Elections

AiMCO has updated its Guiding Council(GC) for 2023 with 4 new Councillors and announcing a new Chair and Deputy Chairs following a member election.

The new AiMCO Chair is Tegan Boorman, Founder of Social Law Co, who has over 15 years’ experience as an Australian Lawyer, practising primarily in the areas of corporate, commercial, advertising, IP, consumer law and privacy with a focus on to influencer marketing related legal issues. Sam Kelly, Managing Director at Hello Social joins as a Deputy Chair alongside Detch Singh, Founder and CEO of Hypetap, and Patrick Whitnall, Marketing Director, TwentyFiveFour who remain as Deputy Chairs. 

Josanne Ryan, AiMCO CEO, said “It’s wonderful to have such a highly experienced team on the AiMCO Guiding Council Executive to provide industry leadership to the GC and drive the strategic vision of AiMCO for its expanding membership. The influencer marketing channel is growing fast, and exists within an environment of increased regulatory oversight, the AiMCO community continue to be world leaders in their commitment to best practice and elevating the skills and knowledge for the sector.”

Outgoing Chair Sharyn Smith, Founder and CEO of Social Soup and Director of The Influence Group, who has stepped down this year commented “I’m proud of all we have achieved in the past 12 months as an industry body forging stronger relationships with regulators and building knowledge and best practice in this dynamic industry. I’m stepping down to make way for new leadership as I take on new challenges and I’m thrilled we’ve got such an experienced chair taking the role in Tegan with her incredible knowledge and expertise across the influencer marketing landscape.  I’ll be continuing my support for the industry in a AMAA board role providing governance and strategic direction ongoing to AiMCO.” 

Tegan Boorman said: “With increased regulatory focus on the influencer marketing industry, it is a pivotal time for industry participants to have a working knowledge of the key issues, including influencer advertising disclosure, tax considerations, and an awareness of the specific goods and services subject to additional regulatory frameworks, such as therapeutic goods, regulated health services and financial products and services.

Since the inception of AiMCO, members through various working groups have been coming together to share their expertise and create best practice guidance for the benefit of the industry. To date, this has included the AiMCO Influencer Marketing Code of Practice and its revision, the AiMCO Guide to Therapeutic Goods (TGA) Advertising, the AiMCO Guide to Responsible Alcohol Advertising, the AiMCO Guide to Gifting and Ad Disclosure and supporting cheat sheet, 25 informative webinars covering issues from campaign strategy to high level legal considerations, as well as various events to connect, support and celebrate the industry. The AiMCO resources assist to highlight some of the key issues or considerations and enable members to identify any knowledge gaps so that they may seek advice.

AiMCO representatives have also been able to engage with various regulators to provide them with a working knowledge of the industry, which has enabled workable guidance for the industry to be created by those regulators.

I’m honoured to be elected the next Chair of AiMCO for 2023 / 2024 and excited to continue the initiatives which support the industry through its enormous growth.”

All members of the Council are involved in determining the work and initiatives of AiMCO with the focus being on resourcing and supporting members whilst providing a cohesive voice for the channel. AiMCO has active working groups that continue to address industry best practice by evolving the AiMCO Code of Practice and other supporting guides, it hosts monthly webinars and podcasts, and launched Australia’s first influencer marketing awards now entering its third year, the AiMCO Awards, celebrated annually with the last event held on Thursday February 24, 2023.

AiMCO’s Guiding Council represents companies from across the influencer marketing community with 18 members that guide the overall direction and activities of AiMCO for the year ahead. Joining the Council for the first time are Hannah McElhinney, Chief Creative Officer at Snack Drawer, Kate Levy, General Manager – Marketing & Communications at RedKite, Lucy Ronald, Partnerships Director at Fabulate, Ross Candido, VP | Australia, New Zealand & Southeast Asia at Meltwater and Tom Maynard, Director at Amplify.

AiMCO Guiding Council Members, April 2023 (sorted alpha by first name)

Councillor                                 Company

Anthony Richardson              Q-83
Ben Mayor                                We Are Social
Ben McGrath                            Vamp  
Detch Singh                              Hypetap (Deputy Chair)
Hannah McElhinney               Snack Drawer
Jamie Taylor                             Havas Media
Kate Levy                                 RedKite
Lucy Ronald                             Fabulate
Natalie Giddings                      Hoozu 
Patrick Whitnall                       TwentyFiveFour (Deputy Chair)
Ross Candido                           Meltwater
Sam Kelly                                 Hello Social (Deputy Chair)
Sarah Letts                               Totally Awesome
Sharyn Smith                            Social Soup
Shivani Maharaj                        Wavemaker
Simone Landes                       The Lifestyle Suite
Tegan Boorman                        Social Law Co (Chair)
Tom Maynard                           Amplify