Chelsea Craddock from Bonfire has joined a select group of ANZ marketers in San Francisco after winning Agency Rockstar (5+ years) at the Google Honours Awards.
Craddock travelled to the US in March to attend a summit focused on AI, search and the future of performance marketing, alongside 24 winners from across Australia and New Zealand.
Recognition for performance-led growth
The Agency Rockstar award recognises excellence in performance marketing, with Craddock awarded for work that improves return on ad spend and purchase value by aligning campaign signals with customer value.
Her approach combined CRM data, value-based bidding and Google AI tools to drive stronger commercial outcomes for clients.
Building Bonfire’s Melbourne presence
Based in Melbourne, Craddock recently stepped into a strategist role after returning to Bonfire in December 2024.
She is focused on expanding the agency’s east coast footprint, leading performance media strategy, managing key accounts and supporting business development across a growing client base.
Bonfire’s Melbourne office, launched in July 2025, now supports 17 east coast clients, including No Birds and Australian Childhood Foundation.
AI reshaping the marketing landscape
Craddock said the summit reinforced how rapidly AI is transforming the industry.
“The strongest theme across the summit was that AI is now the operating environment, not a side conversation,” she said.
“Search is still incredibly important, but it is evolving quickly. Discovery and decision are moving closer together, raising the bar for marketers to be more relevant, more useful, and more commercially clear.”
She added that automation is raising expectations across the board:
“One of the clearest messages was that automation rewards better fundamentals, which means strong measurement, clear business goals, relevant creative and useful landing pages matter even more in an AI-driven environment.”
Raising the bar for performance
Craddock said the learnings would directly shape her work with clients.
“The biggest takeaway for me was how much the standard for relevance has shifted,” she said.
“For clients, that means clearer strategy, stronger signals, better creative and landing pages that answer what people actually need.”
Industry backing
Alex Gavalas, general manager of strategy at Bonfire, said Craddock’s attendance reflects the agency’s strength and partnership with Google.
“Chelsea’s attendance at the summit reflects the calibre of talent within Bonfire and the strength of our ongoing relationship with Google,” he said.
Gavalas added that Craddock’s promotion to Strategist has played a central role in building Bonfire’s Melbourne presence.
“She has been key to our growth in the market and to strengthening relationships with east coast clients.”
The summit appearance follows Bonfire’s 10th consecutive year as a Google Premier Partner, placing it among the top 3% of partners in Australia.
Top Image: Chelsea Craddock