The founder of Australia’s first 360° luxury agency on heritage houses, hard-won standards, and why the team is the legacy.

In 2011, after 25 years in mainstream and corporate media, Lynette Phillips went looking for something that did not exist in the Australian market: a truly integrated luxury agency, one roof covering media strategy, global communications, digital, brand experience and talent. She could not find one, so she built it.

Fifteen years on, MAXMEDIALAB sits behind campaigns for Audemars Piguet, Hermès, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Paspaley and Jaguar Land Rover, and has delivered some of the genuine landmark moments in Australian luxury, from Paspaley x Vogue Forces of Fashion to the Australian launches of Haus Labs by Lady Gaga and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna.

The milestone arrives alongside two others. Phillips is the only Australian named to Luxury Daily’s Luxury Women to Watch, and MAXMEDIALAB has just been named a finalist at the 2026 Golden Award of Montreux. We asked her about the fifteen years behind all of it.

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What does this anniversary mean to you, and how are you celebrating it?

Fifteen years ago, there was no true 360° luxury agency model in this country, one that adopted a true multidisciplinary approach across traditional PR, paid media and digital. In light of this, I had to fashion this model from the ground up. So, this anniversary is not just a birthday for me, it is proof that the model works. We are celebrating by doing what MAXMEDIALAB does best: creating a moment, not just marking a date. We are not treating it as a victory lap either, the team is more driven than ever to reinvent how we tell brand stories as this landscape keeps shifting. But honestly, the best celebration is looking at the calibre of the team around me now, and knowing we are just getting started.

What’s the single biggest lesson the industry has taught you?

That luxury is never static. The brands that endure are the ones willing to evolve their storytelling while never compromising the codes that make them who they are. Our job is to hold that tension for our clients: protect the heritage but never let a campaign feel stale or culturally distant.

What does the behind-the-scenes of a major luxury campaign really involve, the part readers never see?

Our line has always been “memorable work for remarkable brands,” but that memorability, for the audience, is deliberately engineered by everything happening behind it. People see the red carpet moment or the campaign image and assume it appeared fully formed. What they do not see are the months of alignment across time zones, the negotiations over a single word in a press release, the contingency plans built for contingency plans. Luxury looks effortless because an enormous amount of effort goes into making it look that way.

Which campaign moments will stay with you forever?

Paspaley x Vogue Forces of Fashion will always hold a special place, it was Australian luxury telling an Australian story on a global stage, on our own terms. And bringing Fenty Beauty and Haus Labs to Australia were both full circle moments: watching brands built around such singular creative visions land here and genuinely connect with Australian audiences, not just launch to them.

What’s been the most exciting change to watch in Australian luxury, and where is it heading?

The most exciting shift has been Australian consumers being taken seriously by the world’s biggest luxury houses, not as an afterthought, but as a sophisticated, culturally engaged market in its own right. Where it is heading next is deeper personalisation and community: luxury brands that understand Australian consumers want deep, authentic relationships, not just reach.

Why has the 360° integrated agency model stood the test of time?

Because fragmentation is the enemy of a coherent luxury story. We were the first agency in this country to build a truly integrated model, media strategy, communications, digital, brand experience and talent all under one roof, and when everything sits together, the story stays consistent from the first press release to the last piece of content. Fifteen years on, brands need that cohesive message more than ever, particularly in light of how oversaturated our industry has become.

How has the extraordinary standard of the world’s great heritage houses shaped you?

Working alongside these houses raises your own bar permanently. There is no “good enough,” every detail matters, because for them, every detail always has. That standard has made me a more exacting leader, and it is what I have tried to instil in every person who has come through MAXMEDIALAB.

What do the Luxury Women to Watch and Golden Award of Montreux recognitions mean to you at this milestone?

They mean a great deal, particularly landing in our fifteenth year. Being the only Australian named to Luxury Women to Watch tells me the work being done here is being seen on the same stage as the world’s major luxury markets, and the Montreux nomination is a wonderful affirmation for the whole team, not just myself.

After 15 years, hundreds of campaigns and a team built from scratch, what makes you proudest?

The people. I can point to campaigns and awards, but what I am proudest of is the team we have built, a group of genuinely talented, passionate people who have grown their careers here and gone on to shape this industry themselves. That is the legacy that outlasts any single campaign moment.

What do you want the next chapter to look like?

I want MAXMEDIALAB to keep setting the pace rather than following the status quo, pushing further into how technology and creativity intersect for luxury storytelling, while never losing the human relationships that built this agency. Fifteen years in, we are not done building upon that initial vision, if anything, we are just getting started on the next chapter of memorable work for remarkable brands.