Bonfire’s Chelsea Craddock wins Agency Rockstar at Google Honours Awards

Bonfire’s Performance Media Manager, Chelsea Craddock, has been recognised twice by Google in 2025. Earlier in the year, she was named a finalist at the Google Honours Awards, and now she has taken out the top prize and been awarded Agency Rockstar (5+ Years).

Hosted live from Google Headquarters in Sydney, the ceremony brought together some of Australia and New Zealand’s top performance marketers. Craddock joined the Melbourne office watch party alongside fellow finalists and partners to celebrate the winners.

The announcement follows Bonfire’s recognition as a finalist in the 2025 Google Agency Excellence Awards, a nod to the agency’s strength in performance strategy and its ongoing collaboration with Google to deliver measurable, data-led growth for clients across Australia.

Craddock reflects on what this recognition means for her, for Bonfire, and for the direction performance marketing is heading.

You’ve been recognised twice by Google this year, once as a finalist and now as a winner. How have you found the experience?
It’s honestly been a bit surreal. Being recognised by Google twice in one year is incredibly rewarding, especially knowing how much talent there is in our industry. It’s been a huge year of growth, both personally and for our team at Bonfire, so to have that hard work and innovation recognised at this level has been really special.

What does this award mean to you personally, and what does it say about the kind of work you are doing right now?
This award is a reflection of the culture we’ve built at Bonfire. We value experimentation, collaboration and real impact for our clients. Personally, it means a lot to see strategy and innovation translate into tangible business results. As a team, we’re focused on pushing what’s possible with Google’s AI tools and first-party data, and this win reinforces that we’re heading in the right direction.

Bonfire was also a finalist in the Agency Excellence Awards. How does it feel to see both individual and team recognition at this level?
It’s incredibly fulfilling. The individual award feels like a recognition of the trust and support I’ve had within the company, and the Agency Excellence nomination highlights how consistently strong our collective work is. We all contribute to each other’s wins. The collaboration and shared learning within Bonfire are what make results like this possible.

The Honours Awards celebrate innovation in performance marketing across Australia and New Zealand. What do you think sets great performance marketers apart today?
Great performance marketers today combine curiosity with adaptability. The tools are evolving so quickly, including AI, automation and data integration. The best marketers are the ones who can test, learn and pivot fast without losing sight of the bigger picture. It’s about understanding the tech deeply, but also using it creatively to solve real business challenges.

Your winning work focused on improving return on ad spend and purchase value. Can you share a bit about the strategy behind that shift from quantity to quality?
The focus was on aligning every campaign signal with actual customer value, not just volume. We integrated CRM data through Customer Match, used Value-Based Bidding to prioritise higher-value purchases, and leveraged Performance Max and Broad Match to scale efficiently. It was about teaching the AI what “quality” really looked like for the business, so every dollar spent went further. The end result was higher revenue, stronger ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), and better efficiency overall.

You’ll soon be heading to Google HQ in San Francisco with the other winners. What are you most excited to take away from that experience?
I’m really excited to get inspired, to see what’s next in the AI and tech space, and how global teams are using these tools to drive growth. I’m hoping to come back with new ideas and approaches we can adapt for our clients at Bonfire, and to build connections with other marketers who are just as passionate about performance innovation as I am.

Looking ahead, what’s next for you and the Performance Media team at Bonfire?
Our focus for 2026 is deepening our use of AI and automation to scale client performance even further. We want to be leaders in how we adopt and implement new tools, but also maintain the human insight that drives truly great strategy. The team is in a really strong place. We’re collaborative, curious and constantly learning, so I’m excited to see how far we can take it from here.