The tumbler wasn’t only a tumbler anymore. It was a standing image, a viral obsession, a motion. In an period the place social media dictates developments in a single day, nobody noticed it coming—not even Stanley, the century-old model that abruptly discovered itself on the coronary heart of one of the explosive influencer advertising and marketing campaigns in historical past.
It began with life-style influencers, casually flaunting the Quencher tumbler as an on a regular basis important. Then, TikTok took over. The shortage, the colours, the “you possibly can’t discover this anyplace” attract—it turned a frenzy. Traces wrapped round shops, resale costs skyrocketed, and Stanley remodeled from a rugged outside gear model right into a cultural phenomenon.
However behind each viral sensation, there’s a method—an orchestrated mix of storytelling, exclusivity, and the facility of digital affect. In Seattle, a metropolis teeming with advertising and marketing masterminds, the CEOs of top influencer marketing agencies are crafting these very blueprints, turning manufacturers into legends. So, who’re the visionaries behind these campaigns? Let’s meet the highest CEOs shaping the way forward for influencer advertising and marketing in Seattle.
Prime 9 CEOs of Influencer Advertising Corporations in Seattle
Seattle is house to a number of the most revolutionary minds in influencer advertising and marketing—visionary CEOs who’re redefining how manufacturers join with audiences. These leaders are behind the businesses driving viral campaigns, mixing knowledge, creativity, and technique to form the way forward for digital affect.
1. Benjamin Kaplan
If influencer advertising and marketing had a corridor of fame, Benjamin B. Kaplan would have already got his plaque on the wall. Because the founder and CEO of PR Hacker, Kaplan has redefined the trade by taking a data-driven strategy to viral publicity—turning conventional PR on its head and changing intestine intuition with exhausting analytics.
With a magna cum laude diploma in Economics from Harvard, a bestselling scholarship e book with over one million readers, and a historical past of coaching startup founders worldwide, he’s a uncommon mixture of strategist, storyteller, and scientist. Underneath his management, PR Hacker has expanded right into a global powerhouse, with a robust Seattle presence specializing in influencer marketing, content material creation, and model technique.
Not like businesses that depend on paid influencer offers, Kaplan’s workforce at PR Hacker champions natural, earned-value packages—an strategy that has received over shoppers like Mercedes-Benz, Budweiser, and Postmates. By seamlessly integrating PR, content material advertising and marketing, and influencer outreach, PR Hacker amplifies model messages in a method that feels genuine and drives actual engagement.
Past PR Hacker, Kaplan additionally leads TOP, a worldwide company community spanning 20+ nations, and based Nationwide Immediately, a viral media platform that faucets into cultural moments to assist manufacturers make headlines.
Kaplan isn’t simply maintaining with influencer marketing trends—he’s creating them.
2. Michael Mish
Michael Mish doesn’t simply run AMP Agency—he transforms it. Since becoming a member of in 2012, he’s climbed the ranks from Director of Enterprise Growth to President, shaping AMP into one of the dynamic influencer marketing agencies within the trade. With a eager eye for technique and innovation, Mish has spearheaded key acquisitions and integrations, increasing AMP’s capabilities throughout digital, experiential, and influencer advertising and marketing.
Underneath his management, AMP has taken influencer advertising and marketing past likes and shares, specializing in actual engagement and model connections. From influencer identification and marketing campaign technique to efficiency evaluation and content material creation, his workforce delivers data-driven, high-impact influencer packages that resonate with audiences.
Seattle has been a house for AMP for over 15 years, evolving from an experiential advertising and marketing store to a full-service agency. Mish has performed a pivotal function in unifying AMP’s various groups—writers, strategists, producers, and designers—right into a powerhouse of artistic and analytical expertise, working with world-class manufacturers throughout industries.
Certainly one of his standout achievements? Main the acquisition of Genome, a digital innovation agency, to strengthen AMP’s tech capabilities and world attain. By consolidating 5 specialised businesses into one, Mish has made AMP extra agile, revolutionary, and future-proof in an ever-changing advertising and marketing panorama.
With a background spanning Fortune 500 giants and startups, Mish blends enterprise savvy with a deep understanding of recent advertising and marketing.
3. John Rubino
For over 17 years, John Rubino has been greater than only a chief at GreenRubino—he’s been the driving drive behind its evolution. As co-owner and companion, he’s helped rework the Seattle-based company right into a powerhouse that seamlessly integrates promoting, branding, PR, and influencer advertising and marketing to construct manufacturers with function.
Rubino understands that influencer advertising and marketing is extra than simply collaborations—it’s about crafting narratives that resonate. Take GreenRubino’s marketing campaign for Washington State Wine, the place the company tapped comic Greg Proops to create personalised content material for key wine commerce influencers. The outcome? A 41% enhance in suggestions and a 131% spike in desk wine gross sales—proof that storytelling, when achieved proper, drives actual enterprise influence.
However Rubino’s affect extends past advertising and marketing. As an authorized LGBT Enterprise Enterprise (LGBTBE) proprietor, he’s a champion for variety and inclusion, opening doorways for GreenRubino to safe provider variety partnerships whereas fostering an company tradition rooted in authenticity. His decades-long dedication to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood—together with early volunteer work with the Homosexual Males’s Well being Disaster in NYC—earned him the Excellent Voices Lifetime Achievement award in 2023 from the Puget Sound Enterprise Journal.
At its core, GreenRubino operates on a easy but highly effective perception: “Nice work comes from a very good place.” Underneath Rubino’s management, the company has stayed true to that mission—combining creativity, knowledge, and technique to elevate manufacturers, interact audiences, and drive outcomes.
4. Peter Finn
When Peter Finn based FINN Partners in 2011, he got down to construct extra than simply one other PR agency—he envisioned a daring, purpose-driven agency that will redefine trendy communications. Quick-forward to at the moment, and his imaginative and prescient has turn out to be a worldwide powerhouse, rising from $24 million to $196 million in charges, with 1,300+ staff throughout 34 workplaces on three continents.
Finn’s strategy to influencer advertising and marketing is as strategic as it’s revolutionary. FINN Companions doesn’t simply pair manufacturers with influencers; it crafts genuine narratives that drive engagement and construct long-term credibility. With trade leaders like Jenny Heinrich guiding digital and influencer strategy, the company has earned a popularity for mixing data-driven insights with compelling storytelling—a method that has made FINN a trusted companion for manufacturers throughout industries.
Seattle is likely one of the key hubs in FINN’s community, the place the workforce leverages deep market insights to execute highly targeted influencer campaigns. From tech to healthcare to life-style manufacturers, the company’s Seattle workplace performs an important function in serving to shoppers join with the proper voices and audiences.
Finn’s management hasn’t gone unnoticed. He’s been featured on PRWeek’s Energy Checklist, a testomony to his affect within the trade. However what actually units him aside is his capacity to scale with function—rising an company that values collaboration, creativity, and social influence as a lot because it does enterprise success.
5. Jonathan Heit
Since co-founding Allison in 2001, Jonathan Heit has performed a pivotal function in reworking it into a worldwide communications powerhouse, with 52 workplaces throughout 5 continents. Now, as World CEO, Heit continues to push the boundaries of built-in advertising and marketing, PR, and influencer technique, guaranteeing Allison stays on the forefront of recent model engagement.
Underneath Heit’s management, influencer advertising and marketing at Allison isn’t nearly partnerships—it’s about precision. The company leverages AI-driven tools just like the Allison Superior Points Monitor (AIM) to trace and reply to social media conversations in actual time, permitting manufacturers to have interaction with influencers and audiences on the proper second, in the proper method.
Seattle is a key participant in Allison’s world community. With an workplace within the coronary heart of the town and Jennifer Chelstad main the native workforce, the company is well-positioned to assist manufacturers navigate the Pacific Northwest market with sensible, focused influencer campaigns.
Past progress, Heit’s management is about evolution. Allison has constantly been acknowledged as a number one company in communications, increasing its capabilities whereas sustaining its midsized agility—a uncommon stability in at the moment’s advertising and marketing world.
6. Andrew Cross & Dave Parro
Andrew Cross and Dave Parro have remodeled Walker Sands right into a top-tier B2B marketing powerhouse, combining influencer advertising and marketing, PR, branding, and digital technique to assist companies flip audiences into advocates.
Cross, who began at Walker Sands over a decade in the past, climbed the ranks from an entry-level PR function to Co-CEO, proving that strategic pondering and inventive execution can open massive doorways. His background contains working with high-profile manufacturers like Grubhub, Sprout Social, and Hyperwallet, bringing storytelling and credibility to tech-driven firms.
Parro, a former journalist-turned-marketing strategist, joined the company in 2012 and performed a pivotal function in scaling operations, integrating new know-how, and refining shopper providers. His experience in data-driven advertising and marketing and operational excellence has made Walker Sands one of many fastest-growing businesses within the trade—acknowledged by Inc. 5000 for ten consecutive years.
Walker Sands’ Seattle workplace, launched in 2018, has turn out to be a vital hub beneath the management of Annie Gudorf, delivering tailor-made influencer campaigns that join manufacturers with the proper trade voices. Their strategy is rooted in authenticity, guaranteeing influencer partnerships don’t simply generate buzz but additionally drive long-term engagement and belief.
With a number of trade awards, an increasing nationwide presence, and a monitor report of serving to B2B manufacturers break by the noise, Cross and Parro aren’t simply working Walker Sands—they’re redefining B2B influencer marketing.
7. Rion Haber
With almost twenty years of expertise, Haber’s experience spans from serving to startups discover their voice to guiding enterprise manufacturers by complicated digital landscapes. His profession started in New York Metropolis, the place he was on the forefront of recent media methods, serving to manufacturers navigate the evolving digital world. Now, as a Co-Founder and Chief Technique Officer of Catalyst Marketing Agency, he’s taking a data-driven, audience-first strategy to influencer advertising and marketing.
At Catalyst, influencer advertising and marketing isn’t about follower counts—it’s about discovering the proper voices, no matter age or background, to create actual connections. The company’s strategy is rooted in authenticity and strategic placement, guaranteeing manufacturers don’t simply attain folks however convert them into model advocates.
Past main technique, Haber has bootstrapped Catalyst from $0 to $5 million in recurring income, managed over $25 million in shopper budgets, and launched 500+ built-in campaigns throughout industries. His management has earned Catalyst 20+ trade awards, cementing its popularity as a go-to company for manufacturers trying to scale.
With an eye fixed on advertising and marketing’s future and a perception that nice manufacturers are constructed by neighborhood, not simply campaigns, Rion Haber is redefining influencer advertising and marketing in Seattle and past—one strategic, high-impact marketing campaign at a time.
8. Benjamin Kaplan
Ben Kaplan can be the mastermind behind TOP Agency, a worldwide advertising and marketing community spanning 12 specialised businesses, overlaying the whole lot from PR and influencer advertising and marketing to data-driven political advocacy.
With a Harvard-trained economics background, Kaplan doesn’t simply guess what works—he checks, optimizes, and perfects. His company makes use of a data-first strategy to influencer advertising and marketing, guaranteeing that campaigns don’t simply generate buzz however drive actual enterprise influence. Whether or not it’s identifying the right influencers, crafting high-converting narratives, or measuring engagement with proprietary analytics instruments, Kaplan’s methodology ensures that each marketing campaign is ROI-driven.
However Kaplan isn’t simply behind the scenes—he’s in entrance of the dialog. As host of the BRANDED podcast, he frequently interviews trade leaders on the way forward for advertising and marketing, storytelling, and model affect. His insights have landed him on over 5,000 TV and radio exhibits, together with Oprah and Good Morning America, making him one of the acknowledged thought leaders within the advertising and marketing area.
TOP Company’s Seattle workplace performs a key function in shaping the town’s influencer advertising and marketing panorama, mixing artistic storytelling with data-backed technique to assist manufacturers minimize by the noise.
9. Justin Hayashi
When Justin Hayashi co-founded New Engen, he wasn’t simply constructing one other digital advertising and marketing agency—he was redefining how manufacturers scale with performance-driven methods. Now, as CEO, he has remodeled New Engen right into a advertising and marketing powerhouse, integrating artistic innovation, deep analytics, and influencer advertising and marketing to assist manufacturers develop smarter and sooner.
A key second in Hayashi’s management got here in January 2022, when New Engen acquired Acorn Affect, a major player in influencer marketing. This strategic transfer didn’t simply broaden New Engen’s choices—it merged efficiency media experience with influencer-driven storytelling, making a holistic advertising and marketing strategy the place influencer content material is seamlessly optimized for attain, engagement, and measurable enterprise influence.
With its headquarters in Seattle, New Engen is on the middle of cutting-edge digital advertising and marketing innovation. Underneath Hayashi’s management, the company has turn out to be recognized for its data-backed influencer methods, guaranteeing manufacturers don’t simply work with influencers—they work with the proper influencers, on the proper platforms, with the proper messaging to drive actual outcomes.
Hayashi’s experience in efficiency media, measurement, and enterprise technique has positioned New Engen as an trade chief. He’s a thought chief in digital advertising and marketing, emphasizing that success isn’t nearly visibility—it’s about accountability and influence.
Seattle’s CEOs Driving the Way forward for Influencer Advertising
Influencer advertising and marketing isn’t nearly viral moments—it’s about technique, execution, and the visionaries behind the scenes. The CEOs of Seattle’s prime advertising and marketing corporations are redefining how manufacturers interact audiences, mixing creativity with data-driven insights to craft campaigns that resonate.
Whether or not it is performance-driven influencer providers at New Engen or viral storytelling from PR Hacker, these leaders are shaping the trade’s subsequent chapter. As social media continues to evolve, one factor is evident: Seattle’s influencer advertising and marketing CEOs usually are not simply maintaining—they’re setting the tempo, proving that the proper technique can flip any model into an icon.
