In the June-August 2026 issue of NZ Marketing magazine, we asked agency founders to tell us the story behind why they started their agency, their favourite thing, what they’ve learned and their best advice.
The Social Collective
- Founder: Loren Tomlinson
- Year founded: 2022
Tell us the story behind founding your agency.
Loren Tomlinson started The Social Collective in 2022 with a straightforward belief: businesses deserved a marketing partner who actually showed up for them. Not one that set things up and went quiet. Not one that applied the same template to every client. One that really gives a damn.
She came from a background in freelance digital strategy, and built TSC from the ground up – starting with a handful of clients, a clear point of view and a non-negotiable standard for the work.
Four years on, that standard hasn’t changed. TSC is now a full-service agency working with service businesses across New Zealand and Australia, with a team of specialists, a chart-topping podcast, a sold-out event series and results that speak for themselves.
What’s your favourite thing about running your own agency?
The freedom to build something that reflects exactly who you are and what you believe. And the ability to use that to give other women the same opportunity.
TSC is 100% female owned and operated, entirely by design. Watching the women on this team do work they love, on their own terms, never gets old.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned?
Outsource earlier than you think you need to.
For too long I held on to everything myself – and I was the biggest bottleneck in my own business. The moment I hired people who complemented my weaknesses and let them genuinely own their roles, everything accelerated.
You cannot scale something you are white knuckling alone. The business grows when you get out of its way.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received or given out?
Stop gatekeeping. Share everything you know, show up consistently and trust that generosity wins in the long run.
The community of 15,000+ people across our social, email and podcast was built entirely on giving people real access to what they needed to grow – without holding anything back.
That community is what sold out our flagship event for women in business, In Her Empire Era, in 17 days without spending a dollar on advertising. It’s also the same strategy that consistently delivers our clients real results.
Anything else we should know?
Loren Tomlinson has built a team of women who are experts in their fields, with a workplace that gives more women, including mothers, the chance to do work they love on their own terms.
TSC’s event series, In Her Empire Era, launched in 2026 as New Zealand’s first luxury, fashion-forward event for women in business. The debut featured official Disney branding and Event Cinemas support, and attracted 70 of Auckland’s most ambitious women in business. It is already expanding to Australia.
Tomlinson is an active presence on the Australian marketing stage – she has spoken and hosted panels at events including The Social Summit in Australia on multiple occasions, and Coffees & Content is a featured partner of the organisation. It is a relationship that reflects something TSC has built deliberately: real connections across both sides of the Tasman, not just a flag planted in a new market.
The Coffees & Content podcast has topped the New Zealand charts every season since launching and has built a loyal following of founders, marketers and business owners across NZ and internationally.
Client results speak for themselves: $360k in Meta leads in six months, $1m+ added to one client’s bottom line and $54,000 in bookings generated for a beauty client in their first month with a 6.06x return on ad spend.
This story comes from NZ Marketing magazine issue 87, June-August 2026. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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