Top adman David Droga wants brands to be ambitious in 2023

With the global economic and market outlook being at a crossroads, there’s no better time than in 2023 for brands to be more ambitious, strategic and to add value for customers, according to top adman David Droga.

Chief executive officer and creative chairman of Accenture Song, David Droga. Nigel Barker Photography.

With the global economic and market outlook being at a crossroads, there’s no better time than in 2023 for brands to be more ambitious, strategic and to add value for customers, according to top adman David Droga.

The New York-based Australian who is chief executive officer and creative chairman of Accenture Song, says while business leaders must be responsible for their bottom line and what the numbers are projecting, the option of retreating on areas such as marketing and hoping to weather the storm is not a CEO strategy he’s hearing.

“Being a turtle isn’t gonna help you persevere and do the best by your company because no one knows how long these headwinds will endure or what your competition is doing,” Mr Droga told The Growth Agenda.

“This doesn’t mean you have to spend as much or you have to spend more, but now is the chance to double down on drilling into what you really stand for and what value you add for your consumers.”

The Droga5 agency founder, whose US-headquartered business was acquired by Accenture Interactive in 2019, said with global headwinds at different degrees across varying markets, coupled with the hangover from Covid, the role of creativity for brands must not be put on the back burner.

Instead it’s the time to be more creative and more strategic, which he argues doesn’t cost more, it just means brands have to work with better people and not choose safe, more formulaic output options.

In conversations with clients about what lay ahead for next year, he said many were discussing how competitors were shrinking, which only created a chance to be more ambitious and creative.

“You know, it’s that classic Ayrton Senna saying that ‘you cannot overtake 15 cars in sunny weather … but you can when it’s raining’, so it’s good for those who’ve got the gumption.

“While it depends on the client, I’m experiencing both views, but no one’s saying it’s business as usual and are looking at a playbook that worked in the past.”

But he warns that now is not the time to be more “arty farty” or just “shoot from the hip”, saying it’s crucial to always measure and value work by asking why the consumer on the receiving end of this cares.

“It’s thinking, ‘why should they give a shit about this?’ It’s not because it’s weird, funny, cool or clever, because that can be disposable,” he said.

“But if you always have the recipient’s intentions in mind that’ll help you make the right decisions, and then if that’s right you should make it as exceptional as possible, which is where you double down on the creativity and the craft of it.”

With the rise of the brand platform – that being a brand’s clear and consistent overarching mission that sees comms and customer experience ladder up to a core purpose – Mr Droga said having one needed to be a “bare minimum”.

From his New York perch at the head of Accenture Song, Mr Droga is increasingly talking with CEOs about the overall transformation of companies. He said it was encouraging that creativity had earned its right place and voice at the C-suite table, and while relationships at the CMO level were critical, the real way to push meaningful change that went beyond advertising was via relationships with CEOs.

“No one is coming to me talking about marketing transformation or just a brand campaign. While there are times that’s appropriate and we do that really well, it’s all connected to much vaster ambitions,” he said.

In working on broader business growth and efficiency strategies, he said the fusing of creative minds with others across the business – be that tech, data or beyond – worked in a complimentary manner to solve business issues.

He said despite speaking almost different languages and having different understandings and nuances, there was a “beauty” he found in how different areas across Accenture worked in service of each other.

“There’s no opposition here and what’s really important is to remember that a great idea is nothing if you can’t implement it,” he said.

“The only thing worse than not having a great idea is having a great idea and not being able to make it happen.”