User:Inkian Jason/David Droga
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David Droga is an Australian businessperson. He is the vice chair of Accenture. He was previously the chief executive officer (CEO) and creative chairman of Accenture Interactive, which acquired Droga5, the agency founded by Droga in 2019. He became the CEO in 2021 and renamed Accenture Interactive to Accenture Song in 2022. Earlier in his career, Droga worked for Grey Advertising, FCB, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Publicis.
David Droga | |
|---|---|
 Droga in 2015 | |
| Born | 1968 or 1969 (age 57–58)[1] Australia |
| Alma mater | The King's School, Parramatta |
| Occupation | Businessperson |
| Title | Vice Chair, Accenture |
Droga has received the most awards from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and is the youngest person to be inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. He is a member of the board of directors at the New Museum.
Early life and education
David Bjorn Droga was born in Australia.[1][2] He was raised in rural New South Wales, as the fifth of six children. His father was of Polish descent and operated the Perisher Ski Resort,[3] and his mother was a Danish artist and poet.[1][2] According to The Australian, Droga was raised "in a world largely without advertising, TV or media" and had an "isolated" and "offbeat" childhood.[3]
Droga attended the Tudor House School in Moss Vale, followed by The King's School, Parramatta in the Sydney suburb of North Parramatta.[3]
Career
Droga started working in the mailroom of the advertising agency Grey Advertising[1] in Sydney at the age of 18.[2] While working there, he enrolled in a class at the Australian Writers and Art Director's School. Droga scored the top mark, garnering attention from advertising executives.[3] He worked for the advertising firm FCB, but left months later to join the startup company Omon. By his early 20s,[3] he was the creative director of Omon, which was acquired by Clemenger BBDO.[1]
Droga continued to work for large agencies in London, New York, Singapore, and Sydney.[2] He joined the British multinational communications and advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi in his mid-20s, working from Singapore.[1][3] He started as the regional executive creative director of Saatchi Asia, then became the creative head in London in 1999,[4] at the age of 29.[1][3] In 2002, when Adweek named Saatchi & Saatchi the Global Agency of the Year, the magazine credited Droga for "much of the network's success" and described him as "one of the hottest creative directors in the world".[5][6] Droga became the global chief creative officer of the French multinational advertising and public relations company Publicis in 2003.[2][3] Working from New York City, he was the first to occupy this role.[5]
Droga founded the advertising agency Droga5 in 2006. In 2013, he sold 49 percent of the business to William Morris Endeavor for $225 million.[2][7] In 2017, Fast Company described Droga as "an early master of virality and shareability in the Facebook–YouTube era" and "one of the ad business's key thinkers at a moment of major uncertainty" with "a reputation for being outspoken, edgy, and critical of his industry".[2] Droga sold Droga5 to Accenture (via Accenture Interactive) in 2019.[8][9] Fast Company said the acquisition was "easily the highest profile deal the ad industry has seen in recent memory".[10] In 2021, he became the chief executive officer (CEO) and creative chairman of Accenture Interactive, which became known as Accenture Song in 2022.[11] Droga chose the title "creative chairman"[12] and has been credited with leading the company's name change and subsequent restructure into four practice areas (commerce, customer service, design and digital products, and marketing) in 2023.[13][14] He also merged approximately 40 agencies into Accenture Song,[15][16] including Karmarama and Rothco.[14] He stepped down as CEO of Accenture Song in September 2025, continuing as vice chair of Accenture at the request of Accenture CEO Julie Sweet.[17][18]
Board service and recognition
Droga is a member of the board of directors of the New Museum.[2]
Droga was included in Esquire's "Best and Brightest" issues in 2006 and 2007.[19][20] For the 2006 issue, Droga was challenged to "brand the unbrandable". He partnered with hundreds of restaurants in New York City on the Tap Project, which asked diners to donate $1 for tap water to benefit UNICEF's clean water projects.[21] The campaign became an annual event, held during World Water Week.[22][23] It expanded to additional cities and acquired sponsors, earning approximately $5 million by 2016.[21] Ad Age ranked the campaign fifteenth in an overview of the top advertising campaigns of the 21st century.[24]
Ad Age included Droga in a "40 Under 40" list in 2006.[25] The magazine included him in a "Creativity 50" list, which recognizes creatives in the advertising industry, in 2011.[26] He ranked number 92 in Adweek's 2018 "Power List" of 100 "cutting-edge CEOs in marketing, media, branding and tech".[27] In 2021, Campaign called Droga the "most awarded creative" at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to date.[28] He received the festival's Lion of St. Mark, a lifetime achievement award presented annually to individuals who have made "outstanding contributions to the creative community", in 2017.[29] Droga was awarded the recognition at the age of 47, making him the youngest recipient.[30] In 2023, he was among jury presidents at the Cannes Lions.[31]
Droga is the youngest person to be inducted into the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame.[3] He received the Advance Global Australian Award for Creative Services in 2012, and was also a Global Australian Award winner in 2025.[32][33] Droga received a lifetime achievement award from the Clio Awards in 2019.[34] In 2025, he was included in the American Advertising Federation's 2026 Advertising Hall of Fame class. The honor "recognizes individuals and organizations whose careers have had a lasting impact on advertising, business, and culture", according to Adweek.[35]
Personal life
Droga is married and has four children. He and his wife, a film producer, met in New York in 1997, when both were in their early 20s.[3][20] The couple got married in Thailand in 1998.[20] They lived in London's Notting Hill, as of 2003,[1] and in East Village, Manhattan, as of 2022. Upon the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the couple temporarily lived on their farm near Hudson, New York.[3]
Droga is an art collector, with a particular interest in Chinese art.[2] He has displayed various artifacts in his work office, including a large black-and-white portrait of Muhammad Ali by German photographer Thomas Hoepker,[36] a replica of helmet worn by Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna, and works by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.[2] He is also a fan of sports, especially the New England Patriots.[3]