- David Droga is stepping down as CEO of Accenture Song at the top of the corporate’s current fiscal 12 months, per a press release. The storied promoting executive will shift into the role of vice chair of the larger Accenture organization.
- Droga, who has served as CEO since 2021, is credited with unifying the handfuls of agencies Accenture acquired over time and establishing the Song brand and operating model. Across his four-year tenure, Song grew annual revenue from $12.5 billion to $19 billion for the fiscal 12 months ended Aug. 31.
- Ndidi Oteh, currently Song’s lead within the Americas and a longtime Accenture veteran, will turn out to be CEO of the marketing services unit starting Sept. 1 while joining the consultant’s Global Management Committee (GMC). Nick Law is being elevated to strategy and experience lead and may even join the GMC.
When Accenture acquired Droga’s namesake agency, Droga5, for $475 million in 2019, it signaled a serious bet on creativity as a differentiator. The executive’s stepping away from day-to-day leadership of Song comes as creative agencies have rarely been more challenged, with threats stemming from the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), fragmented media, consumer promoting aversion and shrinking client budgets.
Consulting firms at the turn of the last decade were eating into the market share of established ad-holding groups, but were more sophisticated in technology integration and digital transformation than generating outside-the-box ideas that might catch consumer attention. Names like Droga5 were a approach to level up know-how in creative and go toe-to-toe with traditional agency networks, which, in turn, adopted more consultative business models to remain competitive.
Droga was promoted to CEO of what was then often called Accenture Interactive in 2021, with the duty of uniting over 40 agencies Accenture had acquired over time in its race to ascertain a stronger foothold in promoting. In 2022, he rebranded Interactive to Song, with a structure aimed at unifying multiple facets of promoting, including creativity, design and AI under one roof. Song now bills itself because the world’s “largest tech-powered creative company,” generating $19 billion in revenue in its last fiscal 12 months.
Droga5 within the meantime has seen an exodus of many longtime executives while falling under pressures which have dogged the larger agency sector and artistic businesses, specifically. Last fall, Droga5 laid off 4% of its New York staff, Adweek reported. The shop has continued to work with cutting-edge brands — Song and Droga5 were behind OpenAI’s first Super Bowl ad for ChatGPT in February — but is vying to recapture its mojo.
The narrative just isn’t unique. Quite a few once-darling creative agencies and trailblazing executives have seen their luster dim as marketers prioritize areas like performance marketing and quick-hit social media content over anthemic brand-building campaigns. More ad-holding groups are combining or deprecating once-iconic creative brands to satisfy a requirement for simplicity.
For Droga himself, taking up the vice chair role at Accenture grants a remit that extends beyond marketing services, but additionally potentially offers a more relaxing job.
“After 30 plus years of leaping, I’m able to catch my breath. And being vice chair will allow me to try this, but additionally to contribute in latest ways,” Droga said in a press statement. “I’m also excited to spend more time suffixing: Thinking, daydreaming, advising, investing, giving, mentoring, exploring, learning, playing, appreciating, family-ing, sleeping-in-ing.”
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